If is fitting that Jimmy McGriff perform on the Jack McDuff Memorial Stage at the Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival. Like Jack, McGriff is one of the giants of the B3, especially when it comes to the blues. Blues is at the musical core of most of the major jazz organists, including Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff, but throughout his 42-year recording career, McGriff has stuck closer to the blues than any of them. He created a B3 sound all his own, somewhere between the jazz of Jimmy Smith and the r&b of Booker T. & the MGs. "People are always classifying me as a jazz organist, but I'm more of a blues organ player," he insists. "That's really what I feel."

McGriff was born on April 3, 1936 in Philadelphia, long the capital of the jazz organ world. Such seminal jazz organists as Milt Buckner and Wild Bill Davis frequently passed through town, and it was there that Jimmy Smith laid the groundwork for modern jazz organ. Other outstanding organists associated with Philly include Doc Bagley, Shirley Scott, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Joey DeFrancesco, and Charles Earland. In fact, Earland, who had played saxophone on McGriff's very first recording, a 1959 single on the White Marsh label titled "Foxy Due," learned the organ from McGriff.

In 1962 a scout from a tiny record label heard McGriff's arrangement of Ray Charles' "I've Got a Woman" and offered him a contract. As McGriff's single was taking off, Sue Records in New York purchased the rights and it became a smash, peaking at No. 5 on Billboard's r&b chart and at No. 20 on the pop list. His career first took off with the single "I Got A Woman", and he had a string of hits released through Sue Records including "All About My Girl," "M.G. Blues," and "Bump De Bump." During this decade McGriff was arguably the crown prince of the soul jazz organ movement (the undisputed King being Jimmy Smith). His stabbing style and shrill tone was much copied, particularly in the UK with the rise of the 60s beat and R&B scene. Georgie Fame and Brian Auger were greatly influenced by McGriff. McGriff helped to popularize a jazz-flavored style of R&B that still remains hugely influential in "acid jazz" circles.

Catch Jimmy McGriff live at this years Hot Summer Jazz Festival at the Peavy Plaza main stage on Saturday June 26th at 7:30 and on Sunday, June 27th at 2:00. The shows are both free and outdoors.