FRASER SMITH with Dave Cottle Trio

Fraser Smith

Moved to London in 2010 and has played professionally since. With a focus on swing and the straight ahead, he channels the sound and language of the big Tenor men.

His music harkens back to the Golden ages of jazz, from 40's Kansas City through to 60's New York,

​Very much a working musician, Fraser plays between 250-300 gigs a year. He has led his own band at Ronnie Scott's, Pizza Express Live, The Southbank Centre, The Vortex, Jazz Bar Edinburgh, The Verdict, JazzUp!, Swansea Jazz Land, The Green Note, The Bebop Club, New Generation Jazz, Snape Maltings, and Crazy Coq's to mention just a very small handful of past gigs. He has played London, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Swansea, Brecon, Bahrain, Guadalajara and Beijing jazz festivals and regularly performs on the continent with a variety of bands and projects.

​Born in Birmingham, raised between the Midlands and Wales, Fraser first picked up the sax at the age of 15. He first came to the music of Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and Ike Quebec through the Woolworth's bargain bucket. After studying hundreds of these solos, he considers himself a 'practical scholar', bringing these sounds of a bygone era to a modern stage.

​Following years of studying Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Prima and many of history's greatest jazz singers, Fraser decided to bring vocals to his live shows in 2019. He studied with some of the best in the business, Clare Martin OBE, Sara Dowling, Georgia Cecile and Louise Messenger. Fraser now performs nightly at many of London's top clubs with his band.

'Nonchalantly confident and very hard swinging' -

John Fordham, London Jazz News