Jimmy Smith should have belonged to my parents or, at the very least, my older brothers' generation. His career began as the 2nd World War ended, the biggest break in his career happened the year I was 2 and Kennedy died - and turned out to be just that. A career break. With his voice strangled by red tape the falsetto-maestro returned to cleveland where he spent the guts of twenty years getting work where he could, from bell-hop to pawn-shop. The sun began to rise again in the late eighties, then he appeared in Twin Peaks, he sang at a funeral and in no time flat, in his late 60s, he was the toast of the town.

Roots Musings - Jimmy Scott

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