Topic: Johnny Smith

Johnny Smith, (born John Henry Smith, Jr. on June 25, 1922 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist, although he does not consider himself to be a musician in the idiom.

During the Depression, Smith's family moved from Birmingham through several cities, ending up in Portland, Maine.

Smith taught himself to play guitar in pawnshops, which let him play in exchange for keeping the guitars in tune. At thirteen years of age he was teaching others to play the guitar. One of Smith's students bought a new guitar and gave him his old guitar, which became the first guitar Smith owned.