Malcolm Earle Smith
Malcolm Earle Smith played trombone on Bryan Ferry's As Time Goes By album and also with The Bryan Ferry Orchestra on the album The Jazz Age.
Malcolm is a trombonist of remarkable talent who began his career in the trombone section of the British National Youth Jazz Orchestra and rose to the testing principle trombone chair.
While making his name on the trombone he started in the London Jazz venues. Here here played with everyone from Mike Cotton to Wally Fawkes and Stan Greig and earned approving nods for his wonderful and surprising mastery of the Jazz trombone.
Like American counterparts such as Dan Barrett or reedman Ken Peplowski, there are no barriers to his joyful appreciation of the whole span of Jazz history whether it is the trombone of Jay Jay Johnson, Jimmy Knepper, or Jack Teagarden. Earle Smith's trombone playing is a timeless one which moves with equal ease into contemporary Jazz areas. His only qualification is that his music should be real, and not motivated by posture, fashion, or notes for their own sake.
Malcolm Earle Smith has all the qualities that suggest he is destined to become acknowledged as one of the principle slidemen. To begin with of course, there's that fine musicianship. But he also has other necessary qualifications; respect for his instrument and the serious challenges of playing it well and continuing the quest for constant improvement. All of these qualities he leavens with the somewhat rarer ones of self-knowledge and a sense of humour. You'll be hearing a lot more from Malcolm Earle Smith, and with his quartet they have produced the best new Jazz trombone album in quite a few British or American moons.