Raymond Alex Smith

Raymond Alexander Busby Smith was born on November 22, 1985. When he was in 3rd grade he started learning the cello. By the time he was in 7th grade he was playing songs he heard from the radio on his cello. He would play popular songs for his friends and during orchestra practice he would play them in between pieces. On the last day of school, the conductor approached Alex and said, “You know, there’s a better instrument for what you’re doing. It’s called the bass guitar.” ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________At the time, Alex had never heard of the bass guitar. He told his parents what his music teacher had said. On his twelfth birthday Alex was given a bass guitar by his parents. Alex would play all the time. His oldest brother, Malcolm, soon found out and introduced Alex to the music of Victor Wooten. Soon Alex learned of other great bass players such as Jaco Pastorius, John Patitucci, and Marcus Miller. Alex hasn’t looked back since.______________________________________________________ __________________________________________Alex has performed with Hiro Honshuku's A-No-Ne Ensemble and the Jazz Composer's Alliance Orchestra. He has performed and/or recorded with Fred Wesley (James Brown), Barry Eastmond (Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight..), Oliver Lake, Daryl Lowery, Bob Pilkington, Aruan Ortiz, Gilson Schachnik, Jeff Galindo, Casper Gyldensoe, Pablo Bencid, Gustavo Assis-Brasil, Scott deOgburn, Neal Itzler, Norm Zocher, Ricardo Monzon, Winnie Dahlgren, Hiro Honshuku, Vinicius Pienasola, Carmen Staaf, Natalie Dietrich, Eguie Castrillo, Rick Peckham, Larry Finn and more. Alex also established the original band, Pulse Definition, which he describes as “Funky Alternative Jazz”.____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________Alex is in his final year at Berklee College of Music and since his admission to the school in 2004 on a merit-based scholarship Alex has studied privately with John Lockwood, Matthew Garrison, Jim Stinnett, Anthony Vitti, Lenny Stalworth and Hal Crook.