Jazz saxophonist Mathuin Smith ’24 (Bachelor of Music in Performance) produced a concert at Jammin’ Java in Vienna, Virginia, with his band, the Mathuin Smith Jazz Orchestra. The ensemble is made up of mostly collegiate jazz musicians from the region who were home for the holidays.
The Mathuin Smith Jazz Orchestra (MSJO) is an 16-piece ensemble whose repertoire includes music from a vast range of genres. While MSJO uses the traditional Basie/Ellington instrumentation of four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones and a rhythm section, the band honors the big band swing tradition and also branches out to funk, rock, video game music, modern large ensemble art music, original works and more.
Smith is a 20-year old saxophonist, oboist, composer and bandleader based in the Washington, D.C., area. He began study of the oboe at age 10, and at age 14, he picked up the saxophone and began to explore the worlds of jazz, rock, fusion and beyond. Since then, he has gone on to become a regularly working woodwindist in Washington, D.C.’s vibrant live music scene, and maintains a very active performance schedule in addition to his studies. Mathuin is the founder and bandleader of the Mathuin Smith Jazz Orchestra, in which he conducts and plays the saxophone and EWI (electronic wind instrument).
