Daniel Ian Smith has been an active performer and educator for the last 20 years. He is an Assistant Professor at the acclaimed Berklee College of Music in Boston where he has taught for over 12 years. He is in demand as a clinician, guest soloist, and private teacher and has performed throughout the United States, Japan, Germany, and England. He currently leads several of his own ensembles including:
A Collective Directive
TREE-OH
The New World Jazz Composers Octet
The Big and Phat Jazz Orchestra
As the recipient of the prestigious Uchida Fellowship in 1996 (from the Japan Foundation), Mr. Smith spent 6 months performing and touring around Japan and studying Japanese traditional music and culture. He was the featured soloist at the Yokohama Port Festival, Yokohama, Japan in June of 1996. He is the founder/artistic director of the Jazz in the Sanctuary Concert Series in Brookline, MA which has produced over 80 concerts in the last 10 years featuring the likes of Paul Bley, Marty Ehrlich, Joel Harrison, Bob Moses, Lewis Porter, Steve Slagle, Jack Walrath, Tim Ray, Bob Gullotti, Mick Goodrick and many others. Daniel currently endorses Alexander Superial reeds.
Performances with:
Arturo Sandoval, Claudio Roditi, Maria Schneider, Jack Walrath, John Lewis, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Greg Abate, Steve Gadd, Abe Laboriel, Gloria Estefan, Jamey Haddad, Rob Mounsey, Don Rickles, Joan Rivers, Johnny Mathis, The Boston Philharmonic under Benjamin Zander, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra under Carl St. Clair, Patti Lupone, Christine Andreas, Rebecca Paris, The Temptations, The O’Jays, Michael Abene, Bruce Gertz, Joel Harrison, Michele Rosewoman, Composers in Red Sneakers, Fred Ho, Lewis Porter, Marty Ehrlich, George Masso, Harold Jones, Cecil Bridgewater, Gary Valente, Bill Pierce, Ken Filliano, Bobby Shew, Clay Osborne, Pedro Ito, Phil Wilson, Steve Marcus, Bob Kaufmann, Shawnn Monteiro, Gray Sargent, Artie Shaw Orchestra, John Pierce, Tony Lee, Dave Green, Clark Tracy, Premiere of Irene’s Riff by Jon Lipsky for Musician and Actress, Artie Cabral, Steve Marvin, Akikazu Nakamura, Kazumi Watanabe, Jun Saito, Kenwood Dennard, Jyoji Sawada, Fernando Huergo, Kosei Uchida, Hiro Takada, Freedom Jazz Spirits (Kansai, Japan), Nando Michelin, John Allmark Jazz Orchestra, Harry James Orchestra, Joe Georgianni, Joe Bargar, Arthur Welwood, Beth Denisch, Barbara Kolb, Tibor Pusztai, Julius Williams, Sergio Brandao and Manga Rosa, Egui Castirillo, Oscar Stagnaro, Mark Walker, Alain Mallet, Sheila Jordan, Boston Saxophone Quartet (premiere of Don Hagar’s Blues Control, written for Daniel Ian Smith), Steve Grismore, Bob Gullotti, John Lockwood, George Garzone, Steve Slagle, Tim Ray, Bobby Shew, ALEA III, NuClassix Composers Forum, New England Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble, Berklee College of Music Faculty Ensemble, Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra, JCA Saxophone Quartet, Kenny Hadley Big Band, White Heat Swing Orchestra, Duke Belaire Big Band, The Big Idea Big Band, New England Conservatory Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Greg Hopkins Jazz Orchestra, the Bebop Guitars, Soul Kitchen, Decahedron.
Performance venues/festivals/TV/Radio:
Berlin, Germany:
B Flat and Schlot Jazz Clubs
Japan:
Yokohama Port Festival, Phoenix Jazz Festival, Rag Live Spot, Lady Jane, The Pit Inn-Roppongi, The Pit Inn, Tokyo, New Combo, Big Apple, Pan School of Music, Koyo Conservatory, NHK Radio, Kansai Television
England:
Ruislip Jazz Club, The Rhythm Station, Watermill Jazz Club, The Bulls Head Inn Jazz Club, Spike’s Place, Oxford Public Television
United States:
Carnegie Hall, Foxwoods Casino, Scullers Jazz Club, Regattabar, The Real Deal Jazz Club, Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Winthrop Jazz Festival, RISD Museum, Union Blues, Newport Jazz Festival, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Providence Performing Arts Center, Colby College (ME), Lyndon State University (VT), Augustana University (IA), Discover Jazz Festival (Vermont), University of Maine at Augusta, Equinox Music Festival, The Hatch Shell on the Boston Esplanade, The Hi Hat, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Boston University, Berklee Performance Center, Jordan Hall, Visiones Jazz Club, Sanders Theatre, IAJE Convention (NYC), South Shore Jazz Festival, Harvard University, M.I.T., Cambridge Public Library, The Ethical Society (Boston), Ithaca College, Cornell University, Cortland State College, First Unitarian Church (Schenectady, NY); Emmanuel Church, 1st & 2nd Church, Museum of Our National Heritage (Lexington, MA), WERS, NPR, WGBH Radio, PBS Television, Annenberg Foundation/Discovery Channel, Southeast District Jazz Orchestra Guest Director-Attleboro, MA, Guest Artist in Residence at MIT.
Selected Recordings
Transitions New World Jazz Composers Octet
Big and Phat Jazz Productions (BPJ1021), 2010
No Place to Hide New World Jazz Composers Octet
Big and Phat Jazz Productions (BPJ1019), 2007
Quintet The Bubeck/Smith Quintet
Big and Phat Jazz Productions (BPJ 1020), 2007
A Collective Directive Daniel Ian Smith. Big and Phat Jazz Productions. (BPJ1018) 2002 (Received 31/2 star review in DownBeat, 3 stars in Cadence ’03)
Dialogues Daniel Ian Smith Duo. Big and Phat Jazz Productions (BPJ1017) 1997
Eye Music The Joe Mulholland Sextet. Rose Records 2000
An Aardvark Christmas Aardvark Jazz Orchestra – 9 Winds (NWCD0201) 1997
The Seeker Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. Leo Records (leo lab CD068) 1999
Bethlehem Counterpoint featuring Sheila Jordan. Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. (Aardmuse CD102) 2002
Duke Ellington/Sacred Music Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Aardmuse CD103) 2002
Different Songs Mark Shilansky. 2000 (independent release)
Armchair Safari Paul Bouley. 1998 (independent release)
Expo ’70 Jyoji Sawada. DIW Records, Japan, 1997
Understanding Music Jeremy Yudkin. Sony Music Special Products (24945). 1996 Prentice-Hall Inc./1996 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
I’m Me & You’re Not, the Music of Darrell Katz J.C.A. Saxophone Quartet. Brownstone Records (BRCD9906) 1999
George W. Carroll George Carroll featuring the Big and Phat Jazz Orchestra. Cherry Street Records (CSR 1005 2) 1996
