Tommy Smith (saxophonist)
Encyclopedia
Tommy Smith is a jazz
saxophonist
, composer
and educator. The late jazz critic Richard Cook
said of him, 'Of the generation which emerged in the mid-80s, he might be the most outstandingly talented'.
area of Edinburgh and was encouraged to learn the tenor saxophone
from the age of 12 onwards. At the age of 16, he obtained a scholarship
to study at Berklee College of Music
. He first formed a group "Forward Motion" with Terje Gewelt
, Ian Froman and Laszlo Gardony
and while still at Berklee, he joined Gary Burton
's group.
He has become one of Scotland's leading jazz musicians and composers, an internationally recognised soloist and bandleader since the late-1980s and the musical director and driving force behind the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and his own Youth Jazz Orchestra.
His CV, since touring and recording the Whiz Kids
(ECM Records) album with vibraphonist
Gary Burton
at the age of eighteen, includes a total of twenty-three albums under his own name for Hep Records
, GFM, Blue Note Records
, Linn Records
and his own Spartacus label.
Smith has worked in jazz groups and big bands, and has recorded and toured with world-renowned jazz musicians including Joe Lovano
, David Liebman, Benny Golson
, Joe Locke
, Gary Burton
, Chick Corea
, Tommy Flanagan
, John Scofield
, John Patitucci
, Miroslav Vitous
, Arild Andersen
, Trilok Gurtu, Jack DeJohnette
, Jon Christensen
, John Taylor
, Joanne Brackeen
and Kenny Wheeler
.
He has composed for and performed with classical
orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestra of St. John's Square, the Scottish Ensemble
, the Edinburgh
Youth Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra
, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra
, Scottish Chamber Orchestra
and the Paragon Ensemble. He has also recorded and performed with classical pianist Murray McLachlan, pop group Hue & Cry, and Scottish traditional musicians including Gaelic
singer Karen Matheson
and accordionist/keyboard player Donald Shaw
from Capercaillie, and Iraqi
oud
virtuoso Naseer Shamma
.
His work with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra includes programmes of Pat Metheny
, Oliver Nelson
, Count Basie
, Duke Ellington
, Charles Mingus
, Benny Goodman
, Gil Evans
, Stan Kenton
, Thelonious Monk
, Steely Dan
, John Coltrane
and Maria Schneider
as well as Smith's own compositions such as Beauty and the Beast
for David Liebman and Torah for Joe Lovano
, and his many acclaimed achievements include his work for solo saxophone
'Alone At Last', utilising samples, harmonizer, Loop machine and surround sound
concerts to 48 venues over the U.S.
, France
, Germany
, Sweden
and the UK.
In recognition of his artistic achievements, Smith was made Doctor of the University by Heriot-Watt University
in his home town, Edinburgh on 14 July 1999. The following year, on 4 May 2000, he became Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
. The British Jazz Award for best tenor saxophonist followed in May 2002. On Burns Night, 25 January 2000, Smith was announced as one of the first fourteen recipients of the Scottish Arts Council
's Creative Scotland Awards. The award helped to fulfil his ambition of performing alone at last, a solo concert programme using tenor and soprano saxophone
s, high-tech equipment, poetry
, natural sounds and special effects, which he toured extensively throughout Scotland and beyond in 2001. In 2008 Smith received his second doctorate from Glasgow Caledonian University
for his services to music in Scotland. Also that year he won a prestigious BBC 'Heart of Jazz' Award.
