Keyboard Whiz Comes Home, Speaks His Mind

It was a night of dreams fulfilled on several fronts. A Cleveland piano prodigy came home to release his long-awaited CD, bringing along one of the most prolific bassists of all time (Stanley Clarke), a world class drummer (P-Funk legend and current Santana drummer Dennis Chambers), and two venerable, veteran horn players (saxophonist Herman Riley and trumpeter Derrick Gardner). Meanwhile, a concert promoter, Jim Wadsworth, sells out two shows in one night enabling him to cover his expenses and enjoy a superb evening of entertainment. A restaurant owner, Brendan Ring, gleefully herds patrons in and out while the cash registers sing with percussive precision and the credit card swipe chimes in with the horn section. What brought on this activity in Cleveland's entertainment arena? Nick Smith. Cool Cleveland spoke with this hometown hero and received his perspective on a variety of issues related to the Cleveland music scene.

Keyboard wizard Nick Smith brought his star-studded quintet to Nighttown to announce to the world that he’s ready to be heard. He breezed through the two sets, comprised entirely of his own compositions, including: Monkish, his tribute to piano legend Thelonius Monk, Sista Song, dedicated to his dearly departed sisters Julia and Antoinette Smith, Tony Williams, his homage to the immortal jazz drummer, then Tender Thoughts and Max’s Blues. He fought back his emotions during the performance dedicated to his father, James Raymond Smith, who passed away last January.

The audience, in addition to throngs that came to holla at their prodigal son, was a veritable who’s who of local musicians, including bassists Gary Stevenson of Forecast, and Marty Simms, as well as drummer Robert Hubbard, trumpeter Curtis Taylor and pianist Jackie Warren. Undoubtedly, many came to catch a glimpse of Clarke, but this would be Nick’s night. Clarke teased them between songs with 4 bars of his signature tune School Days on his upright bass, then laughed heartily along with the others in the quintet. They proceeded to create musical magic that evening, playing with intensity and unbelievable energy. Smith got his entrée into the music business at the now defunct Front Row Theatre when he came out of the audience as an amateur an ended up playing twenty minutes with George Duke and Stanley Clarke during one of their performances. Smith now tours regularly with Clarke.

Cool Cleveland: Tell us what it was like to be on the stage with Stanley and George for the first time and getting a taste of show business, so to speak.

Nick Smith: That was a feeling…how can I explain? The best description I can give it: it was the most overwhelming feeling in the world. George and Stanley are two of the most profound musicians in the world because of their ability to play various styles of music. Even though during that time their big hit was Sweet Baby which was on the R&B pop charts, prior to that, here were two guys that I always admired. I loved George Duke’s versatility, his style, and a lot of people don’t know his true background. When you hear George Duke: oh, Reach For It, Dukey Stick. They don’t know that this man played with Sarah Vaughn, Cannonball Adderly, Frank Zappa, and you know, developed his own thing. Stanley, on the other hand: Art Blakey, Horace Silver, some of the legends and giants of jazz. I never imagined in my lifetime I’d have the honor and pleasure to finally be working with this man [Clarke] at a level where we’re not just musicians, we’re friends. It was a great feeling!

And what happened after you had that experience?
Well, what happened was…a lot of people were under the impression that “okay, now he’s on his way.” But what I chose to do was further my education musically. So that’s when I left and I went to Boston and attended Berklee College of Music a year and a half, almost two years.

What was that experience like for you, being someone from Cleveland, going to a place where some of the greatest musicians ever have been?
That was great because of what it did for me. I got a chance to meet musicians from all over the world and it also made you humble yourself. There are always different levels: you may be at a certain level, but there’s gonna be someone who’s at a higher level or someone who may be beneath you. So the pleasure of meeting people from different cultures of different parts of the world, getting to know different parts of the world other than just Cleveland. That’s been a blessing...because, there’s a lot of great talent here and I would never denounce Cleveland, but my strongest suggestion to a lot of these guys...you gotta get out of Cleveland. You gotta try other places because unfortunately here we don’t have the musical outlet that we should have. That’s what I really enjoyed as well as furthering my education.

When you say, “We don’t have the musical outlet" here in Cleveland, what do you mean?
We have Nighttown and that’s great, but we need other avenues; there needs to be more studio work here. So that way, guys can develop their reading skills. There needs to be a situation where there’s someone who’d be willing to try to represent and help these guys either to get a record deal or get their projects on the road. Had I not left Cleveland, a lot of the opportunities that have happened for me, I think, would not have happened. And I’ve had some people that have approached me and they’ve asked me “Well, man you don’t call nobody for anything.” Now, it’s a simple scenario. You’re in a city like L.A. or New York where there are millions of drummers, millions of keyboard players, vocalists or whatever. It’s called budget. No one’s gonna fly someone from way over here when they have the people they need right there. It’s like, if you want to be a farmer, you can’t live in the city. You gotta go where there’s land and you can grow your crops. When Cleveland was jumping, we were kids or we weren’t born yet.

