Joey Smith performs Saturday with George Essihos and Don Leppard at Hermann’s Jazz Club. Tickets are $17 at hermannsjazz.com.
Joey Smith is at the point in his career where the pace of his concert appearances should be slowing down. After playing professionally for more than 40 years, a quarter-century of which has been in Victoria, the native of Kingsport, Tenn., has earned himself a little rest and relaxation.
He is making a concerted effort to tour less frequently than he once did, but there appears to be no stopping one of the best, most-loved, and most-respected musicians ever to call the Garden City home. By the time next Monday comes around, Smith will have played six of the previous seven days around the city, with a wide-ranging roster of collaborators.
“You take things as they come,” said the understated Smith, who is often described by his peers as a southern gentleman.
Smith’s journey began when he was 10, on guitar and trumpet. By the time he was 16, Smith was gigging around Kingsport as a guitarist, often with much older players.
“I had a little bit of a rock ’n’ roll phase in high school,” Smith, 59, said with a laugh. “But I jumped to the older music first.”
He eventually received a degree in music education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which gave him a decade’s worth of solid work, including a two-year-stint with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. It was during one of his Glenn Miller tours that he met his wife, Diana Bentley, then a radio host with C-FAX.
Bentley was the emcee for the orchestra’s appearance at the Royal Theatre. Sparks flew immediately, Smith recalls. “We got married a year later,” he said with a laugh.
In 1988, the couple moved to Rochester, New York, while Smith finished his master’s degree at the Eastman School of Music. “When I finished there, we moved right back to Victoria. I’ve been here ever since.”
It has been a legendary run in the years since. In between steady gigs with the Marc Atkinson Trio, the Karel Roessingh Trio, the CanUS jazz band and a laundry list of others, he has sat in locally with everyone from Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd to Rosemary Clooney and Cleo Laine.
He also shaped a generation of young players coming through the Victoria Conservatory of Music, having been a faculty member in the jazz department since 2004. But without a doubt, the highest praise for Smith comes from his peers.
Pianist and composer Karel Roessingh, who has played with Smith for more than 20 years, has an extremely high opinion of his friend and bandmate.
“A spectacular player and a wonderful, courteous, and kind man. As a player, he is always prepared and works very hard. He will try anything. You can go anywhere with him. There are many great bassists in this city, but he is always my first call.”
Daniel Lapp, who plays with Smith in the Django Reinhardt tribute Caravan, was no less effusive.
“He’s the king of swing. He’s a real gentleman — as a bandmate, too. He’s always prepared, and always ready to go. Great work ethic, great attitude. He was born for this job.”
Are you always doing something musical?
Oh, yessir. There’s always lots of prep work for the different groups I play with.
How many different bands or performers do you play with? I lost count after a few dozen.
It varies from time to time. That’s the case for anyone who’s a freelance rhythm-section player.
‘Freelancer’ strikes me as too slight a word for your talent.
Well, I play with lots of different groups, but if they all have a job at the same time, I can only commit to one. It gets tricky at times, but I’ve been lucky to have some steady gigs.
Talk a little bit about the Glenn Miller experience. On name alone, that’s a pretty substantial gig.
It wasn’t a good-paying job, but it sure was good to me. It has opened lots of doors, and I got to see lots of places. We toured all over the U.S. and Canada, and spent six weeks each year in Japan. We even did a New Year’s Eve gig in Reykjavík, Iceland, one time. That was kind of odd.
What’s your secret to success?
Whoever I play with, I try to be supportive. That’s my position. I don’t consider myself a great soloist, but I enjoy playing bass. I lock in.
Can it really be that simple?
You’ve got to be on time, and wear the right clothes, and show up with a good, positive attitude. Be willing to make changes and roll with the flow.
Your playing and demeanor are such that everyone wants you in their project. How do you balance it all?
Being in town a long time, you get on certain lists. Sometimes, that can be a deterrent. People won’t call you because they assume you’re busy.
You could probably use a day or two off, so that can’t be a bad thing.
I still enjoy being active. In order to make a living, you’ve got to string a bunch of stuff together.