His work in jazz education began while working for Gary Burton in 1986 when the group had to present masterclasses to international students all over the world, this kind of work continued with his own groups until 1990 when he started teaching at Broughton High School in Edinburgh
with John Rae
, Brian Kellock
and Kenny Ellis. In 1993 he began teaching improvisation at Napier University
. In 1995 he created the curriculum
for the National Jazz Institute in Glasgow
which he directed until 1998. He has given masterclasses all over Europe
, Americas and Asia. His private students include Steve Hamilton
, Stuart Gorman, Graeme Scott, Theo Forrest, Paul Booth
, Konrad Wisznieski, Tom MacNiven, Allon Beauvoisin, Paul Towndrow, Fraser Campbell and Jo Fooks. In 2009 he became Artistic Director of a new conservatoire-level course in jazz at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
in Glasgow
. The event was broadcated live by BBC News. The presentation lines were:
"Is it really possible to teach someone how to play jazz? The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama is giving it a try, with internationally renowned saxophonist Tommy Smith leading Scotland's first full- time degree-level jazz course."
All*About*Jazz
critique
John Kelman, in his review of Arild Andersen
's live recorded release (2008) Live at Belleville, said about Smith:
AllAboutJazz contributer Karl Ackermann, in his review of Arild Andersen
's Live at Belleville, wrote: As much as Live at Belleville is an accomplishment for Andersen, it is no less an achievement for Scottish saxophonist, Tommy Smith. ."
|}
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and educator. The late jazz critic Richard Cook
Richard Cook
Richard David Cook was a British jazz writer, magazine editor and former record company executive.Sometimes credited as R. D. Cook, Cook was born in Kew, Surrey and lived in west London as an adult. He was co-author, with Brian Morton, of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings , now in its ninth...
said of him, 'Of the generation which emerged in the mid-80s, he might be the most outstandingly talented'.
Biography
Smith grew up in the Wester HailesWester Hailes
Wester Hailes is an area in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland.Depending on the definition, Wester Hailes sometimes takes in Sighthill, the Calders and other surrounding areas, and may be said to contain the areas of Murrayburn, Clovenstone, Westburn and Dumbryden.Wester Hailes borders on...
area of Edinburgh and was encouraged to learn the tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
from the age of 12 onwards. At the age of 16, he obtained a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to study at Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
. He first formed a group "Forward Motion" with Terje Gewelt
Terje Gewelt
Terje Gewelt is a Norwegian jazz bassist.He grew up in Larvik, a small town on the southeastern coast. He started playing guitar at the age of 10, switched to electric bass at 14 and added acoustic bass at 17....
, Ian Froman and Laszlo Gardony
Laszlo Gardony
Laszlo Gardony is an American jazz pianist / composer born in Hungary who has released nine albums and leads his own trio.-Biography:Gardony studied at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, graduating in 1979....
and while still at Berklee, he joined Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
's group.
He has become one of Scotland's leading jazz musicians and composers, an internationally recognised soloist and bandleader since the late-1980s and the musical director and driving force behind the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and his own Youth Jazz Orchestra.
His CV, since touring and recording the Whiz Kids
Whiz Kids (album)
Whiz Kids is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton's Quintet recorded in 1986 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating "The repertoire and post-bop solos have more fire than one would normally expect on a Gary Burton record, and...
(ECM Records) album with vibraphonist
Vibraphonist
Notable players of the vibraphone include:* Peter Appleyard* Roy Ayers* Karl Berger* Jeff Berman* Jack Brokensha* Larry Bunker* Christian Burchard* Rusty Burge* Gary Burton* Joe Chambers* Teddy Charles* Salem Chiles* John Cocuzzi* Monte Croft...
Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
at the age of eighteen, includes a total of twenty-three albums under his own name for Hep Records
Hep Records
Hep Records is a Scottish record label specializing in both new and reissued jazz music. The label was founded in 1974 by Alastair Robertson in Edinburgh.-Past and present artists:*Don Lanphere*Jessica Williams*Jim Mullen*Tommy Smith*Michael Hashim...
, GFM, Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
, Linn Records
Linn Records
Linn Records is a Glasgow-based record label which specialises in classical, jazz and Scottish music. It is part of Linn Products.-History:While Linn engineers were testing their flagship product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, they became frustrated with some of the specialist test LPs they were using...
and his own Spartacus label.
