Upbeat Award from DownBeat Magazine
ALUMNUS NAMED TO 2013 HALL OF FAME
DownBeat magazine recently announced that Ningbo University (China) Professor of Music Tom Smith (‘79) is the 2013 inductee into their Jazz Education Hall of Fame. The longtime trombonist and Fulbright Scholar is the founder of NBU’s full-time jazz program (first in China) and is currently China’s only full time American music professor. DownBeat Hall of Fame inclusion is the highest honor awarded in jazz music. Smith is the 21st inductee from the education division. During his 34-year career, the 2008 International Association for Jazz Education Ambassador Award designee has been a university professor, trombonist, conductor, researcher, program creator, and recipient of six Senior Fulbright Professorships at the Romanian National University of Music in Bucharest, and Tibiscus University in Timisoara. He was also a Senior Fulbright Professional Specialist Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa and most recently at the Serbian Academy of Music in Belgrade, where he formed the curriculum for the country’s first university jazz program.
Through a career steeped mostly in high yield grass roots endeavors, he has founded more than 50 regional and national ensembles on four continents, including the Romanian National Jazz Ensemble, and the Unifour Big Band, an acknowledged forerunner of the American community jazz movement. In the field of jazz research, Tom’s work has been featured on numerous media programs, including National Public Radio’s Weekly Edition and Tech TV.
Tom Smith with some of his students
As a performer, Smith has played trombone, conducted, and recorded for scores of performers like Clark Terry, Joe Henderson, Louie Bellson, Herb Ellis, and the Manhattan Transfer.