Mosaic Records Presents: "The Complete Roost Johnny Smith Small Group Sessions"

Mosaic Records is proud to announce the release of The Complete Roost Johnny Smith Small Group Sessions in celebration of the master guitarist's 80th birthday.

The phrase “musician's musician" or “actor's actor" always implies a combination of public obscurity and the enormous respect of one's peers. That would clearly make Johnny Smith a “guitarist's guitarist." An influential and popular figure to both his contemporaries and future guitarists from mainstream to avant-garde, Smith's personal choices were the only things that prevented him from achieving major stardom.

In spite of his frequent appearances at Birdland and other New York clubs, Smith never really took to the jazz scene, spending most of his professional career in the anonymous environment of the New York City studio orchestras and session rooms during the late