Jimmy McGriff

Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (died 2008)

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Born: April 3, 1936
Died: May 24, 2008
Zodiac sign: Aries
Birth year: 1936

About Jimmy McGriff

James Harrell McGriff was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader. Holmes went on to become McGriff's teacher and friend and they recorded together on two occasions in 1973 for two Groove Merchant records. McGriff formed a combo that played around Philadelphia and often featured tenor saxophonist Charles Earland (who soon switched permanently to organ, and became one of the instrument's renowned performers).

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Jimmy McGriff was born

Jimmy McGriff was born in 1936. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1936

#1 song"The Way You Look Tonight" – Fred Astaire
Top movieModern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
Top TV showBBC Television Service launches
Best-selling bookGone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentJesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at Berlin Olympics
Top headlineJesse Owens dominates the Berlin Olympics
Technology milestoneBBC launches the world's first regular television service
Defining fadSwing dancing
Notable inventionSun glasses (mass-produced)
World population2.26 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population128.1M

1936 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Jimmy McGriff's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1936	2026
Gas	$0.19	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,100	$435,000
Average income	$2,900	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.25	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	128.1M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.