Clarence
Smith is an instructor of music at Penn Valley and director of
the PVCC Jazz Ensemble. Before he began teaching full-time at
Penn Valley at the start of the 2003 school year, Smith was the
director of the jazz program at the Paseo Academy of Fine and
Performing Arts High School in Kansas City from 1993 – 2003.
During his ten years there, Smith directed a nationally acclaimed
jazz ensemble that performed hundreds of times each year, including
performances at the Kennedy Center and The Smithsonian Institute
in Washington D.C. and at the Music Educator’s National
Conference. In 2000, Smith was named “Jazz Educator of
the Year” by Downbeat Magazine. In 2003, Smith was selected
as a Music Fellow at Northwestern University’s School of
Music in Evanston, IL
Among
the many artists with who he has appeared as a drummer/percussionist
are Mike Vax, Bill Watrous, Rich Matteson, Amaadd Aladeen, Carmel
Jones, Jim Widner and in ensembles including the Louis Neal Big
Band, PSF Band and currently, the Kansas City Wind Symphony,
Lee’s Summit Symphony, and the Joe Athon Jazz Groups.
He
is in demand as a jazz/percussion clinician and adjudicator.
He has provided educational assistance for the American Jazz
Museum and served as an instructor for their Summer Jazz Institute.
In 2001, Smith was interviewed as a part of the Discovery Channel’s
program, “The Ties That Bind” which chronicled
the history of Kansas City Jazz.
Smith
earned an undergraduate degree in music education from Central
Methodist University, Fayette, Mo. and has a Master of Education
degree, specializing in creative arts in learning, from Lesley
University in Cambridge, Mass. (Kansas City Campus). He has
also studied jazz extensively at Central Missouri State University
and Northwestern University.
