The Jazz Organ Scene

USA

Kossie Gardner Kossie (* 1941) first appeared on the Nashville TN jazz scene when, as a student at Fisk University, he taught himself how to play organ by listening to Jimmy Smith records. In 1960, he left Nashville for Los Angeles, playing for a summer with a trio in a jazz club. That exposure landed jobs for him in groups led by jazz saxophonist, David Newman and Sonny Stitt.   After returning to Nashville, Gardner was a major figure in the small jazz circle here during the early 1970s. Since then he has dropped from the sight of jazz fans, and his public appearances were limited lately to accompanying Bobby Jones and New Life on WSM-TV's Sunday morning Nashville Gospel Show.   Kossie's attempts in Nashville as a solo artist were unsuccessful, if not altogether strange. His two albums for RCA, Organ Nashville Style and Kossi Gardner Plays Charlie Pride, were practically collector's items the day they were released. He died in October 2009.   by Walter Carter, The Tennessean

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