Paul Smith: Swinging Elegance

In the late 1940s and 1950s, few pianists moved as effortlessly and deftly between jazz and pop as pianist Paul Smith. Instrumental pop, as a genre, came into its own after 1948, with the advent of the 10-inch LP. Pop back then still had plenty of swing but was really jazz-light—easy-going music that had a bit of a kick but didn't venture too far off a familiar song's melody. 

Pop as a lucrative record-company division emerged then when record buyers could languish on a sofa while record sides played for 15 minutes or longer. Before 1948, listeners had to flip over 78-rpm discs every three minutes or so.

Smith was perfectly suited for the new jazz-pop LP era. Born in San Diego in 1922, Smith was greatly influenced by Nat King Cole's precise, swinging playing style. Smith began taking piano lessons early, served in the Army during World War II, and after the war remained on the West Coast, where opportunities for accomplished musicians and accompanists were plentiful—in recording studios, on movie soundstages and on television. 

Throughout the '50s, Smith appeared on many key jazz-pop recordings—Benny Goodman with Strings (1951), June Christy's Midnight Sun (1953), Paul Weston's Mood for 12 (1955), Dave Pell's I Had the Craziest Dream (1955), Anita O'Day with Buddy Bregman's Orchestra (1955), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book (1956) and many of her other songbook albums, Louis Armstrong with Russell Garcia's Orchestra (1957), Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald (1957), Ella in Berlin (1960) and albums by Billy May, Buddy Bregman, Ray Anthony and Ella Fitzgerald.

Smith also recorded numerous albums leading a trio, quartet and other ensembles that weren't purely jazz but were hardly pop. There was always a skip in his step at the keyboard and a lush, dramatic sensibility on ballads. In a city awash in extraordinarily gifted pianists in the '50s, Smith excelled in Los Angeles studios, on TV and in clubs, winding up as the first choice of singers and bands alike.

Smith's magic was all about taste and how he was able to balance a song on the tips of his fingers while thrilling listeners. He wasn't supper club or lounge, just a player who loved having his way with a melody back when all great jazz and pop musicians were sublime entertainers. [Photo above of Paul Smith]

Paul Smith died in 2013 at age 91.

Let's listen to Smith in action:

Here's Smith on TV's Bing Crosby Show in 1958 accompanying Frank Sinatra, with George Shearing backing Peggy Lee and Joe Bushkin behind Bing Crosby...



Here's Smith with Gisele MacKenzie on her short-lived NBC show in 1958 (click “Watch on YouTube in the embedded box below)...



Here's Smith with a sextet in 1956 playing I'll Take Romance, featuring Julius Kinsler (fl), Ronny Lang (as), Smith (p,arr), Tony Rizzi (g), Sam Chefitz (b) and Irv Cottler (d), from the “Liquid Sounds" series...



Here's the complete Paul Smith Plays Steve Allen..



Here's Smith and his trio playing Just Friends...



Here's Smith (p), Jim De Julio (b) and Joe LaBarbera (d) playing I've Got You Under My Skin...



Here they are again playing On a Clear Day...



Here's Smith on his 90th birthday in 2012 playing solo on Embraceable You...



And here's Smith jazzing up cartoon music...