Tenor Saxophone / Saxophone

Walter Smith III

(1980–)

United States·Berklee College of Music

Walter Smith III (b. 1980) — Tenor Saxophone, Saxophone. Led Twio, Twio Vol. 2. Worked with Harish Raghavan, Ambrose Akinmusire, Justin Brown.

No flash, but deeply trusted by his peers. He plays in a wide network that includes Ambrose Akinmusire, Eric Harland, and Christian McBride. His sound is steady and reliable, and in any context he delivers precisely what the music needs. The kind of player everyone wants but not everyone can get.

Walter Smith III's albums

When the Heart Emerges Glistening

Ambrose Akinmusire · 2011

When the Heart Emerges GlisteningWhen the Heart Emerges GlisteningAmbrose Akinmusire · 2011 (2011) announced Ambrose AkinmusireAmbrose Akinmusireアンブローズ・アキンムシーレ as a new-generation Blue Note voice. His trumpet — capable of whisper and explosion in the same phrase — carried an aesthetic fundamentally different from the power of Miles DavisMiles Davisマイルス・デイヴィス or Freddie.

Ambrose Akinmusire

Harish Raghavan

Miles Davis

Walter Smith III's albums

Walter Smith IIIWalter Smith IIIウォルター・スミスIII co-leads the In Common collective with Matthew Stevens, running it as a rotating group whose personnel changes each record. Gathering different composers per album is partly an experiment in deliberately thinning out the ownership of a leader date.

— Immanuel Wilkins: Omega and the Search for Sanctuary, JazzTimes, 2020

Walter Smith III made his Blue Note debut in 2023 with Return to Casual, featuring his core band of Taylor Eigsti, Matthew Stevens, Harish Raghavan and Kendrick Scott, with guests including trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire.

— Walter Smith III sounds right at home on 'return to casual', NPR, 2023