return to casual Walter Smith III

• 1 Contra 05:02
• 2 River Styx 05:31
• 3 Pup - Pow 02:34
• 4 Shine 06:06
• 5 Mother Stands for Comfort 04:07
• 6 quiet song 05:36
• 7 lamplight 03:37
• 8 Amelia Earhart Ghosted Me 05:26
• 9 K8 + BYU$ 06:45
• 10 REVIVE 03:55
• Total Runtime 48:39

Info zu return to casual

Smith erlernte im Alter von sieben Jahren das Saxophonspiel und besuchte in Houston die High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Mit einem Stipendium des Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship studierte er am Berklee College of Music, wo er 2003 seinen Bachelor erwarb. In New York setzte er seine Studien an der Manhattan School of Music fort und arbeitete u. a. mit Roy Haynes, Bilal, Destiny’s Child, Herbie Hancock und Wayne Shorter. 2006 erschien sein erstes Soloalbum „Casually Introducing“, 2007 spielte er auf Christian Scotts Album „Rewind That“, das für einen Grammy nominiert wurde.

Mit “return to casual” greift Walter Smith III jetzt sein 2014 veröffentlichtes Album “still casual” auf und stellte dafür ein Spitzenensemble zusammen, in dem auch Blue-Note-Kollegen wie Ambrose Akinmusire und Kendrick Scott glänzen.

Walter Smith III, Tenorsaxophon
Kendrick Scott, Schlagzeug
Harish Raghavan, Bass
Matt Stevens, Gitarre
Taylor Eigsti, Klavier, Fender Rhodes
Ambrose Akinmusire, Trompete (Tracks 2, 8)
James Francies, Fender Rhodes (Track 9)

Walter Smith III
Saxophonist and composer Walter Smith III entered a new era of his band leading career with his remarkable 2023 Blue Note debut return to casual. Dedicated to collaborative work with some of the music’s most influential voices — including Ambrose Akinmusire, Terence Blanchard, Gerald Clayton, Eric Harland, Jason Moran, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Herbie Hancock, Maria Schneider, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Dee Dee Bridgewater — Smith has crafted a distinct style, personal vocabulary and compositional approach that serves the individuality of his fellow artists. For the past several years, he has been co-leading the acclaimed In Common project with guitarist Matt Stevens, exploring and refining different conceptual approaches to writing. In releasing return to casual, on which he also served as producer, Smith unveiled the many ways his creative expression has expanded, and the influence these collaborative environments have had on his vision as a leader. For 2024’s three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not, Smith paid homage to his hometown of Houston, Texas, with his fellow Houston natives Moran and Eric Harland plus bassist Reuben Rogers. For his 3rd Blue Note album in 2026, Smith reprised his acclaimed Twio concept with the long-awaited release of Twio, Vol. 2, a set of classic jazz songs that exudes a playful sense of joyful freedom featuring a core trio of Smith, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Kendrick Scott, along with a pair of bucket-list guests: bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

“'In Common' conveys the shape and feel of traditional jazz while remaining harmonically untethered and melodically free... The best of both worlds.” — DownBeat Magazine

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet