AT THE STUDIO
It was around the beginning of Febuary this year (2017) that Tommy Smith asked me to go along to the recording studio and photograph three different records being made over a single weekend. One with The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, another with a duo and the one you see here, The Tommy Smith Quartet
After having limited space to move on the first day while shooting the big band, the quartet setup was minimalist, but not without it's own set of problems. Tommy was recording his saxophone parts in the main room of the studio, while Pete Johnstone (piano), Calum Gourlay (double bass) and Sebastiaan De Krom (drums) recorded their parts in soundproof booths in each corner. Photographing through glass (especially without a polarising filter) is a big challenge, so I took it in turn to go inside each of the booths for a track or two.
Unlike the pop world where each musician records their parts separately, this was old school recording with everybody playing together as a band (i.e. at the same time), which means each musician needs to be on their game. I was mostly hearing one instrument at a time as I shot my pictures, but I knew the quartet were on form and sounding great. It wasn't until Tommy sent me the mixed audio files of each track that I realised just how good this album was. The CD is a dedication to the late great John Coltrane, who died at the same age as Tommy is now. The album is not out yet, but pre-release copies have gone out to the music press and the 5 star reviews are rolling in.