Tommy Smith

Background

About Tommy Smith

Award-winning saxophonist-composer Tommy Smith is a creative force in jazz, performing in settings from solo to symphonic concerts. He has recorded 24 albums as a leader for Blue Note, ECM and Spartacus Records and worked with star names including Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Jack DeJohnette, Jaco Pastorius, Kenny Barron, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen, Eddie Gomez, Benny Golson, NHØP, Trilok Gurtu, Murray McLachlan, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Paragon Ensemble, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Orchestra of St. John Smith's Square and Dizzy Gillespie. His albums include over 260 of his own original compositions, including the suites Beasts of Scotland, Hall of Mirrors, Planet Wave, Beauty & the Beast, Monte Cristo, The Sons & Daughters of Alba, Un Ecossais A Paris, Torah and the World Of The Gods. Director of the internationally acclaimed Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, he also directs his own youth jazz orchestra and is artistic director of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s jazz course. He holds honorary doctorates from Heriot-Watt and Glasgow Caledonian Universities and has presented many TV and radio shows for the BBC and Channel 4, received 3 British Jazz Awards (1989, 1996 & 2002), BBC Heart of Jazz Award, Best Woodwind, Best Big Band - Scottish Jazz Awards (2008), the Scottish Jazz Expo Award (2009), Lord Provost Music Award (2009), a professorship from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2010), a five Scottish Jazz Awards for Woodwind (2009), Educator (2011, 2012), Album 'KARMA'(2012) and Big Band (2009, 2011). In 2013 he received an honorary doctorate from Edinburgh University for services to jazz in Scotland, present by Princess Anne.