23 May 2020Tommy Smith streams video featuring solo saxophone and illustrious guests
Saxophonist Tommy Smith has added to the huge number of streams that musicians from the jazz scene have turned to in the absence of live gig opportunities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Smith, who was unable to live-stream due to the poor signal available at his home in rural Lanarkshire, compiled a programme for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Fridays at One series featuring new and archive performances.
The 60-minute film includes solo versions of Billy Strayhorn's Lush Life, his own popular composition from the 1980s Ally the Wallgator, and the eighteenth century hymn Amazing Grace. Smith also features with the all-star sextet with which he recorded his 2003 album, Evolution (Joe Lovano (saxophone), John Scofield (guitar), John Taylor, piano, John Patitucci (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums), with drummer Alyn Cosker, and with his current group, Embodying the Light (aka the Coltrane Quartet).
Smith can also be heard using looping technology and playing a gong that he sourced from Wuhan many years before the Chinese province hit the news headlines as the centre of the coronavirus outbreak.
The video is available on YouTube
Tommy Smith (photo by Derek Clark)