Artist Info: Pinetop Smith

Clarence Smith, better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith (11 June 1904 - 15 March 1929) was an influential American boogie-woogie style jazz pianist.

Smith was born in Troy, Alabama and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He worked for some time as an entertainer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then toured on the T. O. B. A. Vaudeville circuit. For a time he worked as accompanist for blues singer Ma Rainey.

In the late 1920s he settled in Chicago, Illinois. [read more...]