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 Tommy Smith – Yanagisawa Sax and Rico Reed player – has just won the coveted BBC ‘Heart of Jazz Award’, and has used Rico Select Jazz Unfiled for both Soprano and Tenor Saxophone duties throughout.
Tommy joined vibist Gary Burton's band aged just 18, going on to work with big names such as Chick Corea, John Scofield and Kenny Wheeler. He now leads the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra; his own Youth Jazz Orchestra as well as his own quartet.
Tommy Smith remains full of creative ideas. It is clear that he is going to continue creating music of lasting value. His journey across two decades packed with original and inspiring music has demonstrated conclusively that his is a singular musical voice, and one which has much still to say.
His tireless work in jazz education, which has included conceiving the curriculum for the short-lived Scottish Jazz Conservatory, campaigning for a jazz presence in Scottish further education and teaching individual students, continues unabated and his ambitions for jazz to be given the same status in Scottish education as it enjoys elsewhere continue to take up much time and energy that could be devoted to personal music projects.
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