Ira Nathaniel Smith (born December 14, 1974) is an American drummer, songwriter, producer, and three-time Grammy nominee.[1]
Life and career
Smith was born in
Chesapeake, Virginia, and started playing drums at age 11, initially influenced by rock and funk music. At 16, he developed an interest in jazz after listening to Album of the Year by
Art Blakey and the
Jazz Messengers. Smith studied media art and design at
James Madison University.[2][3] While at James Madison, he performed at the Conference of the
International Association for Jazz Education in Atlanta, where he met
Betty Carter, who invited him to joint performances at the Blue Note in New York City.[4] Smith went to graduate school at
Virginia Commonwealth University, where he met
Dave Holland and joined Holland's quintet in 2003.[2] Smith appears on the albums Critical Mass (2005) and Pathways (2009).[5] In 2017, he released his first album as leader, Kinfolk: Postcards from Everywhere on
Ropeadope Records.[2][6] In 2018 Smith cowrote and performed in the self-titled, debut EP release from the
Vulfpeck spin-off group 'The Fearless Flyers', later going on a US tour with the group and releasing a second such EP in 2019.[7]
The Fearless Flyers, The Fearless Flyers (Vulf Records 2018), The Fearless Flyers II (Vulf Records 2019), Tailwinds (Vulf Records, 2020), The Fearless Flyers III (Vulf Records, 2022), The Fearless Flyers IV (Vulf Records, 2024)