Smith has worked in jazz groups and big bands, and has recorded and toured with world-renowned jazz musicians including Joe Lovano
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
, David Liebman, Benny Golson
Benny Golson
Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.-Biography:While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and...
, Joe Locke
Joe Locke
Joseph Paul Locke is a US American jazz vibraphonist, composer, recording artist and educator.-Biography:Locke was born in Palo Alto, California, but raised in Rochester, New York...
, Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
, Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Tommy Flanagan
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald...
, John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
, John Patitucci
John Patitucci
John Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...
, Miroslav Vitous
Miroslav Vitouš
Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš , is a Czech jazz bassist.-Biography:Born in Prague, he began the violin at age six, and started playing the piano at age ten, and bass at fourteen. As a young man in Europe, Vitouš was a competitive swimmer. One of his early music groups was the Junior Trio with his...
, Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen is a Norwegian bass player.Born in Lillestrøm, Norway, he started out as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet , with Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen...
, Trilok Gurtu, Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
, Jon Christensen
Jon Christensen
Jon Christensen is a Norwegian jazz percussionist.In the late 1960s he played alongside Jan Garbarek on several recordings by the composer George Russell....
, John Taylor
John Taylor (jazz)
John Taylor is a British jazz pianist; he has occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesiser. He is one of Europe's most celebrated jazz pianists and composers.-Performing career:...
, Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen is an American jazz pianist and music educator.-Biography:She was born Joanne Grogan in Ventura, California. She attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but devoted herself to jazz by imitating Frankie Carle albums...
and Kenny Wheeler
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
.
He has composed for and performed with classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestra of St. John's Square, the Scottish Ensemble
Scottish Ensemble
The Scottish Ensemble is one of Scotland's finest string ensembles, formed from some of the most highly respected string players in Europe. Playing standing in a semicircle and without a conductor, it is led from the violin by Artistic Director, Jonathan Morton.Originally formed in 1969 as the...
, the Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
Youth Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra
Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands is an orchestra based in Reykjavík, Iceland. The ISO is an autonomous public institution under the auspices of the Icelandic Ministry of Education...
, Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...
and the Paragon Ensemble. He has also recorded and performed with classical pianist Murray McLachlan, pop group Hue & Cry, and Scottish traditional musicians including Gaelic
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
singer Karen Matheson
Karen Matheson
Karen Matheson OBE is a Scottish folk singer, who frequently sings in Scottish Gaelic. She is lead singer of the group Capercaillie and was a member of Dan Ar Braz's group L'Heritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lead vocals, either alone or jointly with Elaine Morgan...
and accordionist/keyboard player Donald Shaw
Donald Shaw (musician)
Donald Shaw is a Scottish musician, composer, producer, and one of the founding members of the group Capercaillie. His sister is fiddler Eilidh Shaw....
from Capercaillie, and Iraqi
Iraqi people
The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...
oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
virtuoso Naseer Shamma
Naseer Shamma
Naseer Shamma is a renowned Arab Iraqi musician and oud player.He was born in 1963 in Kut, a city on the Tigris River. He is born to a Fayli Kurdish father and a Khazrajite Arab mother. He began studying the oud at the age of 12 in Baghdad, following in the footsteps of Jamil and Munir Bashir...
.
His work with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra includes programmes of Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
and Maria Schneider
Maria Schneider (musician)
Maria Schneider is an American arranger, composer, and big-band leader who has won multiple awards. In 2005, her album Concert in the Garden won a Grammy for "Best Large Ensemble Album"...
as well as Smith's own compositions such as Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
for David Liebman and Torah for Joe Lovano
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
, and his many acclaimed achievements include his work for solo saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
'Alone At Last', utilising samples, harmonizer, Loop machine and surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
concerts to 48 venues over the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and the UK.
