Early Career
Born in Edinburgh on April 27, 1967, to a Scottish mother, Brenda Ann Urquhart, and father, William John Ellis, whom he never met, Smith was brought up in the Wester Hailes area of the city. Here he was encouraged by his late 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.
Under clarinetist Jim O’Malley and pianist Jean Allison of the music department at Wester Hailes Education Centre, Smith was soon gigging around Edinburgh and Scotland with his quartet with John Rae. Within four years he had recorded his first album, "Giant Strides", at the age of sixteen in 1983 with a trio featuring drummer John Rae, and that same year he won a scholarship, assisted by a fund-raising programme organised by his music teacher, Jean Allison, to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston.., where he formed the co-operative group "Forward Motion" with Norwegian bassist Terje Gewelt, Canadian drummer Ian Froman and Hungarian pianist Laszlo Gardony . This group recorded two albums, "Progressions" and "The Berklee Tapes".
Read more about this topic: Tommy Smith (saxophonist)
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