Wikipedia

Tommy Smith (saxophonist)

Thomas William Ellis SmithOBE(born 27 April 1967) is a Scottishjazzsaxophonist, composer, and educator.

Tommy Smith
OBE
Background information
Birth nameThomas William Ellis Smith
Born(1967-04-27)27 April 1967(age 57)
Edinburgh,Scotland
GenresJazz,orchestral jazz,swing,classical,free improvisation
Occupation(s)Musician, band leader, composer, educator
Instrument(s)Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, shakuhachi, piano
Years active1981–present
LabelsHep,Head,ECM,Blue Note,Linn,Spartacus
Websitetommysmith.scot

Early life

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Smith was born inEdinburgh,Scotland, to Scottish parents Brenda Ann Urquhart, and father, William John Ellis, whom he never met. Smith was brought up in theWester Hailesarea of the city, where he was encouraged by his stepfather, George Smith, an avid jazz fan and drummer in theGene Krupastyle, to take up the tenor saxophone at the age of twelve.[1]When he was thirteen he attended a weekly jazz workshop under the direction of Gordon Cruikshank. He met pathologist and pianist Vincenzo Crucioli, who became a mentor. With drummer John Rae, his first group won Edinburgh International Jazz Festival Best Group award in 1981. At fourteen Smith won 'Best Soloist'. He attributes much of his early success to the tuition of Vincenzo Crucioli. Under additional clarinettist Jim O'Malley and pianist Jean Allison at Wester Hailes Education Centre, Smith was soon performing around Edinburgh and Scotland with his quartet withJohn Rae (musician).In 1983, at sixteen, he recorded his first albumGiant Strides,[2]with a trio featuring Rae and Alan Taylor. During the same year, he recorded his second album,Taking Off,and won a scholarship, assisted by a fund-raising program organized by his music teacher, Jean Allison, to attendBerklee College of MusicinBoston,Massachusetts.[3]At Berklee he formed the band Forward Motion with Norwegian bassistTerje Gewelt,Canadian drummerIan Froman,and Hungarian pianistLaszlo Gardony.[2]The band recorded two albums,ProgressionsandThe Berklee Tapes(1985).

Later career

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With a recommendation fromChick Corea,Smith joined Berklee vice-presidentGary Burton's group with bassistSteve Swallow,pianistMakoto Ozone,and drummerAdam Nussbaum,touring the world and recording the albumWhiz KidsforECM.[4]

In 1989, when he was twenty-two, Smith signed withBlue Note,which released his albumStep by Step.Burton produced the album with a band consisting ofJohn Scofield(guitar),Eddie Gómez(bass), andJack DeJohnette(drums). Three more albums followed for Blue Note:Peeping Tom(1990),Standards(1991), andParis(1992). During this period Smith hosted a series of BBC-TV specials calledJazz Typesin which he performed with guests such asTommy Flanagan,Gary Burton, Chick Corea,Bobby Watson,Arild Andersen,Hue and Cry,and theBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.[2]Smith recorded and toured with Hue and Cry, a duo of brothers Pat and Greg Kane with American vibistJoe Locke,percussionist Trilok Gurtu, and Arild Andersen. Smith also examined classical composition, leading to his first saxophone concerto,Unirsi in Matrimonio,and a suite for saxophone and strings,Un Ecossais a Paris.

In 1993, Smith joined the Scottish record label,Linn Records.His albums,Reminiscence(1993),Misty Morning and No Time(1994),Azure(1995, withJon Christensen,Lars DanielssonandKenny Wheeler), andBeasts of Scotland(1996) were released. Writing inPlayboymagazine, Neil Tesser noted ofBeasts of Scotlandthat "Smith's artful writing makes the ensemble sound like a petite Philharmonic."[5]The Sound of Lovefollowed. Recorded in New York City in September 1997 with Kenny Barron (piano), Peter Washington (bass), and Billy Drummond (drums), it focused on the Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn songbook.Gymnopedie: The Classical Side of Tommy Smith(1998) was recorded with his regular duo partner, classical pianistMurray McLachlan.The disc included music by Satie, Bartok, Grieg, and Chick Corea, and Smith's Sonatas No. 1 "Hall of Mirrors" and No. 2 "Dreaming With Open Eyes" based on Michael Tucker's book of the same title. Returning to jazz and to New York the following year, Smith then recorded his final album for Linn,Blue Smith,with John Scofield and his regular rhythm section of bassistJames Genusand drummerClarence Penn.

Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

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Tommy Smith conducting the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra featuring special Guest Courtney Pine in 2014

In 1995 Smith founded the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, which has presented programs of repertory classics and more contemporary works, often specially commissioned.

The repertory programs have included Duke Ellington's extended suites, celebrations ofCount BasieandBenny Goodman(with special guest Ken Peplowski) and the collaborations betweenMiles DavisandGil Evans–Porgy & Bess,Sketches of Spain(both with Gerard Presencer as trumpet soloist) andMiles Ahead(with Ingrid Jensen). SNJO has presented the music ofCharles Mingus,Oliver Nelson,Benny Carter,Stan Kenton,Thelonious Monk,Steely Dan,Astor Piazzolla,andPat Metheny(with guitarists Jim Mullen, Phil Robson, Mike Walker and Kevin MacKenzie) and premiered special commissions by Keith Tippett,Florian Ross,and Geoffrey Keezer, as well as specially commissioned arrangements ofJohn Coltrane,Chick Corea (with drummer Gary Novak),Wayne Shorterfeaturing Gary Burton, Electric Miles featuring John Scofield, Weather Report featuringPeter Erskine,andKurt Elling.

In addition, SNJO has performed music by contemporary jazz musicians. These include Kenny Wheeler'sSweet Sister Suite;Joe Lovano'sCelebrating Sinatrawith arrangements by Manny Albam; the music ofMaria Schneiderconducted by the composer; and Smith'sPlanet Wave,a large-scale composition made possible by the Arts Foundation/Barclays Bank jazz composition fellowship prize which marries Smith's music to text by poetEdwin Morgan.The concerts with Lovano also featured the premiere of Smith'sTorah,a work based on the first five books of the Bible in which a titanic struggle occurs between good and evil. Written over seventy days, the fifty-minute composition was created for Lovano and SNJO. During the same evening thatTorahwas being premiered in Scotland,Cleo LaineandJohn DankworthpremieredThe Morning of the Imminentby Smith and Morgan at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. On Friday May 3 2024, the SNJO played with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra back in his native Edinburgh including a performance of his arrangement of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue featuring Makoto Ozone on the piano.

Classical music

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Smith recording his epic Modern Jacobite piece with The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

In 1989 Smith performedAn Rathad Ùr( "The New Road" ), a concerto for saxophone by William Sweeney, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for the television seriesJazz Types,which Smith also presented. Prompted by Roger Pollen of the Scottish Ensemble, he spent six months studying orchestration for strings with a commission for saxophone and strings very much in mind. As a Blue Note musician at the time, Smith had access to the parent company EMI's classical catalogue. He researched orchestration texts by Samuel Adler, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Cecil Forsyth, and spent two productive years in Paris where he studied classical music. He wrote his first classical composition,Unirsi in Matrimonio,for saxophone and strings in 1990.[6]This was followed by another work for strings and saxophone,Un Ecossais À Parisin 1991, and he collaborated with classical pianist (Murray McLachlan) forSonata No.1 – Hall of MirrorsandSonata No.2 Dreaming with Open Eyes,both for saxophone and piano.

The next seven years were spent preparing for a much bigger orchestral work, the saxophone concertoHiroshima(1998). This was premiered with the Orchestra of St. John Smith's Square at Chelmsford Cathedral and included strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, piano, and saxophone. Smith appeared as solo saxophonist for Sally Beamish'sThe Knotgrass Elegy,commissioned for the 2001 BBC Proms, and performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[7]In 2002, Smith performed his earlier and much lengthier re-invention ofChildren's Songsfor saxophone and orchestra with the Scottish Ensemble at St John's Kirk, Perth.[8]Other classical music endeavours have included a massive undertaking for the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra's 40th anniversary in 2003. A suite entitledEdinburghwas written for the occasion, with saxophone, bass, drums, and a one-hundred-person symphony orchestra. The work toured Scotland, Estonia, Russia, and Finland.

