Daily Dose Of Jazz…

LaDonna Smith was born on March 2, 1951 in Birmingham, Alabama. She learned to play violin and went on to perfect viola and piano. Since 1974 she has been performing free improvisational music with musicians Davey Williams, Leland Davis, Michael Evans, Gunther Christmann, Anne Lebaron, Derek Bailey, Eugene Chadbourne, Misha Feigin, Michael Evans, David Sait, Jack Wright, John Russell, Sergey Letov, Toshi Makihara, Andrew Dewar and many other world major improvisers.

As a performer, she has toured the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Siberia, Korea, India, China and Japan. She produced concerts and festivals in Alabama and the Southeast, including the Birmingham Improv Festival and The Improvisor Festival. She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Improvised Music (I.S.I.M.).

In 1976, Smith co-founded TransMuseq Records with Davey Williams. She is editor-in-chief and publisher of The Improvisor magazine which began in 1980 as an extension of The Improvisor’s Network, a grass-roots organization in New York City that attempted to connect improvising musicians across America. She is a member of the Fresh-Dirt collective (Alabama Surrealism).

Avant garde violinist, violist, and pianist LaDonna Smith, who has recorded 37 albums, continues to perform and record.

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