Tommy Smith remains full of creative ideas and continues to receive recognition – an Honory Doctorate of Letters from Caledonian University in Glasgow followed his BBC Jazz Awards’ Heart of Jazz award in 2008 and he was voted winner of the Best Woodwind title at the inaugural Scottish Jazz Awards in 2009. It is clear […]
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
In a busy schedule of touring, writing and recording, Smith found the time and energy to launch the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in 1995, and remains its director. SNJO has presented programmes of both repertory classics and more contemporary works, often specially commissioned.
Spartacus
In September 2000, determined to take full control of his recorded output, Smith established his own recording company, Spartacus Records. The first album on the new label, also called Spartacus, was released in February 2001 and was made in New York to the highest technical as well as artistic standards, featuring Smith alongside top American […]
Alone at Last
Having premiered his 3rd Saxophone Concerto with the Orchestra of St. John Smith’s Square at Chelmsford Cathedral in May 1998, Smith went on to produce singer Jeff Leyton’s debut album with the City of London Philharmonic. Leyton, who is Smith’s uncle, also sang on Monte Cristo, the saxophonist’s commission for the combined forces of the […]
Out of the Blue
In 1993, Smith joined Scottish label Linn Records. Reminiscence (1993), Misty Morning and No Time (1994), Azure (recorded with Jon Christensen, Lars Danielsson and Kenny Wheeler in 1995), and the hugely ambitious Beasts of Scotland (1996) all received critical as well as audience acclaim. Writing in Playboy magazine, Neil Tesser noted of Beasts of Scotland […]
Into the Blue
Indeed, and with this impressive opening chapter, the story was only beginning. In 1989, Smith, still only twenty-two, signed to the legendary Blue Note Records. Recorded with producer Gary Burton’s guidance and featuring Smith leading a band comprising jazz luminaries, John Scofield (guitar), Eddie Gomez (Bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums), his Blue Note debut, Step […]
Very Early
Tommy Smith’s special talent was obvious as soon as he appeared on the Edinburgh jazz scene in his early teens. He recorded his first album, Giant Strides, at the age of sixteen in 1983 with a trio featuring drummer John Rae, and that same year he won a scholarship, assisted by an extensive fund-raising programme […]