Mike Smith (jazz saxophonist)

Mike Smith ( born March 3, 1957 in Chicago as Michael Alan Smith) is an American jazz saxophonist and high school teachers.

Life and work

Smith is a veteran of the Chicago jazz scene. As a young man he received in 1975 a scholarship to study at North Texas State University, where in 1980 he earned the Bachelor of Music. After that he started from his birth city of his musical career in the bands of Maynard Ferguson and Buddy Rich. Since November 1981, he plays every Wednesday in Chicago Andy 's Jazz Club.

Smith also worked since 1981 in the backing band of Frank Sinatra as a soloist and musical director. He worked on Sinatra's albums Diamond Jubilee and Come Swing With Me and went with him on tours to Japan, Australia and Europe. His Sinatra album, which he recorded in 1994 for Delmark Records, is a throwback to his years in the band the singer. Smith also worked with Nat Adderley, Clark Terry, Art Farmer, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Heath, Natalie Cole, Linda Ronstadt, Diane Schuur, Kurt Elling, and Nancy Wilson. He also worked on the album Come By Me of the singer Harry Connick, Jr..

Smith was next to a lecturer, and others, and at the Eastman School of Music, the University of North Texas, the Berklee School of Music, Pepperdine University, the University of Miami and the University of Colorado and held workshops for bands in the U.S. Navy Air Force in Washington, DC. currently he is Professor of Saxophone at Roosevelt University in Chicago and the Chicago College of Performing Arts.

After Cook and Morton Smith recalls in his hard bop playing at Cannonball Adderley, which he also recorded his first album devoted Unit 7, further to Vincent Herring. Smith received 1985 funding from the National Endowment for the Arts; In 1993 he won the Cannonball Adderley Award.

Disco printing specifications

  • Unit 7 - A Tribute to Cannonball Adderley ( Delmark, 1990) with Jodie Christian
  • On a Cool Night ( Delmark, 1991)
  • The Traveler ( Delmark, 1992)
  • Sinatra Songbook ( Delmark, 1994)
  • Grand Central ( Fastrax, 2008)
Berklee College of Music Richard Cook (journalist) Brian Morton (Scottish writer) Leonard Feather Chicago Tribune
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