Outstanding Clarinetists in the History of Jazz – Part 3
Bill Smith – The Clarinet Professor with a Double Life
A series by József Fritz
April 3, 2023
Perhaps one of the most interesting careers in the history of jazz belongs to Bill Smith, a personality remembered by jazz listeners as a member of the early and later Brubeck Quartet, but who is equally remembered by admirers of modern classical and electronic music. How is this possible?
This gentleman was able to maintain two parallel careers simultaneously, but not in the way many musicians did – by pursuing a completely different profession alongside music. Instead, both of his careers were organically centered around the clarinet. As Bill Smith, he functioned as a jazz clarinetist, while under the name William O. Smith he became a contemporary composer exploring the possibilities of modern classical music and its collaboration with computers.
The young talent, born September 22, 1926, in Sacramento, California, reached his first important milestone during the 1940s, when he studied at the famous Oberlin College, where he could learn under the guidance of Darius Milhaud. It was here that he met the colleague who would influence the “other” side of his life throughout his career: Dave Brubeck.
In 1946, the Brubeck Octet released a recording in which the students of Milhaud performed what could be described as experimental music. Brubeck’s concept was not exactly jazz, but rather a kind of classical music that also drew inspiration from the contemporary jazz scene. Brubeck himself later acknowledged that this approach had an irreversible influence on the later development of jazz.
On this recording Paul Desmond was already present, and later the formation appeared as the Brubeck Quartet.
Bill Smith began teaching at the university level, and under the umbrella of Contemporary Records he appeared as a guest on recordings by the label’s star artists. With Shelly Manne and His Men, he recorded his three-movement composition “Concerto for Clarinet” in 1957, and he can also be heard on a West Coast-style album by vibraphonist Red Norvo.
Around the same time a record of his own compositions written for clarinet was released, featuring solo and chamber works, naturally under the name William O. Smith.
When Paul Desmond won the title of Saxophonist of the Year and began working with his own quartet, Dave Brubeck invited Bill Smith to join his ensemble. Brubeck even gave up performing his own compositions so that the group could play Smith’s works. Thus, on the album “Brubeck à la Mode,” the band performs compositions written by Bill Smith based on various musical modes (Lydian, Dorian, etc.). Alongside this album, two others were also recorded: “The Riddle” and “Near Myth.”
After Desmond’s return, Smith turned toward Europe, spending much of the 1960s and 1970s working with Italian and American orchestras. However, he became increasingly fascinated by the new world of computers. He experimented with combining the clarinet and computer technology, resulting in some of the first electronic-acoustic compositions.
In 1976, Paul Desmond passed away, and after several years of experimentation Bill Smith rejoined the quartet. At this point he always used a clarinet enhanced with electronic equipment, which somewhat puzzled both the jazz enthusiasts of the time and today’s purist fans.
On May 2, 1983, he visited Hungary as a member of the then Dave Brubeck Quartet (Dave Brubeck – Bill Smith – Chris Brubeck – Randy Jones), performing at the Budapest Sportcsarnok. Unfortunately, I could not attend that concert, since I was only five years old at the time.
Later, in 1996, I had the opportunity to hear him perform live at the Paris International Festival, where he appeared as William O. Smith. Fortunately for the audience, the encore was a solo performance of “All the Things You Are,” whose atmosphere immediately transported listeners back to the world of the old Brubeck recordings.
As he grew older, he gradually gave up exhausting touring and instead helped the work of clarinet associations, eventually writing his own clarinet method.
On February 29, 2020, he passed away at the age of 93, leaving an enormous footprint in the library of clarinet literature and modern music.