Tommy Smith
Scottish saxophone player
Tommy Smith 's AcademicInfluence.com Rankings
Download Badge
Communications
Why Is Tommy Smith Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Thomas William Ellis Smith is a Scottish jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator. Early life Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Scottish parents Brenda Ann Urquhart, and father, William John Ellis, whom he never met. Smith was brought up in the Wester Hailes area of the city, where he was encouraged by his stepfather, George Smith, an avid jazz fan and drummer in the Gene Krupa style, to take up the tenor saxophone at the age of twelve. When he was thirteen he attended a weekly jazz workshop under the direction of Gordon Cruikshank. He met pathologist and pianist Vincenzo Crucioli, who became a mentor. With drummer John Rae, his first group won Edinburgh International Jazz Festival Best Group award in 1981. At fourteen Smith won 'Best Soloist'. He attributes much of his early success to the tuition of Vincenzo Crucioli. Under additional clarinettist Jim O'Malley and pianist Jean Allison at Wester Hailes Education Centre, Smith was soon performing around Edinburgh and Scotland with his quartet with John Rae . In 1983, at sixteen, he recorded his first album Giant Strides, with a trio featuring Rae and Alan Taylor. During the same year, he recorded his second album, Taking Off, and won a scholarship, assisted by a fund-raising program organized by his music teacher, Jean Allison, to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. At Berklee he formed the band Forward Motion with Norwegian bassist Terje Gewelt, Canadian drummer Ian Froman, and Hungarian pianist Laszlo Gardony. The band recorded two albums, Progressions and The Berklee Tapes .
