Andy P. Smith, D.M.
Percussion
Musician, educator, and composer, Andy P. Smith is recognized internationally, having enjoyed a diverse career for over two decades. His most recent projects include CD recordings, Finally Here with Angel Roman and Mambo Blue, and Transparency featuring Latin Jazz group Batuquê Trio (batuquetrio.com). Andy’s recent compositions include: Vento no Ritmo (Wind in Rhythm) for flute trio with leg rattles commissioned by Deanna Hahn-Little; Fora da Caixa, an experimental graphic score for percussion trio; Two Maracatu for Drum-set Duo (a popular youtube video features Andy with drummer Marcus Finnie); and Brazilian Suite for Tambourines, premiered at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center. 2017 will include new works for 10-Can Percussion and Caixa Trio.
Smith lives in El Paso, Texas, with his wife Amy Smith (Caixa Trio) and their children. There, he serves as Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. Smith taught as Adjunct Percussion Instructor at Middle Tennessee State University from 1999-2008 and serves as the Percussion Instructor for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, a state sponsored program for elite college-bound musicians. His career has taken him from the recording studios of Nashville, TN to Tanglewood, Ravinia and the Hollywood Bowl. He has traveled to Ghana West Africa and the Caribbean to be immersed in African diasporic rhythm. In 2012, Andy was awarded a Tinker Foundation grant to study contemporary Brazilian jazz drumming in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Other recent performances include the Jazz Education Network Convention, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Lotus Music Festival, El Paso Symphony Orchestra, and grant sponsored workshops with Bernard Woma, Musical Ambassador to Ghana.
In 2016, he performed and presented at the Jazz Education Network International Convention–Afro-Brazilian Roots and Contemporary Trends in Brazilian Styles for the Rhythm Section–and at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention–21st Century Samba-jazz Drumset–accompanied by Latin-jazz group the Batuquê Trio.
The recently formed B-line Trio (blinetrio.weebly.com) is an innovative jazz percussion trio featuring Andy with colleagues Brian Mueller and Brian McNulty. The trio performs clever arrangements of jazz, choro and popular music and specializes in residencies and percussion festivals where the three present master classes together and separately in diverse “break-out” sessions.
Andy is published by Row-Loff Publications. Additionally, Andy self-publishes his works for solo percussion with electronics, percussion and other chamber ensembles, and Latin-Jazz combo (andypsmith.squarespace.com). Smith has also contributed to Percussive Notes, a publication of the Percussive Arts Society. He is endorsed by Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Evans drumheads and Innovative Percussion Sticks and Mallets.
Contact Info
Department of Music
Office: FFA M122
Email: apsmith@utep.edu
Office Phone: (915) 747-7802