Major N. Clark Smith

The liner notes of the world's record collections would read differently is credit was automatically given for important influences. Chances are in that case that Major N. Clark Smith's name would be everywhere, at least in terms of Afro-American musicians. Particular in his tenure as bandmaster at Lincoln High School in Kanas City, he was responsible for training some of the most swinging musicians to come out of this jazz and rhythm and blues mecca such as Lamar Wright, Harlan Leonard, Walter Page and Jasper "Jap" Allen. One of Lionel Hampton's earliest gigs was playing drums in Smith's Chicago Defender Newsboy's Band. Comments from these and many other players about their mentor's infuence bring to mind a comparison with the seasoning in the soup; no matter what the main ingrediant is, not a spoonful would be palatable without it. Smith was a professional musician from the age of 16 and eventually taught at five different schools including the Tuskegee Institute, Western University, Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago and Sumner High School in St. Louis as well as the previously mentioned high school. As described by Leonard in an interview with Kansas City jazz scholar Ross Russell, Smith "was short, gruff, military in bearing, wore glasses and was never without his full uniform and decorations. His language was rather rough and occasionally shocking to the few young ladies who were taking music classes, though never offensive." His marching bands were considered some of the best in the country. Smith won a Wanamaker prize in 1930 for the extended composition "Negro Folk Suite". The piece was premiered by the St. Louis Symphony in early 1933. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide