Neal Smith

An adept jazz drummer and educator, Neal Smith is known for his hard-swinging approach to acoustic post-bop. He emerged in the 2000s playing with Brian Lynch and Cyrus Chestnut before founding his own NAS label and releasing albums like 2005's Swingin' Is Believin'. A quintet album, Live at Smalls, arrived in 2010. He won the Grammy for Best Classical Compendium for his contributions to 2023's Passion for Bach and Coltrane by Jeff Scott. Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Neal Smith started on drums at age five. He excelled throughout his school years and by his teens was alrea...