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Tommy Smith solo saxophone
A master class in individual virtuosity
One of the important voices in the tenor players of today
Jazz
Instrumentation
- Tommy Smith OBE - Saxophone
Repertoire
Tommy Smith’s solo saxophone concerts feature entirely acoustic performances of spontaneously chosen melodies drawn from the jazz, folk, classical and praise song traditions. Using the venue's natural acoustics allows Tommy to showcase his wonderful tone reproduction and improvising capabilities in an intimate conversation with the audience. A typical concert lasts for 60/75 minutes plus an encore, if requested, and draws on the Duke Ellington songbook and ballads from the John Coltrane and Stan Getz repertoires as well as melodies associated with Robert Burns, the Gaelic song and psalm-singing traditions, Erik Satie and European praise song.
Biography
Tommy Smith is one of the world’s leading saxophonists. A presence on the global jazz scene since his teenage years, when he toured internationally with vibes virtuoso Gary Burton’s Whiz Kids quintet, Tommy has gone on to record with the definitive jazz label, Blue Note and work with myriad jazz greats including Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, Dame Cleo Laine, John Scofield, Randy Brecker and Jack DeJohnette. He has also led his own groups, ranging from trio to sextet, and toured internationally with Norwegian double bass master Arild Andersen's trio, which records for the prestigious ECM Records label.
Tommy's compositions and work as a soloist extend to the symphonic arena, through albums including Modern Jacobite, recorded with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and as their founding director he has built the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra into a world class, award-winning big band. He also directs his own youth jazz orchestra, which has nurtured over 100 musicians and featured many of the leading talents on Scotland's flourishing jazz scene.
Since 2000 Tommy has been playing solo saxophone concerts, earning extravagant critical acclaim and performing in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Lichfield Cathedral and Dunfermline Abbey and at festivals across the UK and into the U.S. and Europe. He has recorded two solo albums, Into Silence and Solow.
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