Paul Smoker Trio: Great Songs of the Swing Era at

Paul Smoker, trumpet
Michael McNeill, piano
David Arenius, double bass

Many wonderful songs were composed by Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and others, during the 1930's and early 1940's—the period of the great swing bands. Still challenging and beautiful, many of them continue to be sung and performed today. Paul Smoker has been performing many of these songs since his youth in Iowa's Quad Cities, and his approach to standard repertoire has been cited as an influence by some of today's most prominent trumpeters, including Dave Douglas and Ralph Alessi. His trio with pianist Michael McNeill and bassist David Arenius will interpret selected songs from a present-day point of view, as the Benny Goodman Quartet and others did during their time....

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Paul Smoker, trumpet
Michael McNeill, piano
David Arenius, double bass

Many wonderful songs were composed by Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and others, during the 1930's and early 1940's—the period of the great swing bands. Still challenging and beautiful, many of them continue to be sung and performed today. Paul Smoker has been performing many of these songs since his youth in Iowa's Quad Cities, and his approach to standard repertoire has been cited as an influence by some of today's most prominent trumpeters, including Dave Douglas and Ralph Alessi. His trio with pianist Michael McNeill and bassist David Arenius will interpret selected songs from a present-day point of view, as the Benny Goodman Quartet and others did during their time.

"Paul is an important trumpeter because he is one of the first to combine an interest in experimental new music with killer jazz and big-band chops," says Dave Douglas, one of the top jazz trumpeters in the world today. "For that reason he has been an inspiration to us all." - from an article by Ron Netsky in City Newspaper (Rochester, NY)

"I think some of the most creative music that's happening right now in the country is the new jazz --- Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, Paul Smoker. I think Mike McNeill, a young, local jazz pianist, is going to be a star." - Tom Kohn (owner of The Bop Shop, Rochester, NY), from an interview with Ron Netsky in City Newspaper


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