Chris Smith: At The Intersection Of Scholarship, Performance and Pedagogy

I have not yet been in touch with his family. Which is the first, if you're really serious about writing about someone. I didn't mention this previously. After I did the dissertation, before I really started to make the dissertation into a book, at that time the dissertation had no transcriptions, had no discography. It was really just sort of a written history. I got the blessing of Mel's family, and they were completely on board and supportive. It's not that I couldn't write about Max Roach if his family wasn't supportive, but I wouldn't. It wouldn't make any sense. The Library of Congress just had Max Roach's family donate a huge collection of his date books, correspondence, contracts, recordings and videos. The stuff is in the Library of Congress, waiting for a Max Roach book. Somebody will do it.

I'm going to continue to write about jazz drummers. I've narrowed it down and really want to do research on drummers. My goal, besides just doing more research and writing, is to present the information in a new way. I think that an interactive E-book is the next, natural extension of how we can present jazz history. I think it needs to happen. So in that vein, what I'm thinking is all these amazing quotes that I got from people that worked with Mel Lewis that are in this book: How hip would it be to read the quote on your tablet, click it and hear Joe Lovano tell the story? The thing I regret most about making the book, is that as awesome as it is to read about Mel's story about the singers he worked with, how funny is was to work with certain people, and to hear his story of being fired from Ray Anthony, it's all great to read, but to hear him say it is the ultimate. Finding some sort of multi-media, E-book format where we can add video in addition to the pictures, so we can see Mel Lewis, we can hear Mel Lewis talk, we can hear Jerry Dodgion tell the story about the awful Japan trip. And that's the next step. So no matter who I write on, I'm going to figure out a way to put the book out in that format, and to change the guard a little bit.

AAJ: Tell me about some of the things you're currently working on as a musician. Do you have any aspirations about becoming a leader?

CS: I don't have necessarily have aspirations to become a leader. I have an aspiration to book some gigs with the people I want to play with. I want to be a sideman; I want people to call me. I want people to think of me when they want a musical drummer. Singer. Big band. Small group. Restaurant gig. Carnegie Hall. I don't care. So I don't have huge aspirations to become a leader.

I have some gigs coming up coming up this spring with Dick Oatts. I love playing with Dick Oatts. To me he's a living legend of the music and I want to continue playing with him on a regular basis. I want to continue getting calls for the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra job, every once and awhile. I also have started playing with a new big band. Actually, we just had our first gig this past Sunday at Smalls. Vocalist Marianne Solivan leads the group. Man, that was such a fun band. I think that may turn into a steady working band. She sounds so great and so swinging. That is a project that I hope to be involved with in the future. I think it's going to be a very exciting group.

I also have a new recording coming out that I recorded about a year ago with the pianist Ben Haugland. It's going to come out in a couple of weeks. He and I have recorded several times. He's a great pianist now based in Texas. I'm excited about the release of this new album. It features Scott Wendholt on trumpet. Scott is so great. What a professional. Jay Anderson is playing bass. It will be coming out on Dazzle Records, based out of Denver. They have a jazz club and a record label. The album is titled A Million Dreams.

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