Johnny Smith

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Johnny Smith, (born John Henry Smith, Jr. on June 25, 1922 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American jazz guitarist, although he does not consider himself to be a musician in the idiom.

Contents 1 Career 2 Johnny Smith guitars 2.1 Guild Johnny Smith Award 2.2 Gibson Johnny Smith 2.3 Heritage Johnny Smith 2.4 Guild Johnny Smith Award by Benedetto 3 References 3.1 Books 3.2 Websites 4 External links

[edit] Career

An extremely diverse musician, Johnny Smith was equally at home playing in the famous Birdland jazz club or sight reading scores in the orchestral pit of the New York Philharmonic. From Schoenberg to Gershwin to originals, Smith was undoubtedly one of the most versatile guitarists of the 1950s.

Smith's playing is characterized by closed-position chord voicings and rapidly ascending lines (reminiscent of Django, but more diatonic than chromatically-based). From those famous 1952 sides and in to the 1960s he recorded for the Roost label, on whose releases his reputation mainly rests. Mosaic Records has issued the majority of them in an 8CD set.[1]

His most critically acclaimed album was "Moonlight in Vermont" (one of Downbeat magazine's top two jazz records for 1952, featuring saxophonists Stan Getz and Zoot Sims).

His most famous musical composition is the tune "Walk, Don't Run", written for a 1955 recording session as counter-melody to the chord changes of "Softly, As in the Morning Sunrise". Another guitarist Chet Atkins covered the song. Some musicians who became The Ventures heard the Atkins version, simplified it and speeded it up and made it into a big hit in 1960.

Johnny Smith stepped out of the public eye/ear in the late 1960s, having moved to Colorado in 1958 to teach and run a music store and to raise his daughter after the passing of his second wife.

[edit] Johnny Smith guitars

Guild, Gibson, and Heritage have all made guitar models designed and endorsed by Johnny Smith. In each case, the guitar was designed wholly or in part by Smith. Each design was a full-bodied archtop guitar with a top carved from solid spruce and a back and sides made of solid maple. All the on-board electronics for each guitar, from the small pickup in the neck position through the volume knob to the output jack, were mounted on the pickguard.

Smith claims to have learned about guitar design by observing master luthier John d'Angelico, who was his friend and guitar supplier when he lived in New York.[2]

[edit] Guild Johnny Smith Award

In 1955, after discussions with Alfred Dronge, chairman and founder of Guild Guitar Company, Smith designed a guitar and sent the drawings and specifications to Dronge. The Guild designers modified it (to Smith's dissatisfaction), and manufactured the resulting guitar as the Guild Johnny Smith Award.[3]^[1]

[edit] Gibson Johnny Smith

In 1961, Ted McCarty, then president of Gibson Guitar Corporation, went to meet the retired Smith at his home in Colorado Springs. McCarty spent several days with Smith, during which time Smith designed the guitar he wanted built. The design was accepted by Gibson with a few minor cosmetic changes which were acceptable to Smith.[4] Gibson began production of the resulting Gibson Johnny Smith model that year.^[2] Guild continued to produce their Johnny Smith guitar under the model name Guild Artist Award. ^[3]

[edit] Heritage Johnny Smith

When Gibson moved its manufacturing facilities from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Nashville, Tennessee, several of their managers artisans chose to stay behind. Many of these ex-employees formed Heritage Guitars and bought the old Kalamazoo factory from Gibson. Given a choice between Gibson and Heritage building the guitar that bore his name, Smith chose to stay with the old artisans at the old location under new ownership. The Heritage Johnny Smith model was introduced in 1989. [5] Like Guild before them, Gibson continued to manufacture their version of the Johnny Smith design with a new name: the Gibson LeGrand. [6]

[edit] Guild Johnny Smith Award by Benedetto

William Schultz, chairman of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, of which Guild Guitars was a subsidiary, asked Smith if he would be willing to return his endorsement to the Guild Artist Award. Familiar with Schultz's management, and knowing that the construction would be supervised by master luthier Bob Benedetto, Smith agreed.[7] The Guild Johnny Smith Award by Benedetto was available through Guild dealers until early 2006 when Benedetto left Fender.[8] [9] Unlike Guild and Gibson, Heritage Guitars discontinued manufacture of their Smith-designed guitar after Smith withdrew his endorsement.

[edit] References

[edit] Books

1. ^ Bacon, T. "The Ultimate Guitar Book" p. 143 Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1991 ISBN 0-86318-640-8
2. ^ Bacon, T. "The Ultimate Guitar Book" p. 135 Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1991 ISBN 0-86318-640-8
3. ^ Bacon, T. "The Ultimate Guitar Book" p. 143 Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1991 ISBN 0-86318-640-8

[edit] Websites

1. Mosaic Records - The Complete Roost Johnny Smith Small Group Sessions (#216)
2. Johnny Smith Goes Full Circle by Charles H. Chapman
3. Heritage Guitar Inc., Model History]
4. Gibson LeGrand product site
5. Benedetto Guitars, Inc. website
6. http://www.benedettoguitars.com/moreinfo.html#

[edit] External links

• Biographical article about Smith