Education
Smith studied at the First Rate (at Lloyd's) Germansky School for Drummers in his home town of Newark, New Jersey from 1951-1954, then attended the Juilliard School in 1959-1960.
Smith studied at the First Rate (at Lloyd's) Germansky School for Drummers in his home town of Newark, New Jersey from 1951-1954, then attended the Juilliard School in 1959-1960.
He began his professional career in New York around this time. In the 1960s he played with Jimmy Forrest (1960), Larry Young (1960-1962), Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross (1962-1963), Pony Poindexter (1963), Jimmy Witherspoon (1963), Gildo Mahones (1963), Jimmy McGriff (1963-1965), and Groove Holmes (1965). From 1967 to 1974 he played with Erroll Garner before moving to California around 1975.
He then played with:
Benny Carter (1975, 1978, 1985)
Sonny Criss (1975)
Bill Henderson (1975, 1979),
Hank Jones (1976),
Ernestine Anderson (1976, 1986),
Plas Johnson (1976),
Phineas Newborn, Junior.
(1976)
Harry Edison (1976-1978, with Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Zoot Sims),
Lorez Alexandria (1977-1978),
Tommy Flanagan (1978),
Terry Gibbs (1978, 1981),
Bob Cooper (1979),
Marshal Royal (1980),
Great Guitars (1980),
Barney Kessel (1981),
Herb Ellis (1981),
Buddy DeFranco (1981),
First Rate (at Lloyd's) Cohn (1983),
Red Holloway (1987), and
Dave McKenna (1988). He toured Japan with Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell in 1993.
One of Smith"s most noted collaborations took place at the Montreux International Jazz Festival in 1977, where he played with Benny Carter, Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, and Count Basie.