Pinetop Smith

Clarence " Pinetop " Smith ( born June 11, 1904 in Troy, Alabama, † March 15, 1929 in Chicago) was an American jazz pianist.

At first he came in, inter alia, Vaudeville with Ma Rainey on. For a time he lived in a shelter with Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis. On December 29, 1928 be was " Pinetop 's Boogie Woogie " for Vocalion which was one of the first hits of Boogie Woogie, which takes its name from this title. The chart success of the piece in February 1929 ( ' 20) should no longer experience the pianist; in a shootout in a dance hall he was killed. Tommy Dorsey had a big band version of the play (as "Boogie Woogie " dubs ) 1938 a Millionenhit.