Four Top Area Jazz Players Unite As Organism At Nighttown

OrganismHowieSmith

Fri 10/3 @ 8:30PM

Cleveland-based jazz saxophonist and composer Howie Smith has his musical tentacles all over town. He taught for years at Cleveland State. He plays traditional jazz with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra but he also performed an experimental piece at the NeoSonicFest in April. He’s played with Dizzy Gillespie and the Cleveland Orchestra, and recorded many, many albums over the years.

Retirement from the CSU faculty hasn’t meant slowing down. Give him some quality caliber musicians and he’s ready to go. One of those is Hammon B-3 organ player David Thomas, who’s got an impressive resume of his own. Although much of his background is in R&B, he too had played with top jazz legends from the mainstream soul/jazz sax player Grover Washington to the cutting-edge Albert Ayler. He’s on the CSU faculty, teaches music in the Cleveland Metropolitan School district, and is on the music staff at two churches.

Smith and Thomas are part of a quartet called Organism, which also features two other top area jazz musicians: guitarist Bob Fraser and drummer Bill Ransom, who will be performing at Nighttown. Tickets are $15, a pittance for all that talent.

Cleveland Heights, OH 44106

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