Putter Smith | |
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 Smith in 1971 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Patrick Verne Smith |
| Born | January 19, 1941 Bell, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, cool jazz, bebop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, music teacher, author, actor |
| Instrument(s) | Double bass |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Website | puttersmithmusic |
Patrick Verne "Putter" Smith (born January 19, 1941) is an American jazz bassist, music teacher, author, and actor.
Smith was born in Bell, California, near Los Angeles, [1] and began playing the bass at the age of eight, inspired by his older brother, jazz musician Carson Smith. [2] He made his performing debut aged 13 at the Compton Community Center. [3]
He went on to perform with Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Diane Schuur, Lee Konitz, Bruce Forman, Jackie and Roy, Carmen McRae, Gary Foster, Art Farmer, Blue Mitchell, Erroll Garner, Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, Alan Broadbent, Bob Brookmeyer, Warne Marsh, Ray Charles, Patrice Rushen, Jorge Rossy, Jimmy Wormworth, Mason Williams, Percy Faith, Burt Bacharach, The Manhattan Transfer, and Johnny Mathis. [2] He works as a session musician, and has played on recordings by Beck, Smokey Hormel, Sonny and Cher, The Beach Boys, and The Righteous Brothers, among many others. [2]
Smith taught at the Musician's Institute, [1] and at the California Institute of the Arts. [4]
Smith was playing with Monk at the Los Angeles jazz club Shelly's Manne-Hole when he was spotted by director Guy Hamilton, who cast him as the assassin Mr. Kidd (alongside Bruce Glover as Mr. Wint) in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever . [2] [3] He went on to have several other minor acting roles on film and television. [5]
Diamonds Are Forever is a 1971 spy film, the seventh in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth and final Eon film to star Sean Connery, who returned to the role as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, having declined to reprise the role in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Stanley Clarke is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fusion bassist to headline tours, sell out shows worldwide and have recordings reach gold status.
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first-call studio musician in Hollywood. In the 1970s and 1980s, he performed regularly with the L. A. Four. Shank ultimately abandoned the flute to focus exclusively on playing jazz on the alto saxophone. He also recorded on tenor and baritone sax. His most famous recording is probably the version of "Harlem Nocturne" used as the theme song in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. He is also well known for the alto flute solo on the song "California Dreamin'" recorded by The Mamas & the Papas in 1965.
Hal Blaine was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one.
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James Beck Gordon was an American musician, songwriter, and convicted murderer. Gordon was a session drummer in the late 1960s and 1970s and was the drummer in the blues rock supergroup Derek and the Dominos.
Bruce Herbert Glover is an American character actor best known for his portrayal of the assassin Mr. Wint in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. He is the father of actor Crispin Glover.
Tanya Haden Black is an American artist, musician, and singer. She is one of the triplet daughters of jazz bassist Charlie Haden. She is married to entertainer Jack Black.
Wilton Lewis Felder was an American saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, later known as The Crusaders. Felder played bass on the Jackson 5's hits "I Want You Back" and "ABC" and on Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On".
William Howard "Monk" Montgomery was an American jazz bassist. He was a pioneer of the electric bass guitar and possibly the first to be recorded playing the instrument when he participated in a 1953 session released on The Art Farmer Septet. He was the brother of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery and vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery.
Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are fictional characters in the James Bond novel and film Diamonds Are Forever. In the novel, Wint and Kidd are members of The Spangled Mob. In the film, it is assumed that they are main villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld's henchmen, though the characters share no scenes with and are not seen taking instructions from Blofeld. One of their trademarks is trading quips after killing their targets; they also do so after a failed attempt to kill Bond. In the film, Wint is played by Bruce Glover and Kidd by jazz musician Putter Smith in a rare acting role.
Bob Maize was an American jazz double bassist born and raised in Ontario California.
Alvin Leroy Fielder Jr was an American jazz drummer. He was a charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Black Arts Music Society, Improvisational Arts band, and was a founding faculty member of the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp.
Candido Albelando "Lolly" Vasquez-Vegas was a Mexican American musician of Indigenous descent. He played in numerous ensembles with his brother, Pat, including Pat & Lolly Vegas, The Avantis and Redbone. The brothers have Yaqui, Shoshone and Mexican heritage.
John Gross is an American saxophone, flute and clarinet player. He is the creator of a notational method called Multiphonics for the Saxophone.
Norman Gary Foster is an American musician who plays saxophone, clarinet, and flute. He is considered a crossover artist, performing jazz, pop, and classical music. He has been prominent in the film, television, and music industries for five decades, having performed on over 500 movie scores and with over 200 orchestras.
Alfred V. De Lory was an American record producer, arranger, conductor and session musician. He was the producer and arranger of a series of worldwide hits by Glen Campbell in the 1960s, including John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind", Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston". He was also a member of the 1960s Los Angeles session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, and inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007.
David Angel is an American musician, arranger, composer, and teacher.
William Lewis "Buck" Clarke was an American jazz percussionist who played with Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Les McCann, Russ Freeman, Gerald Albright, Jimmy Smith and others. His many musical styles included soul, funk and contemporary jazz, with an Afrocentric perspective.
Patrick Vasquez-Vegas is a Native American musician of Yaqui/Shoshone descent, vocalist, writer, and producer of Redbone, known for their hit singles "Come and Get Your Love", "The Witch Queen of New Orleans", "Maggie", and "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee". He has played in numerous ensembles which include Pat and Lolly Vegas, The Avantis, and Redbone. Vegas, along with his Redbone bandmates, was featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian for being the first rock/Cajun group of Native American ancestry to have a No. 1 single.
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