PAUL E. SMITH:
Piano Man

© 1994 Mike Metheny

Paul Smith

There are countless examples of unsung musical veterans who, either by choice or by circumstance, rarely bask in the limelight enjoyed by leaders and soloists. ...The piano player who's been backing up Tony Bennett all these years (Ralph Sharon); the nameless, faceless jingle singer whose legendary single-takes and flawless sight-reading tell us that State Farm is "just like a good neighbor" (Bonnie Herman); the soft-spoken Julliard-trained stalwart in any symphony you can name who's never had a moment in the sun but who still adds a flawless contribution to the musical brew night after night, year after year...

On and on the list goes. Jazz and rock, country and classical, blues and bop, New age and even Muzak. No matter. There are top-of-the-line, highly skilled professional musicians out there who have delivered the goods throughout the span of a career with little or no recognition, save for the respect of their peers.

Here in Kansas City, many examples of this phenomena can be found. And in the circles of the local jazz community, one name will invariably come to mind when discussing those artists who have been a part of the scene for a number of years but who don't get (or even want) the notoriety afforded most bandleaders.

That name is Paul E. Smith.

Blessed with the perfect "dual occupation" (a school teacher by day, a jazz pianist by night), Paul Smith has earned the admiration of his colleagues in both professions; but it is his prowess on the keyboard that keeps him in demand as one of Kansas City's first-call accompanists and rhythm section teammates. The list of jazz musicians he has backed - of both local and national stature - is impressive (more on that later). And like so many accomplished artists, it all started far from the bustle of the big city.

"I was born and raised in Bowling Green, Missouri," says Smith. "And I graduated from high school in Louisiana... Missouri."

It was during those formative years in rural Missouri that the musical bug first bit, courtesy of Toley Smith, Paul's older, and very influential, trombone playing brother.

"Toley is 18 years older, and he was my first major musical influence. The first records I remember hearing were the ones he brought home and played on Mom and Dad's old wind-up Victrola. Then later, when I was old enough to join the band, Toley taught me a scale on the trumpet. So, thanks to him, I had a head start there, too. He was the reason I got serious about music so young."

It was also Toley Smith who first hipped his younger brother to the sounds of jazz.

"By the time I got to junior and senior high, he was taking me to his dance band jobs, so I guess it was then I got my first exposure to improv. It wasn't long after that I started jobbing myself - still on trumpet - all around the Louisiana area. Then it was off to college (Central Missouri State University, or CMSU, in Warrensburg, MO) to get a teaching degree for 'something to fall back on' in case a full-time career as a performing musician wasn't for me."

Although Smith began at CMSU as a trumpet player, his "dabblings" at the keyboard (also encouraged by brother Toley) led to a change of focus and an eventual commitment to the piano; even if the piano faculty at CMSU didn't see it that way.

"At Warrensburg I flunked my first piano proficiency! ...The Star Spangled Banner, all that stuff. I went back a second time and played even worse! But they let me through anyway. This was my senior year. They actually said, 'Just don't ever try to play piano;' and I was leaving there in a few weeks to go play six nights a week!"

Freshly graduated from CMSU in 1965 (and with the reluctant blessing of that stodgy piano staff), Paul Smith ended up spending the summer as the house pianist at the "Luau Shack" in the Mai-Tai Resort at Osage Beach, MO. It was there that an important and enduring collaboration began.

"(Cornetist) Gary Sivils just happened to be down there hanging out with Marilyn Maye's band, and one night he and (guitarist) Don Wentzel dropped by and sat in with our trio. I'd never even heard of them; I introduced them to the audience as 'Don Sivils' and 'Gary Wentzel!; But that fall, after I started my first teaching gig in Raytown (MO), I learned a lot more about who they were and why they were such a big part of the KC jazz scene in the 1960s."

Even though in those early days, Paul Smith was still "a rookie," his growing keyboard skills were keen enough to land him a steady job at the old Colony Steakhouse on Broadway. It was his first taste of the aforementioned "dual occupation."

"In March of '66, I started working six nights a week behind (singer) Kay Dennis. And I was teaching five days a week on top of that. I was 23 years old; I could get away with it then. But not now."

(That gig at the Colony also featured bassist Bob Branstetter and drummer John Doubleday; "two more important teachers.")

It was also in the spring of 1966 that Gary Sivils was looking for a new piano player to replace departing John Elliot, and Sivils remembered the one he'd heard the previous summer at Osage Beach. Paul Smith got the call (to work the now-defunct Channel 3 Lounge), thus beginning what has turned into a 30+ year association with Sivils.

When asked for the obligatory 'I remember when...' from his many years with the venerable cornetist, Smith pauses and collects his thoughts. After all, Gary Sivils stories -- and "Sivils-isms" -- are plentiful. And legendary.

"Let's just put it like this: Gary cut a pretty wide path! And the really amazing thing is that his wilder days apparently happened before we met. Since '66, I guess he's been a little more settled down. Still, Gary has been a major influence and a great teacher. And, of course as everybody knows: he is The Oracle of Wisdom!" (An inside joke that only Smith and Sivils are authorized to explain.)

Other important mentors and influences over the years roll off Smith's lips with obvious admiration. And at the top of the list is the late saxophonist, Jess Cole.

"Jess was almost like a daddy to me when I was first starting out. And he told me something I've never forgotten: "The time is the most important thing. If you don't play good time, nothing else you play will sound good. It ain't what you play, it's how you play it."

Good advice from a local jazz legend that Paul Smith clearly took to heart.

In the years since those formative beginnings, and as his stature and reputation have grown, Paul Smith has found himself backing a "who's who" of nationally acclaimed jazz all-stars. He has nothing but good things to say about each experience.

• Al Cohn: "A perfect gentleman. And what a player!"
  
  
• Gary Foster: "A wonderful fellow. And he always has a great story to tell."
  
  
• Carol Sloane: "She loved the band, and we loved her; just a delight."
  
  
• Zoot Sims: "Zoot picked up his soprano and played a ballad called 'I Go To Sleep With a Smile on My Face'... It brought tears to everyone's eyes."
  
  
• Carl Fontana: "A wonderful player. And he taught me some great changes on 'Indian Summer.'"
  
  
• Bill Watrous and Nick Brignola: "(They) just tore the house (Topeka Jazz Workshop) down. Bill did that thing where you play one note, sing another and get a third. It was so much fun to work with those guys."
  
  
• Bobby Shew: "Another real delight, and just like all the others when he walked in to play with a trio he'd never heard before -- very supportive from the start."
  
  
• Bob Cooper: "One of the most fun concerts I've ever done. Coop was a superior fellow, and I can't tell you how great he played."
  
  
• Ruby Braff: "We'd heard horror stories about Ruby, that he was a real pain in the butt to work with... Well, he was a pussycat! Wonderful! And he had us in stitches! I played with him twice, and it was even more fun the second time."
  
  

It has been a long and fruitful musical life, indeed, for Paul Smith. What with nearly 30 years of backing visiting greats and supporting hometown talent, his reputation as the consummate accompanist now seems more than secure. But what about actually stepping into the leader's spotlight someday?

After so many years as a sideman? Could a "Paul Smith Band" soon become a reality?

"Only recently have I found the urge to do that," he says. "But it's purely a fantasy for now. What I would like to do someday is take a trio, or even a duo, into a nice listening kind of room; maybe do a few nights a week. It's just now that I'm finally getting brave enough to try something like that. You know, confident enough to pull off a three-hour job with a variety of styles. Maybe someday."

The Kansas City jazz community can only hope such a listening experience will soon come to pass.

In the meantime, you can catch Paul Smith in his recurring role as the pianist with Gary Sivils, Karrin Allyson ("I think we were brother and sister in another life"), the "PBT Trio" with bassist Bob Bowman and drummer Todd Strait, flugelhornist Mike Metheny and countless other jazz notables in the Kansas City area.

Or, you can find him on the ski slopes of Colorado when conditions are right and anytime a weekend is free.

True, he may have scuffled a little with our national anthem back in '65. And true, that CMSU piano jury may have had some reservations about letting a kid from Louisiana, Missouri, slip through the cracks.

But when it comes to, as he says, "making other people sound as good as possible," these days it doesn't get much better than Paul Smith.


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