Walter Smith III

Walter Smith III (* 24. September 1980 in Houston , Texas ) is an American jazz - tenor saxophonist .

Live and act

Smith learned the saxophone at the age of seven and attended the Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts . With a scholarship from the Clifford Brown / Stan Getz Fellowship , he studied at Berklee College of Music , where he obtained a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 2003 . He then moved to New York and continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music . He worked u. a. with Roy Haynes and Ralph Peterson , singer Bilal and the band Destiny's Child . From 2005 he worked for two years at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and went on tours with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter . In 2006 his first solo album Casually Introducing was released on Fresh Sound Records . a. and Eric Harland participated. In 2007 he played on Christian Scott's album Rewind That , which was nominated for a Grammy ; He is also involved in Michael Bublé's album Caught in the Act , which was nominated for the traditional pop grammy.

Prizes and awards

In 2002 he made a guest appearance as a young artist at the Montreux Jazz Festival , where he received the Audience's Favorite Award . He had previously received the Clifford Brown / Stan Getz Fellowship and the Young Talent Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts , the Scholar in the Arts Medal from the American President, and the annual Boston Jazz Society Prize .

Discographic notes

• Twio (Whirlwind Recordings, 2018) with Harish Raghavan , Eric Harland , Christian McBride , Joshua Redman
• In Common (Whirlwind Recordings, 2018) with Matthew Stevens , Joel Ross , Harish Raghavan, Marcus Gilmore
• In Common 2 (Whirlwind, 2020)

literature

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .

Web links

• Web presence
• Biographical portrait at All About Jazz