David Bianculli

She asked him if the music in Memphis played a big part in his life when he was growing up there.

Steve Cropper spoke with Terry Gross in 1990.

He died Wednesday at age 84.

After a break, Kevin Whitehead will celebrate the 100th birthday of jazz organist Jimmy Smith, even though the celebration may be a few years early.

Also, we note the passing of playwright Tom Stoppard, who died last week at age 88.

And critic-at-large John Powers reviews the new Brazilian film The Secret Agent.

I'm David Bianculli, and this is Fresh Air.

Reference books give the birth date of the great jazz organist Jimmy Smith as December 8, 1925, 100 years ago.

More recent sources cite 1928 as Smith's birth year.

Our jazz historian Kevin Whitehead says at this point the latter date looks more plausible.

That'd make Monday Jimmy Smith's 97th birthday, not his 100th.

But just to be on the safe side, Kevin Whitehead offers this tribute.

Kevin Whitehead is the author of New Dutch Swing, Why Jazz and Play the Way You Feel.

Coming up, we remember the celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard.

This is Fresh Air.

One of Britain's most celebrated playwrights, Tom Stoppard, died last week at the age of 88.

Condolences and tributes came from King Charles III, Mick Jagger, and the National Theatre in Britain, where many of his plays were first staged.

The theatre released a statement saying that Stoppard's plays, "...with their blend of intellectual curiosity, wit, and narrative experimentation, have made a lasting impact on the National Theatre and on British theatre."

His bold storytelling encouraged audiences to reflect on history, philosophy, and the human experience, unquote.

Stoppard's best-known plays include The Real Thing, Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.