music relationships that are solidly maintained to date. I was fortunate to work with professional musicians while I was a student. I sang with the Stop-Time Ensemble which was a music education project of Columbia College’s Center for Black Music Research. I also joined a band called Swag (which later became Passing for Normal) that I continued to gig and write with for years after I graduated from Columbia College. At Roosevelt I had even more opportunities, hosting weekly jam sessions at the Bop Shop and performing with a jobbing band on the weekends. All of that work just led to more gigs. Word of mouth (or ear) continues to be my friend. I’ve done project-based work for events staged at the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf and other locales. Next month will be the 5th year of my quartet making music at Fourth Presbyterian’s “Jazz at Four”. The hustle of pursuing music as career can be exhausting at times, but that’s what keeps me in the mix.
What styles of music/musicians influenced you?
Soul, folk and jazz - the older I get, the more I understand that the music I heard prior to my 20th birthday is what intensely feeds the music I make today. I incorporate my compositions into sets, but I’m constantly adding music from my youth. I write new arrangements of the tunes, yet still pay tribute to the richness of the original formats.
What different groups do you lead, or are a part of?
Currently I lead two music projects/bands: the Lucy Smith Quartet/Quintet and Lucy Smith’s Autumn in Augusta
When did you start composing music and how is writing for film different from composing other music?
I wrote some music and lyrics prior to my Columbia College days. I’ve been writing consistently since then. I’ve worked on just a few film projects. I think the main difference between writing individual songs and writing for film is the maintenance of a musical theme/feel. For film you’re writing for specific characters, scenes and transitions, yet it’s important that there’s an inherent connection between them all. It’s a wonderful challenge.
Tell us about Autumn in Augusta. What was the inspiration for it?
Autumn in Augusta is a sly smile, a deep chuckle and a fierce belief that “everything is going to be alright.” Autumn in Augusta is a tribute project for and about my mother and her music. It is music I grew up listening to and rebelling against. Now I find my mother and her music in just about everything I do. It turns out she had pretty awesome taste! My mom, Julia Ann Smith, was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, and died in Chicago more than twenty years ago. She introduced me to Josh White, Nina Simone, Mariam Makeba and Trini Lopez, just to name a few. I am forever grateful.
As I make my own music—composing, arranging and performing, I am earnestly committed and pay homage to music that constantly feeds and informs us. Roots music – music born in America—blues, gospel, folk and ultimately jazz. We speak and live in blues and folk -- articulating struggle in regional languages and dialects. Both of these music forms often provide audacious and timely comic relief while gospel and jazz are outlets for release and infinite expression.
Jazz organically incorporates many genres: blues, gospel, soul, folk, funk and crazily broad “Latin” feels. In most western music, there is a basic harmonic and melodic structure. As jazzers, when we make music, we pay homage to what’s written while we’re making it ours for presentation. We create new melody and harmony within the same framework. We improvise. We don’t expect what each of us will do. When we’re playing, we’re looking forward to hearing what we’ll make together.
My mother schooled me by playing Josh White’s John Henry over and over again and Nina Simone’s tribute to Martin Luther King. They informed me musically and politically. When I select music for this project, Autumn in Augusta, the requirements are clear.