GARY SMITH

The San Francisco Bay area in the early 1950's was alive whith the sounds of rock'n roll, Jazz and, in the east bay, blues from all around the country. Gary Smith's father frequented the live blues clubs long before Gary picked up the harmonica as an instrument. Early on, his exposure was to Ray Charles an Dinah washington, along with the rock'n roll greats of that time. As a young teenager he began to hear cust of Little Walter and George Smith, and frequently traveled to San Francisco to the Fillmore live performances of the great talents passing through as the time. Hearing the works of Paul Butterfield provided new inspiration to his developing blues harmonica style. In the early 1970's he joined the Charles Ford Band featuring Robben Ford on guitar.

The Gary Smith Blues Band was formed in 1972 and included Junior Watson on guitar, Steve Gomes on bass, and Kenny Baker on saxophone. The latter two players went on to tour with John Lee Hooker, while Waston pusued a successful carrer, most recently with Canned Heat. During the next dacade the Gary Smith Blues Band opened for John Lee Hooker, Charles Brown, Junior Wells, James Cotton, an Many Others. The band was asked to play as the first annual San Francisco Blues festival by produced Tom Mazzolini.

In 2001 following the 911 attack, Smith once again opened the San Francisco Blues Festival - this time with solo renditon of The Star Spangled Banner to a crwd that was at first subdued, then inspired by his musical offering to freedom.

In 1975 the late Peter Cline, co-owner of a small local label lalled Messaroud, proposed a project of great undertaking. In the following months, Gary Smith pulled together a stellas collection of local Bay Area artists to record an album called upon his friends Charlie Musselwhite, Luther Tucker, Sonny Rhodes, Skip Rose and Ron Thompson. In describing Smith's work in theliner notes, Tom Mazzolini called it a "showcase stopper that every harp player carries in his bag"

Smith went on to record several more albums with Messaround and another local company, MountianTop Records. While no longer playing to a 5-6 night a week circut., he plays locally and abroad and participates in annual haormonica conferences and workshops. He welcomes opportunites to expand to new venues, festivals and concerts and brings with him his unique style of playing performance.

 

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