Jazz Articles about Melvin Smith

Melvin Smith: Perseverance

by Jack Bowers
April 22, 2023

Perseverance, Florida-bred saxophonist Melvin Smith's seventh album as leader of his own group, is a hard-blowing session on which he shows (again) that he is one of the leading bop-based reed masters on today's scene. On soprano or tenor, Smith displays a clarity of purpose and storehouse of astute phrases that serve him well at any pace and in any context. Besides alternating horns (tenor on seven numbers, soprano on four), Smith adds texture and variety to ...

Melvin Smith: Portrait

by Michael P. Gladstone
December 27, 2007

There is nothing newfangled here, but if mainstream bebop jazz saxophone is to your interests, then you will give this debut high marks.

Melvin Smith is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. Armed with a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, he was also honored there with the Lennie Johnson Award after graduation. Smith then studied under Jimmy Heath at the Queens College (New York) music department, gaining his Master's Degree in 1999.

Smith uses his ...

Melvin Smith: Portrait

by John Barron
November 27, 2007

Using gospel elements in a jazz context can be a hit-or-miss proposition. Depending on the background and integrity of the musicians involved, the results can often be trite, or shamelessly bent towards commercialism. Upon hearing Portrait it's obvious that saxophonist/composer Melvin Smith is equally adept in both genres. Smith is able to successfully blur the lines between the tradition of the spiritual and the inventiveness of jazz; demonstrating the obvious connections missing from the sounds of so many contemporary improvisers. ...