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Justin M. Smith

Smith is a musician, songwriter, journalist / writer, technology consultant and jazz / improvised / progressive music expert from the Nashville, TN area.

About Me

Justin McCoy Smith was born in Jackson, Tennessee in 1975. He started studying classical music (piano) at the age of 5 and was performing professionally in a variety of musical settings (classical, popular, progressive, etc.) by the age of 12.

Smith attended Middle Tennessee State University from 1994 to 1998, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English with interdisciplinary minors in Music and Political Science.

He has been performing on the Nashville music scene and touring the United States since the mid-nineties as a songwriter, vocalist and keyboardist with groups such as Mass Transit, Vinyl Soup and the Lee Gibson Band. He has appeared multiple times at venues such as South By Southwest in Austin, TX and the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, NV; Memphis, TN and Nashville, TN.

Justin Smith became a jazz / progressive / improvised music student and advocate, starting in his teenage years. He has since become a consultant, preservation specialist and an archivist of rare recordings and documents surrounding progressive / improvising performers. He is currently at work on a master discography & book of interviews with Chicago reedist / composer, Ken Vandermark, along with drummer Tim Daisy and other musicians from the current Chicago improvised music scene. He is also working on a new sports blog & podcast, to be announced soon.