Nick Smith is a seasoned professional with over ten years' performance experience, in that time being lucky enough to work with artists as varied as great American trumpeter Bobby Shew ,
British multiple jazz award winner Alan Barnes , Big Band frontman and 'professional nephew' John Miller ,
soul legends Jimmy James and the Vagabonds ,
Sheffield star ascendent Richard Hawley , Big Band singer Lee Gibson , and Bernie Clifton and his Ostrich.
Nick is available for concerts, events, weddings, parties, theatre shows and other engagements on a freelance basis, as well as teaching the saxophone.
To make enquiries or bookings, please contact him through this Space,
or CLICK HERE TO EMAIL NICK .
He is able to play tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxes, doubles on clarinet and bass clarinet and is currently mastering the flute, further enhancing his versatility.
Nick's main influences are Big Band players like the great Johnny Hodges, through Marshall Royal, Lockjaw Davis, Pepper Adams, Eric Dolphy and Joe Henderson to contemporary players like Denis DiBlasio, Ronnie Cuber and the amazing, sadly departed Michael Brecker.
He also enjoys playing funk and blues - major influences here being Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, Bob James, and Maceo Parker.
Nick is currently touring nationally and internationally with the revered theatre show Jake & Elwood , paying tribute to the Blues Brothers in a theatre near you soon!
Here's a taster of the show, live at the NIA, Birmingham, at Christmas...
He is also the leader of Mulligan Soup , a piano-less quartet playing cool jazz in the style of the famous Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker collaborations of the 1950's.
In addition to this, he regularly performs with many other groups around the country, includingSmall Jazz Groups duos, trios, quartets and quintets such as Impressions , and Mad Dog and the SophisticatsBig Bands including the New Squaronaires , the Nottingham Jazz Orchestra, the Kings of Swing Orchestra , the Nick Ross Orchestra , the Henley Farrell Big Band , the Sizzlers Swing Orchestra , and the Steve King Big Band ,Function Bands such as Souled Out 2 Funk , Paul Barry and his Big Band, Cloud9 and MonkHouse ,Musical Theatre Bands most recently "Singin' in the Rain" at Derby Playhouse, and a school's production of "Return to the Forbidden Planet",Saxophone ensembles such as Plural Sax, the Staffs Sax quartet and Consensio Saxophone Quartet,and Other Tribute Acts such as the Sounds of the Blues Brothers and The Conmitments .The example tracks provided above are part of a hastily assembled demo Nick recorded with friends Jez Matthews and Richard Keates (the "Jez Matthews Project") in the Stables, in Sheffield in March 2005. More examples will be available soon!
