Duke Ellington Masters - drum solo

Rufus died in April 1990 and had a bad bout of illnesses, especially arthritus which prevented him from doing much playing after his stint with Duke which ended around 1973. Rufus took over for Sam Woodyard as Duke's drummer and played with Duke right up till the time Duke died in 1974. I remember Rufus as Duke's nephew Stephen James and I always went to the NY performances of Duke's. I was living at Steve's house on 58th st. in NYC during the mid to late 1960's. Elvin Jones was very found of Rufus. Rufus had such amazing stick control that he cound execute a long roll with his hands way over his head, far away from the snare head and it was such a sight to behold. Rufus played in Maynard's band and Basie's band before Duke and he also had his own quintet for a very short while. I think that he should have gotten much more recognition as a great drummer but he remains today, in 2012, one of the UNSUNG heroes of Jazz Drumming. Today, my friend Dr. Marvin Bu Ga Lu Smith is one of the living UNSUNG heroes in 2012 and if it's the last thing I ever do, I will make him better known to the general public as there are few living today that can come close to his unique MASTERFULNESS in all areas of Jazz drumming, especially when you witness his amazing FREE FLOWING, MOMENT TO MOMENT, UNREHEARSED MOTION. Marvin is and always will be one of the greats, just like MAX,ELVIN,ART and my friend(RIP) Rufus Jones. Another great who was an unsung hero of drumming was my friend, Benny Golson's son Reggie(RIP). Reggie introduced Azar Lawrence to Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner. We miss all you drummer cats and now we put our energy behind THE TRUTH IN 2012, DR. MARVIN BU GA LU SMITH. Marvin's brand new state of the art recording studio is a 48 track set up with expansion capability to 96 tracks by daisy chaining. Marvin has started a program teaching women all about drumming both using sticks with he and Andrew Greeney instructing and Koko Jones,formerly Whitney Houston's percussionist teaching the women hand drumming. LOVE ALWAYS and ALWAYS LOVE, HABIB

Marvin Smith interview.

after A NIGHT IN TUNISIA we just TAKE FIVE then we travel OUT OF THIS WO...

Juini Booth - Night in Tunisia live at Smalls, NYC 6-23-11

Dr. Marvin Smith Live At Visiones 6/7 1st set Peace Maker

Cecil Mcbee received a grammy in 1989 for "The Tribute To John Coltrane CD. Listen here to this brilliant piece of his music as he performed with Master Dr. Marvin Smith and Kirk Lightsey at Live At Visiones on the last night of their performance. Shouldn't these geniuses at least get a grammy nomination for the :Live At Visiones" performance and the wonderful compositions that they wrote: The Peacemaker by Cecil McBee, Habiba by Kirk Lightsey and Steve Habib's and Marvin Smith's "Life Has No Color"?

Steve Habib Presents Dr. Marvin Smith Live At Visiones NYC

June 7th,1992 was the last night of a 3 day performance of Dr. Marvin Smith's group The Experience. All three days were done with college students of Jazz Music in mind. Students from The New School For Jazz, The NYU Music Student Department and Faculty of The New School Jazz were available and many actually attended all of the performances including some of our close friends like Arnie Lawrence(RIP) and Reggie Workman and so many others as this entire project was a not for profit even and purely to use all content, songs included for the purpose of teaching. Dr. Marvin Smith was also an adjunct professor at the time of this video series along with several of the other performers. Under copyright lsaw, the use of any material here was under "FAIR USE" and complies with the 4 sections determining "FAIR USE" for educational purposes.

Blues For Marvin & Steve "LIVE AT VISIONES"

June 7th,1992 was the last night of a 3 day performance of Dr. Marvin Smith's group The Experience. All three days were done with college students of Jazz Music in mind. Students from The New School For Jazz, The NYU Music Student Department and Faculty of The New School Jazz were available and many actually attended all of the performances including some of our close friends like Arnie Lawrence(RIP) and Reggie Workman and so many others as this entire project was a not for profit even and purely to use all content, songs included for the purpose of teaching. Dr. Marvin Smith was also an adjunct professor at the time of this video series along with several of the other performers. Under copyright lsaw, the use of any material here was under "FAIR USE" and complies with the 4 sections determining "FAIR USE" for educational purposes.