Trombonist/international music facilitator Tom Smith tapped to lead Shorter College’s inaugural band program

Tom Smith, a talented trombonist and highly respected conductor and scholar, has been named band director at Shorter College. He will begin work in the early summer, recruiting and training students who will be part of the college’s inaugural band program. Earlier this year, the college announced the launch of a band program. Beginning this fall as a pep band, the group will perform at home football games and other athletic events; in the spring, a concert band series will be added. The pep band is expected to grow into a marching band within the next two to three years. “Through the outstanding reputation of our music department, we were able to attract Tom Smith as our band director,” said Dr. Harold E. Newman, president of Shorter College. “His extensive experience building ensembles and his reputation as a performer and scholar are exciting additions to our existing music programs.”

Shorter College is offering band scholarships for qualified students. These scholarships can be added to academic scholarships and other financial aid. For more information on the band program, contact the Shorter College Admissions Office at 706-233-7319 or e-mail admissions@shorter.edu.

A five time senior Fulbright professor of music at the Romanian National University of Music, Smith holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master of Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is an active member of the Fulbright Professional Specialist Program, having taught and performed extensively at the world famous University of KwaZulu-Natal Jazz Center in Durban, South Africa. For seven years he was director of instrumental music at Pfeiffer University in North Carolina.

Since 1984, has formed more than 40 community and regional large music ensembles, performing both classical music and jazz, in the United States, Europe, and Africa. His best known group was the Unifour Jazz Ensemble, an 18-piece big band, which won the first Downbeat National Champion title and placed seventh in that magazine’s 1988 Readers Poll. In the same poll, Smith placed fifth in the trombone category, tying the legendary Carl Fontana. As an improvising soloist, he has performed and toured with Louie Bellson, Clark Terry, the New York Voices, and the Manhattan Transfer.

Beginning in 1997, Smith developed a reputation as one of North Carolina’s most ambitions collegiate wind symphony conductors, having presided over memorable performances that showcased some of the most difficult orchestral transcriptions. His university big bands have received championships and/or superior ratings from numerous celebrated festivals.

A noted music historian and researcher, Smith is routinely published and presents research at international conferences. Since 2002, his work in Romania has drawn wide attention in the field of jazz education. He is the only non-Romanian to have been awarded the Romanian National Radio Prize, which is that country’s highest musical honor. He founded and coordinated the Tibiscus University Music Seminar, the first summer music camp staged in Romania, and helped found Romania’s first western-styled jazz music college. Previously, he founded, directed and coordinated the Bucharest Pops Orchestra and the Romanian National Jazz Ensemble, and became a regular guest conductor for the Romanian National Radio Big Band.

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