I can recall my father telling me about a lot of the clubs that used to be on Euclid and Cedar, 'cause that was the Strip of Cleveland. But unfortunately, over the years you’ve known me, we had The Reason Why right here on Shaker Square, we had Maxwell’s and a lot of these clubs are no longer here. You need more than one or two venues.

I always try to stress to these guys...it’s no secret. It is not magic; you gotta work at your craft and your priorities have to be in the right direction. If you have your business together and you don’t have to go chasing certain things, it will come to you. We have musicians who use this as a forum to attract women. That’s fine, but okay, you’re here. You’re a big fish in a small pond. Now you wanna go tackle the world, but there are women everywhere.

What’s good about L.A., or one of the good things…once you become known and people embrace you and take you in, you can get hooked onto different kinds of work. For example, you watch TV, someone has to compose the music for the commercials. You go to the movies, someone is doing the music for the movies...so it’s not always about being out front. That’s what I mean about outlets here. You don’t have that here. Only other opportunity they have here besides the Tri-C Jazz Festival and other jazz festivals is the orchestra, and unless you’re great and classically trained…that door is kind of small, especially, and I hate to say, for brothers.

I noticed in your set the other day that you utilized arrangements in your music...it seemed a bit more orchestrated than I expected from you. How did that aspect come to your music?
I’ve always loved orchestration. One of my biggest influences, I would have to say, is Herbie Hancock, because Herbie has written for quintets as well as trio piano. The way that he uses (it)...when you listen to records like Speak Like A Child. A lot of his older recordings, he would use a combination like a muted trumpet and a flute and I loved that sound. It just adds colors. It’s like painting a picture rather than just...okay let me go with the dark colors, you’ve got to expand it and do something brighter, take it to another dimension. That’s basically what I wanted to do. Plus, I wanted to show my ability, not only to write for a trio set, but also make additions. That’s how that came about.

Could you elaborate on your thoughts about "smooth jazz"?
Smooth jazz is something that I just totally avoid because, one, I feel nothing from that. I feel no substance from it. I think the smooth jazz thing came about... it was taken from something we would refer to as Muzak...you know, you go to the mall. You go shopping and you hear this stuff over the intercom. It’s like, man let me get what I need so I can get out of here 'cause this is boring. Well unfortunately, today the music industry is being controlled and run by people who are not musical. I mean, if you put a C major 7 in front of them, they wouldn’t know what you were talking about. We, as musicians...it’s time for us to start re-controlling the industry. The industry has never been "honest," but at least back in the day the focus was more so on your talent, than what you look like.

What about the fact that jazz is not a music form that gets widespread acceptance from the masses? What’s it like to be the artist that doesn’t get the attention that someone who may not have the musical talent (Nelly, Ashanti) gets?
Today the music is focused on an image versus talent. Now, we are in such a strong sexual revolution, when you think about it. When we were coming up, we didn’t have the visual that you see today. I think that was one of the biggest mistakes that happened with the music industry when it was presented in the form of a video...because back when all you had was the radio, you had to support the artist. You had to go see them. The focus was on: you had to be good because now with technology...there’s equipment out here that can make a person who can’t play. And the media plays a very important role, too. If I consistently feed you junk, that’s what you’re going to become accustomed to. Like, you’re getting ready to have a salad that’s nutritional versus a McDonald’s Big Mac that’s got all the fat and garbage in it. If your body consumes junk, you’re going to be the result of what you eat...and that's the same thing with the mind.

Who do you like that you’re hearing today?
I have a piano player friend who’s from Cuba. This guy is FA-NOMINAL! His name is Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Oh, my God. What can I say about him? He’s a master because...he’s serious about his art form…just that influence of the way he practices consistently before a show and after a show. We talked about being honest. I can’t get mad at a guy if he’s putting in the work and putting in the time and when he plays, the execution is phenomenal. If I only put in two hours a day, I’m going to sound like two hours versus putting in eight hours a day. Me and this guy get together and work out six to eight hours a day at the piano. You don’t see that here in Cleveland.

Smith sounded off about a few other things involving the Cleveland music scene, including the absence of the Plain Dealer at his concert. Despite his frustrations, he managed to sell 66 discs that night, capping off one of the most amazing evenings of jazz witnessed in that venue all year. His CD It’s Like That should be available at CDBaby.com in September. In the meantime, Smith is seeking a distributor and a record deal, as well as management that can take him places. He’s not one to be taken advantage of, however, and says of the record business,“You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.”

Knowing Nick Smith, he won’t settle for anything less that what he deserves.

Interview and photo by Cool Cleveland contributor Vince Robinson (:divend:)