Ethel Smith (November 22, 1910 - May 10, 1996) was an organist who played primarily in a pop style on the Hammond organ. An organist is a musician who plays the organ, whether pipe or electronic. ... Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and mostly distributed commercially. ... The Hammond organ is an electric organ which was designed and built by Laurens Hammond in April 1935. ...
Her recording of Tico Tico was her best-known hit. It reached No. 14 on the U.S. pop charts in November 1944 and sold over one million copies worldwide. She also recorded it for the 1944 film, Bathing Beauty
Dance To The Latin Rhythm's Of Ethel Smith, Decca DL 8712
Waltz With Me, Decca DL 8735
Lady Fingers, Decca DL 8744
Bright And Breezy, Decca DL 8799
Seated One Day At The Organ, Decca DL 78902
Bouquet Of The Blues, Decca DL 78955
Ethel Smith On Broadway, Decca DL 78993
Ethel Smith Swings Sweetly, Decca DL 74095
The Many Moods Of Ethel Smith, Decca DL 74145
Make Mine Hawaiian, Decca DL 74236
Lady Of Spain, Decca DL 74325
Rhythm Antics!, Decca DL 74414
At The End Of A Perfect Day, Decca DL 74467
Hollywood Favorites, Decca DL 74618
Ethel Smith's Hit Party, Decca DL 74803
Ethel Smith, Vocalion VL 3669
Organ Holiday, Vocalion VL 73778
Silent Night--Holy Night, Vocalion VL 73882
Parade, MCA Coral CB 20021
CDs
Tico Tico, Living Era AJA-5506 (2004). A compilation of early releases from 1944-1952
The Fabulous Organ Music of Ethel Smith, MCA MSD-35255 (out of print as of December 2005)
The First Lady of the Hammond Organ: Plays "Tico Tico" & Other Great Recordings, Jasmine Music (2003). A 2-CD compilation of early recordings
Music Books
The Ethel Smith Hammond Organ Method Book One, Revised Edition, Copyright 1949 and 1964 By Ethel Smith Music Corp. New York, NY. For use on every Hammond Organ including all Spinet Models.
Smith telling him of their honeymoon in Havana and how they were in an elevator of their hotel with four men ''with big bushy beards, who smelled awful." Later, he said, she was told that one of them was the revolutionary, Che Guevara.
Smith also recalled how she ''was warned in no uncertain terms" that exchanging dollars to pesos on the fl market would mean ''five years in El Morro," the prison.
Smith got dressed in a 17th-century outfit to speak to a gathering of descendants of Richard Stubbs, one of the founding fathers of Hull.
He not only let her practice on it to her heart's content, but also allowed her to take it with her to Florida where she was booked for an engagement playing accompaniment for a trio in a little Bavarian restaurant.
Ethel soon adopted the electric organ as her chosen solo instrument --- mainly because it responded so sensitively to the highly colorful tropical rhythms she loved so well.
Ethel was featured as one of its stars for over a year.
Feeds |
Contact