Discography

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As leader

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With the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

  • 2002Miles Ahead(Spartacus)
  • 2009Rhapsody in Blue Live(Spartacus)
  • 2010Torah(Spartacus)
  • 2012Celebrationwith (Arild Andersen)(ECM)
  • 2013In the Spirit of Duke(Spartacus)
  • 2014American Adventurewith (Mike Stern)(Spartacus)
  • 2015Jeunehommewith Makoto Ozone (Spartacus)
  • 2018Sweet Sister Suitewith Laura Jurd (Spartacus)
  • 2018Peter & the Wolf(Spartacus)

With the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra

  • 2008Exploration(Spartacus)
  • 2011Emergence(Spartacus)
  • 2017Effervescence(Spartacus)

WithArild AndersenandPaolo Vinaccia

  • 2008Live at Belleville(ECM)
  • 2014Mira(ECM)
  • 2018In-House Science(ECM)

As guest

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  • 1981 European Community Jazz Orchestra,Eurojazz
  • 1986Gary Burton,Whiz Kids(ECM)
  • 1996Hue and Cry,Jazz Not Jazz(Linn)
  • 1997Karen Matheson,The Dreaming Sea(Survival)
  • 1999 Hue and Cry,Next Move(Linn)
  • 2001Clark Tracey,Stability(Linn)
  • 2004Joe Locke,Dear Life(Sirocco)
  • 2005 Reynolds Jazz Orchestra,Cube(Shanti)
  • 2006 Pino Iodice,High Tension
  • 2007 Loic Dequidt,Nomade(Kopasetic)
  • 2010Michael McGoldrick,Aurora(Secret Music)
  • 2013Capercaillie,At the Heart of It(Secret Music)
  • 2015Kurt Elling,Passion World
  • 2017 Giuliana Soscia & Pino Jodice Quartet Meets Tommy Smith,North Wind(Alman Music)[9]

Awards and honors

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Year Category
2019 Scottish Jazz Award [Best Band/SNJO]
2019 OBE [Her Majesty The Queen's New Year honours list]2019 New Year Honours
2017 British Jazz Award [Big Band]
2015 Parliamentary Jazz Award [Educator]
2013 Scottish Jazz Award [Best Live Performance/SNJO]
2013 Honorary Doctorate of MusicUniversity of Edinburgh
2012 British Jazz Award [Big Band]
2012 Scottish Jazz Award [Educator]
2012 Scottish Jazz Award [Album 'KARMA']
2011 Scottish Jazz Award [Educator]
2011 Scottish Jazz Award [Big Band]
2011 Parliamentary Jazz Award [Large Ensemble/SNJO]
2010 Professorship from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
2009 Scottish Jazz Award [Big Band]
2009 Scottish Jazz Award [Woodwind]
2008 Honorary Doctorate of Letters Caledonian University, Glasgow
2008 Heart of Jazz AwardBBC Jazz Awards#2008
2002 The British Jazz Awards [Best Tenor Saxophonist]
2000 Scottish Arts Council [Creative Scotland Award]
2000 Honorary Fellow of theRoyal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
2000 Honorary Doctorate of the UniversityHeriot-Watt University,Edinburgh
1996 Arts Foundation/Barclays Bank [Jazz Composition Fellowship Prize]
1996 BT British Jazz Award
1992 Wavendon All Music Awards [Services to Music]
1989 British Jazz Award
1986 BBC National Big Band Competition [Outstanding Musician Award]
1981 Edinburgh Jazz Festival [Best Band]
1981 Edinburgh Jazz Festival [Best Soloist]

References

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  1. ^"Review quotes of Beast of Scotland'".Spartacusrecords.com.Archived fromthe originalon 5 March 2016.Retrieved3 September2012.
  2. ^abcColin Larkin,ed. (1992).The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz(First ed.).Guinness Publishing.p. 372.ISBN0-85112-580-8.
  3. ^Small, Mark L.""Tommy Smith – Scotland's Hardest-Working Jazzman" article in Berklee journal ".Berklee.edu.Retrieved3 September2012.
  4. ^Kart, Larry (10 December 1985)."Great Vibes From Burton Get Boost From The Side".Chicago Tribune.Retrieved3 September2012.
  5. ^"Very Early into the Blue".Docstoc.com.Retrieved3 September2012.
  6. ^"Classical: Review".Glasgow Herald.
  7. ^"Classical: Review".The Guardian.
  8. ^"Classical: Review".Glasgow Herald.22 February 2002.
  9. ^"Tommy Smith | Credits | AllMusic".AllMusic.Retrieved22 September2018.
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