Tommy Smith (musician)

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Tommy Smith, 2018

William Thomas Ellis Smith OBE (* 27. April 1967 in Lutton , Bedfordshire ) is a Scottish Jazz - Tenor saxophonist , composer , bandleader and teacher.

Life

Smith grew up in the Wester Hailes area of ​​Edinburgh and began playing the tenor saxophone when he was twelve. At the age of 15 he had his first television appearance on the side of Gordon Beck and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen ; at the age of 16 he received a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston , during which the first recordings were made under his own name ( Forward Motion - The Berkeley Tapes , 1984 with Terje Gewelt , among others ). Here he played in Gary Burton's band , on whose ECM album Whiz Kids he was involved in 1986. With fellow students he went on his first tour of Great Britain and Europe in 1985/86. After his return to Scotland he worked in the local jazz scene with his own formations since the late 1980s. a. with Jason Rebello and Idris Muhammad , as well as musical director of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and its Youth Jazz Orchestra .

He also recorded over 20 albums under his own name, including a. for the labels Hep Records , Blue Note Records , Linn Records and his own Spartacus label. He worked in various formations and big bands and played a. a. Joe Lovano , David Liebman , Benny Golson , Joe Locke , Gary Burton , Chick Corea , Tommy Flanagan , John Scofield , John Patitucci , Miroslav Vitouš , Arild Andersen , Trilok Gurtu , Jack DeJohnette , Jon Christensen , John Taylor , Joanne Brackeen , Laura Macdonald and Kenny Wheeler .

As a composer he has worked for various classical orchestras and ensembles, such as the Orchestra of St. John's Square , the Scottish Ensemble , the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra , the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra . He has also worked with pianist Murray McLachlan , the pop group Hue & Cry and traditional Scottish musicians such as Karen Matheson and Donald Shaw, and Iraqi oud player Naseer Shamma . Smith's original compositions were Beauty and the Beast for David Liebman and Torah for Joe Lovano .

Smith received his PhD from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 1999. He began teaching when he worked with Gary Burton in 1986 and the group gave workshops with master classes. From 1990 he taught at Broughton High School in Edinburgh , and in 1993 he taught improvisation at Edinburgh Napier University . In 1995 he created a curriculum for the National Jazz Institute in Glasgow , which he headed from 1998.

Prizes and awards

In 2000, Smith received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland . In 2002 he received the British Jazz Award for best tenor saxophonist. He received a second honorary doctorate from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2008 for his services to music in Scotland. In 2012 he received a Scottish Jazz Award for both his work as a jazz teacher and for his album Karma .

Discographic notes

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Tommy Smith - Scotland's Hardest-Working Jazzman , Berklee Journal
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Thomas William Ellis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish jazz musician and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Lutton , Bedfordshire