Howie Smith
Chair, Art Department; Professor, Jazz Composition; Director, Sundown Jazz Series

Music & Communication Building, Room 431
(216) 687-2104
H.Smith@csuohio.edu

Howie Smith is Chair of the Art Department and a composition and jazz studies faculty member in the Department of Music at Cleveland State University. Previously he served as Coordinator of Jazz Studies from 1979 to 2005.

A virtuoso saxophonist, composer and jazz musician, Mr. Smith has presented concerts and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and Australia, and has performed and/or recorded with musicians/organizations as renowned as John Cage, the Cleveland Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie, Elvis Presley, and the Tone Road Ramblers. His catalog of compositions is extensive, and recordings of his work can be heard on the Philips, Polydor, Optimism, and Sea Breeze labels. Mr. Smith has twice served as co-chair of both the Jazz Fellowship and the Music Overview panels for the National Endowment of the Arts. He holds music degrees from Ithaca College and the University of Illinois.