All Ages
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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. And 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 renowned artists like 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, and 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 new kind of influencer: 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 horn players Josh Johnson and Marquis Hill; the rapper JSWISS; guitarists Charlie Hunter and Lionel Loueke; bassists Michael League, Ben Williams, and CARRTOONS; keyboardists DJ Harrison and Keifer; the group säje and vocalist Jermaine Holmes; and Lalah Hathaway, who sings an unsurprisingly daring cover of “Automatic,” the 1984 hit for The Pointer Sisters, reharmonizing and recontextualizing the track alongside Smith. Even though the album is collaborative, Nate Smith keeps the sound cohesive through discipline: “I wanted to make a record that sounded like it was recorded on a cassette in my bedroom,” he says. “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.