In recognition of his artistic achievements, Smith was made Doctor of the University by Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University is a university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name commemorates George Heriot, the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt, the great 18th century inventor and engineer....
in his home town, Edinburgh on 14 July 1999. The following year, on 4 May 2000, he became Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland is the professional body for architects in Scotland. It was founded in 1916 by Robert Rowand Anderson who donated his Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh to be used as its home, where it remains to this day. It was given its first Royal charter in...
. The British Jazz Award for best tenor saxophonist followed in May 2002. On Burns Night, 25 January 2000, Smith was announced as one of the first fourteen recipients of the Scottish Arts Council
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council is a Scottish public body that distributes funding from the Scottish Government, and is the leading national organisation for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland...
's Creative Scotland Awards. The award helped to fulfil his ambition of performing alone at last, a solo concert programme using tenor and soprano saxophone
Soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
s, high-tech equipment, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, natural sounds and special effects, which he toured extensively throughout Scotland and beyond in 2001. In 2008 Smith received his second doctorate from Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland.The university was constituted by an Act of Parliament on 1 April 1993 as a result of a merger between Glasgow Polytechnic and The Queen's College, Glasgow....
for his services to music in Scotland. Also that year he won a prestigious BBC 'Heart of Jazz' Award.
His work in jazz education began while working for Gary Burton in 1986 when the group had to present masterclasses to international students all over the world, this kind of work continued with his own groups until 1990 when he started teaching at Broughton High School in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
with John Rae
John Rae (educator)
Dr John Rae was a British educator, author and novelist. He was headmaster of Taunton School and then Head Master of Westminster School ....
, Brian Kellock
Brian Kellock
Brian Kellock is a Scottish jazz pianist.Born in Edinburgh, Brian graduated with a B. Music from Edinburgh University in 1986...
and Kenny Ellis. In 1993 he began teaching improvisation at Napier University
Napier University
Edinburgh Napier is one of the largest higher education institutions in Scotland with over 17,000 students, including nearly 5,000 international students, from more than 100 nations worldwide.-History:...
. In 1995 he created the curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
for the National Jazz Institute in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
which he directed until 1998. He has given masterclasses all over Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Americas and Asia. His private students include Steve Hamilton
Steve Hamilton
Steven Absher Hamilton was a Major League Baseball and NBA player....
, Stuart Gorman, Graeme Scott, Theo Forrest, Paul Booth
Paul Booth
Paul Booth is an American tattoo artist who has worked for bands Slipknot, Mudvayne, Slayer, Pantera, Soulfly and Sepultura.-Biography:...
, Konrad Wisznieski, Tom MacNiven, Allon Beauvoisin, Paul Towndrow, Fraser Campbell and Jo Fooks. In 2009 he became Artistic Director of a new conservatoire-level course in jazz at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. The event was broadcated live by BBC News. The presentation lines were:
"Is it really possible to teach someone how to play jazz? The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama is giving it a try, with internationally renowned saxophonist Tommy Smith leading Scotland's first full- time degree-level jazz course."
All*About*Jazz
All About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
critique
Critique
Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic analysis of a written or oral discourse. Critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgement, but it can also involve merit recognition, and in the philosophical tradition it also means a methodical practice of doubt...
John Kelman, in his review of Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen is a Norwegian bass player.Born in Lillestrøm, Norway, he started out as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet , with Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen...
's live recorded release (2008) Live at Belleville, said about Smith:
| " Smith shines here as he does throughout the collection. He is a brilliant star-turn that almost steals the show. Despite a considerable catalog, Smith is among the under-recognized talents on the US jazz scene. Hopefully, Live at Belleville will correct that oversight." |
AllAboutJazz contributer Karl Ackermann, in his review of Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen is a Norwegian bass player.Born in Lillestrøm, Norway, he started out as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet , with Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen...
's Live at Belleville, wrote: As much as Live at Belleville is an accomplishment for Andersen, it is no less an achievement for Scottish saxophonist, Tommy Smith. ."
|}