Not to be confused with another prominent
Bill Smith (co-editor of Coda and a notable avant-garde soprano saxophonist), this particular
Bill Smith was associated with
Dave Brubeck on and off for decades.
Smith studied at Juilliard School and with
Darius Milhaud at Mills College. He was part of
the Dave Brubeck Octet between 1947 and 1951 (a recording resulted) and was always open to the idea of utilizing ideas from the modern classical music world in jazz. Unlike
Brubeck,
Smith became a college professor, teaching at USC. He recorded with
Red Norvo (1957),
Shelly Manne (his "Concerto for Clarinet and Combo" in 1957) and three advanced records for Fantasy in
Paul Desmond's place with
the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1959-1961). After winning a Guggenheim Fellowship for composition,
Smith spent six years in Italy, part of the time leading the American Jazz Ensemble.
Smith taught at the University of Washington and from 1982 through the '90s was a regular member of
Brubeck's Quartet, alternating with
Bobby Militello. In addition to his many recordings with
Brubeck and a couple with his American Jazz Ensemble,
Smith recorded as a leader for Contemporary (1959), a couple titles from a live "Americans In Europe" concert for Impulse (1963), and for the Italian Edi-Pan (1977) and Jazz Music (1978) labels. ~ Scott Yanow