Jeffrey Smith is truly one the Breakout Artists of 2022 and his recent single “Jazz Party” has topped the Billboard chart and our Smooth Jazz TOP Network chart for an amazing three weeks! We grabbed a few moments with Jeffery this past week.
Jeffery, congratulations on your chart dominating single “Jazz Party”. The tune has had both longevity on the chart and peaking at #1 must have felt rewarding.
Yes very rewarding and more than I could imagine. I knew “Jazz Party” was a great song but didn’t expect the success we’ve had.
Tell us how this tune came about and how it was chosen as a single for smooth jazz radio.
It was inspired by my live performance audience. When I perform live the audience tends to say we are having a “Jazz Party”. Also, when I finished recording the track and listened to the play back, I could stop dancing. The groove is infectious.
Now, you are definitely one of our top candidates for Breakout Artist of 2022. But, you’ve been an artists for many years! Tell us about some of your professional highlights prior to this year.
There have been many highlights, but the top of my list would be performing for the men and women in the US military. From 2001 – 2014, I performed at over 100 military bases, US, Europe and South Pacific. Supporting the military community change my life.
You started playing guitar at a very young age. Tell us about how music impacted your early years.
Music taught me a lot about life at an early age. I learned that nothing is given it’s earned. Trying out for the school band and starting my own band gave me a perspective on hard work, persistence, discipline, responsibility, professionalism and how to be a good citizen. Music pushed me to make good grades, because if the grades wasn’t good, there would be no band, talent shows, etc.
And you even had a fan club at the age of 9!
Yes, it was an amazing time. Back then, there were no rehearsal facilities, so my band would practice outside in the front yard. Neighborhood kids would come around and listen. Eventually, some of the girls purchased tee shirts with the band name and started a fan club.
It’s so funny, because I shared this story with my daughter and she did not believe me. Luck would have it that we ran into one of the girls years later in a shopping mall and the first thing she told my daughter was that she was in the fan club. This was a great Daddy/Daughter moment.
You also write, arrange, engineer, produce… How has the recording process changed for you over the years?
Yes, trust the process and relax. In the beginning, I would be very tense and nervous while recording. Throughout the years of listening to customer feedback allowed me to relax and play from my heart. Now I don’t feel as though a song has to be completed in one session. Each session I take the song as far as I can at that moment. Then I let the song marinate for awhile and revisit it after a day, week and in some cases months.
I know you like to get out and perform live. How have you dealt with the challenges of the past couple of years… And how does it feel to be out there performing again?
Yes, I love writing, recording and performing the songs live. I had a chance to get some rest and go through the archives. I found some recordings from years ago that sounded amazing. So I used the time to re-record some of these songs which are on my “Smooth Grooves” Vol. 2 CD.
“Jazz Party” is one of my favorite choices for “Song of the Year” and I can’t wait to hear your next single!
Thank You So Much! For Your Consideration. Hearing “Jazz Party” on Smooth Jazz Network and making it to #1 on Smooth Jazz Network is a huge accomplishment for me. I can’t say Thank You Enough for giving “Jazz Party” some life on Smooth Jazz Network.