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About
Nate Smith is a GRAMMY-nominated polymath musician — bandleader, composer, producer, and virtuosic drummer — whose groundbreaking work as a recording artist and performer in multiple genres has made him a unique figure in popular culture and one of the most in-demand players of our generation.
Born in Norfolk, Virginia and a devoted student of music since his teenage years, Smith was invited by Betty Carter to join her legendary Jazz Ahead program, performing on drums at New York’s Blue Note with Carter at the age of 20. Smith began his career as a professional songwriter and producer in 2001 with Michael Jackson’s “Heaven Can Wait.” In 2003, Smith joined Dave Holland’s jazz band and toured the world. In 2008, Smith began his recording career, first as a solo artist and later with his band, KINFOLK. Smith received two GRAMMY nominations in 2017 for KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere, for his composition “Home Free (for Peter Joe)” — Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella and Best Instrumental Composition. As part of the Dave Holland Octet, Smith received another nomination in 2011 for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.
Over the years, Nate Smith has collaborated and toured with a wide range of artists, including:
- Brittany Howard
- Pat Metheny
- Ravi Coltrane
- Van Hunt
- Childish Gambino
- Norah Jones
- Jon Batiste
- Vulfpeck
- Lauren Daigle
- The Fearless Flyers
- Chris Potter
- Kiefer
- CARRTOONS
- Charlie Hunter
- Kurt Elling
He’s graced the cover of Modern Drummer magazine, and provided the backbeat for Late Night with Seth Meyers’ house band.
In recent years, through a series of viral videos, Nate Smith has emerged as a popular teacher who makes complex rhythmic principles simple. That role expanded with Smith’s Pocket Change project in 2018 — a combination breakbeat album and transcription book — and a follow up, Pocket Change 2: Mad Currency, in 2023.
Nate Smith conceived his latest album, LIVE ACTION, as a producer-led project in the manner of Quincy Jones. Smith explains: "It was a way to activate all of these relationships that I’ve been building over the last five or six years since the pandemic, many of them through social media." The album features performances from:
- Josh Johnson (horn)
- Marquis Hill (horn)
- JSWISS (rapper)
- Charlie Hunter (guitar)
- Lionel Loueke (guitar)
- Michael League (bass)
- Ben Williams (bass)
- CARRTOONS (bass)
- DJ Harrison (keyboards)
- Keifer (keyboards)
- säje (group)
- Jermaine Holmes (vocalist)
- Lalah Hathaway (vocalist)
About the recording approach, Smith says: "I wanted to make a record that sounded like it was recorded on a cassette in my bedroom. I limited my options. I used analog gear. I used the same instruments throughout the album. I did two or three takes of each element, no copy and pastes or anything like that. All of the instruments on the album are played live, nothing is programmed or sequenced." It is from this ethos that LIVE ACTION derives its name, and it is that spirit that makes Nate Smith himself a sought-after collaborator and one of music’s most creative minds.