TOMMY SMITH QUARTET
Embodying the Light

MP3 Download includes - covert art and digital booklet (size 538MB)

Tommy Smith (tenor saxophone)
Pete Johnstone (piano)
Calum Gourlay (bass)
Sebastiaan de Krom (drums)

**** "Unselfconscious honesty, emotional and spiritual. In this powerful homage, Smith succeeds in showing us the way." Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise

***** "The elegant homage is an outstanding achievement in its own right." Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman

"Absolutely top drawer: fluid, articulate, commanding and constantly surprising." Keith Bruce, The Herald

**** "Smith's eloquence on a saxophone is all his own." John Fordham, The Guardian

"The finest jazz recording of the decade, bar none. Truly wonderful." Brian Palmer, Ileach

**** "Smith has managed to convey the special force and character of Coltrane's music." Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal

"Smith really is a modern master of the tenor sax." Mark McKergow, London Jazz News

"Grace, Passion & Conviction." Jazz Views

"He is to Scottish Jazz what Robbie Burns was to Scottish Poetry." Bebop Spoken Here

"Mr Smith has achieved something fundamentally fabulous." Steve Day, Sandy Brown Jazz

1 Transformation Tommy Smith 11:14
2 Dear Lord John Coltrane 3:04
3 Embodying the Light Tommy Smith 10:35
4 Naima John Coltrane 7:47
5 Resolution John Coltrane 9:00
6 The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost John Coltrane 8:04
7 Summertime George Gershwin 8:41
8 Embodying the Darkness Tommy Smith 8:20
9 Transition John Coltrane 11:22

In April 2017, Tommy Smith and his new quartet went into the studio to record his first acoustic quartet album since 2005. The album's release will mark Smith's 50th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the death (17th July 2017) of one of his greatest inspirations, John Coltrane.

The new group features Smith alongside one of the UK's leading young piano talents, Peter Johnstone, a former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year and winner, with the group Square One, of the 2015 Peter Whittingham Jazz Prize. Bassist Calum Gourlay is a young veteran of gigs with Kurt Elling, Dave Liebman and John Scofield, and Sebastiaan de Krom has been the drumming powerhouse behind Herbie Hancock and Jamie Cullum.

Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by Stuart Hamilton
Castlesound Studios, Pencaitland, Scotland April 2017
Photography by Derek Clark
Design by Nadworks