Cabaret Style Back in College Park

Tenor Saxophonist Walter Smith III will perform with The Twio Ensemble

A little live entertainment never hurt anybody and as local venues are bringing back their full events and entertainment schedule, so is the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park, MD with the return of The Kogod Cabaret and on March 9, the stage will welcome Walter Smith III: Twio, for two back-to-back live shows, featuring a cabaret-style seating arrangement. Walter Smith III, an American jazz saxophonist and composer, is the Chair of the Woodwind Department at the Berklee College of Music. In addition to performing with his own group, Smith is a member of the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet and Eric Harland's Voyager. 

The New York Times describes tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III's work as "fabulous," while jazz legend Jimmy Heath calls Smith “a perfect example of what my mentor Dizzy Gillespie said: ‘You have to have one foot in the past and one foot in the future.’” He has performed all over the world, participating in virtually every international festival as well as famed venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard and The Kennedy Center.

Twio presents the terrific tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III in a tight, tight, tight trio setting. His tone and melodicism are just killing with a flow of ideas that’s vast and beautiful. Smith has been an outstanding player for a long time on his own leader projects and as an accompanist for everyone from Roy Haynes and Terence Blanchard to Sean Jones and Ambrose Akinmusire. But here on Twio, you can tell he’s been peeling back the layers of his art form to focus on the essence. The program is a set of nine standards, or takeoffs on standards, and Smith felt that this material allowed him to just go in, play and enjoy the camaraderie of the musicians around him.

There will be two shows, 7:00pm and 9:00pm and will take place at the Kogod Theatre inside the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the campus of University of Maryland College Park. 

Check out the event on pgsuite.com:

https://www.pgsuite.com/calendar/2023/3/1/yz90cec1wqylfr10pehv0hi3q5be8k-mm85b