HONORARY AWARD TO RUDY SMITH

Since 1984 The Ben Webster Foundation has honored musicians that have contributed to the spirit of Ben Webster and jazz throughout a lifetime career.

In august the Honorary Award was given to Rudy Smith, the last from the generation of great jazz musicians that made Denmark their home and musical base. His instrument is steel pans, and he is also active as an arranger, steel pan maker and tuner.

Rudy Smith was the first to create a jazz style on alto pans back in the 1960’s, at a time when he travelled to Europe. He settled in Stockholm, and here he joined the many international musicians active on the Swedish scene, among them Bob Marley, Keith Jarrett, Cyndee Peters, Eric Bibb, Ahmadu Jarr, Johnny Dyani and Johnny Nash. In 1983 he moved to Copenhagen and founded his own quartet, who has toured Europe, the Caribbeans, USSR and South Africa during almost 40 years. He also travelled as a soloist and played with many internationally known jazz musicians.

His virtuoso, sensitive and original style was inspired by the vibraphone player Milt Jackson, J.S. Bach and the saxophonist John Coltrane. He made his first record at the tender age of 12.  He is a legend among young pan soloists as the first to record a jazz album with a pannist in front (Still Around, 1984), and also the first to record a steel pan band together with a jazz group (Time to move On, 1999). A few years back the Swedish record company Caprice released the retrospective What Pan did for Me with recordings from 1956 to 2000, including a voluminous booklet. His latest Danish recording is Glass World (2019) on Stunt Records.

Mere info on his home page:             https://www.rudysmith.dk/

Foto: Fie Johansen