1. Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith, better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist.
11 Facts About Stuff Smith
1. 2.
Stuff Smith is well known for the song "If You're a Viper".
3.
Stuff Smith was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, United States in 1909, and studied violin with his father.
4.
Stuff Smith cited Louis Armstrong as his primary influence and inspiration to play jazz, and like Armstrong, was a vocalist as well as instrumentalist.
5.
Stuff Smith is featured in several numbers on the Nat King Cole Trio album, After Midnight.
6.
Stuff Smith was critical of the bebop movement, although his own style represented a transition between swing and bebop.
7.
Stuff Smith is credited as being the first violinist to use electric amplification techniques on a violin.
8.
Stuff Smith was one of the writers of the song "It's Wonderful", which was often performed by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald throughout their careers.
9.
Stuff Smith moved to Copenhagen in 1965, performed actively in Europe, and died in Munich in 1967.
10.
Stuff Smith is buried at Klakring Cemetery in Jutland, Denmark.
11.
Stuff Smith is one of the 57 jazz musicians photographed in the 1958 portrait A Great Day in Harlem.