Perry Smith (4)

Guitarist Perry Smith combines the tradition of Jazz with broad influences from contemporary music to create his signature style. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Smith is now based in Brooklyn where he performs as a bandleader and as a sideman for local and touring artists. Smith’s extensive performance resume includes notable venues and festivals such as the Blue Note Jazz Club (NYC & Tokyo), Smalls Jazz Club (NYC), Dizzy's Club Coca Cola (NYC), Montreal Jazz Festival, Java Jazz Festival (Indonesia), Jazz a la Calle (Uruguay), Rochester Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Yoshi's Jazz Club (Bay Area), The Blue Whale (LA), Philippine International Jazz Festival, The Healdsburg Guitar Festival and SFJazz. In 2019, Smith released his 4th album as a leader “Live in Brooklyn” on his own label Smith Tone Records. The recording showcases Smith's Quartet which includes Melissa Aldana (sax), Matt Aronoff (bass) and Jay Sawyer (drums). Performing well known standards and original songs, this album captures the spontaneity and adventurous spirit of a live jazz recording. As an active player in the NYC jazz scene, Smith hosted a weekly series in Brooklyn called The Soda Session every Wednesday from 2015-2019. Each week he performed with a different group of NYC's finest jazz artists while hosting an open session for NYC's international jazz community. The Soda Session was generously supported by a grant from KeyedUp.org in conjunction with the Jazz Foundation of America. Smith built the session from scratch along with bassist Matt Aronoff. In addition to leading his own projects and working as a sideman, Smith is a founding member of the critically acclaimed New West Guitar Group. Based in Los Angeles featuring guitarists John Storie and Will Brahm, NWGG has been performing internationally since 2005 and they are recognized as one of the premier jazz guitar ensembles in the country. In 2005, Smith received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Flora L. Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he studied jazz guitar legend Joe Diorio. In 2011 he completed his Masters in Music at New York University studying with the great modern jazz guitarist John Scofield and was named the “Outstanding Graduate” for the NYU Jazz Department.