1. Growing Up
My father was a saxophonist in New Orleans and moved to Houston to become an educator. He taught me saxophone and clarinet at school until age nine.
Around that same age, I did my first gig with older musicians at a McDonald’s. When I realised that I could impress the musicians and unforgiving McDonald’s audience, I decided I’d stick with it.
2. Inspirations
Since this list would go on forever, I’ll list my first two inspirations, which were Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. I heard Parker at an early age and had only really been listening to Kenny G before that. (Incidentally, Kenny G’s G Force Tour was my first concert… he did some circular breathing right in front of my seat on ‘Songbird’). When I heard Charlie Parker, it was such a more technical and emotional sound that I was drawn to it. Later (around 12 years old), when I first heard Coltrane and bought the album Giant Steps, I never looked back.
3. Your Band
As I’m only in Sydney for one night after another tour, I’m playing with Tim Firth (drums) and Thomas Botting (bass), who are two of the best young musicians in Sydney. I met Tim when I was in Australia during the Melbourne Festival in May and I’ve actually never met Thomas. That should result in a really fun set of music that will definitely be exciting for us and the audience.
4. Keeping Busy
Over the last couple of years, I’ve toured and recorded extensively with Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet as well as Eric Harland’s Voyager. I released my fourth album this year called Still Casual and have done some touring with that band throughout the US, Australia, Japan, and various countries in Europe. Other recent collaborations include Dave Douglas, Cassandra Wilson, Next Collective, Terence Blanchard, and many others.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
The only times I’ve been in Sydney are for tours that I’m doing and we’ve always been able to see tonnes of international acts as well as some Australian bands. In the last two years between the Sydney Festival and other tours, I’ve seen Chaka Khan, Colin Stetson, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Lee Fields, Hot Dub Time Machine and Jamie Ohlers.
Walter Smith III Trio plays The Sound Lounge on Saturday August 15.
