GOING BIG

Josh Smith's band grows a larger horn section. The result is his big-band extravaganza Bird of Passage.

- MICHAEL ROSS

FORMER FLORIDIAN JOSH SMITH has carved out his place in the guitar firmament through his high-powered, hybrid-picked, heavy-stringed mixture of blues bends and jazz sophistication. He was already playing professionally at age 13, touring the same circuit as contemporary prodigies Derek Trucks and Joe Bonamassa. By the end of the century, Smith, just turned 30, already had two decades of touring and four records under his own name. Looking to broaden his horizons, he and his wife moved to Los Angeles, where he began plying his trade as a sideman.

Major gigs followed, including tours with 2006 American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and Raphael Saadiq, and backing Mick Jagger at the 2011 Grammy Awards and Kennedy Center Honors. Smith still found time to release a slew of solo records and to build a home studio, Flat V, where he records his own music as well as that of others. He has also built a burgeoning career as a producer for Reese Wynans, Eric Gales, Andy Timmons, Jimmy Hall, Larry McCray, and others.

For his latest release, Bird of Passage (Flat V Studios), Smith expanded his compact R&B horn section into a full big band and eschewed saxophones in favor of an all-brass group of multiple trumpets, trombones, and French horns. Such decisions raised interesting questions, and Smith was game to answer them all.

Why do a big-band record?