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Alma Smith

By Jim Gallert

Alma Smith has been a professional musician for more than fifty years. The youngest of nine children, Alma was born in Montgomery, Alabama and raised in the North End area of Detroit. Alma's fascination with music started early. Her mother had played piano as a youngster and she encouraged Alma to continue.

"My brother played very good boogie-woogie, but he died young," she recalls. "And my sister could play. But I was the one that made music my livelihood."

Alma's keyboard prowess was recognized early on, and she received lessons when her family could support them. Alma went to Cass Technical High School as a music major and also honed her dancing skills by taking lessons from La Claire Knox.

"I appeared in Carmen and Aida at the Detroit Institute of Arts with the Black Opera Guild. I also played piano after school in a band called King's Aces."

Alma's influences on piano were, and remain, Errol Garner, Art Tatum, Nat Cole and Fats Waller.

Detroit is a breeding ground for excellent musicians, particularly pianists. During the early 1940s, when Alma came of age, the city spawned many fine jazz trios. The widespread use of microphones and improved sound systems allowed pianists to play with a lighter touch. These developments also altered the "traditional" piano trio make-up of piano, bass and drums to one that could produce a more subtle sound: Piano, guitar and bass. Nat "King" Cole and Clarence Profit pioneered this new format in the late 1930s.

Detroit featured several trio's styled after Cole's group, one of which was the Evans- Faire Trio, an up-and-coming group consisting of guitarist John Faire, bassist Curtis Wilder (brother of trumpeter Joe), and pianist Reuben Evans. Reuben later lost his hearing and the guys needed a replacement who could play piano. In addition to the novelty aspect of a mixed gender trio, Curt and John figured they wouldn't have to buy band uniforms for Alma, and they were correct, as her mother and sisters bought her "beautiful evening gowns". The musicians changed the group's name to The Counts and Countess. She convinced her mother to let her go 'on the road', and the band set off to Cleveland, where they followed Art Tatum.

They worked their way west to Los Angeles, where they remained for the next four years. Alma's talents blossomed with the group.

"I played piano and vibes and did a little singing��"very little singing, 'cause I was kind of shy." She also wrote material for the group, including "I'm A Barfly", "I've Got A Man", and "Everybody's Got Somebody, But Where Is The One For Me".

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Alma Smith: The Countess of Swing

Alma Smith: The Countess of Swing

Source: JazzStage Productions

Alma Smith has been a professional musician for more than fifty years. The youngest of nine children, Alma was born in Montgomery, Alabama and raised in the North End area of Detroit. Alma's fascination with music started early. Her mother had played piano as a youngster and she encouraged Alma to continue. “My brother played very good boogie-woogie, but he died young," she recalls. “And my sister could play. But I was the one that made music my livelihood." Alma's ...

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