MDI: Oliver Thierry Smith

Born in Paris in 1972, Oliver Smith studied Clarinet at the Sucy en Brie Conservatory of Music & Drama. He took his "Diplome de Fin d'Etudes" (End of Studies Diploma) in 1990 from the "Union des Conservatoires d'Iles de France" (Union of Conservatories from the Parisian region) and passed with distinction.

Meanwhile he started playing saxophone and took his first regular gig in a bar in Paris at the age of 15.

After graduation, he worked his way up to the ranks of local bands until forming his own trio, with which he performed in 1992 in his first International Jazz festival in the south of France ("Jazz sur son 31")

Following this he had the chance to perform within the festival "Jazz in Marciac", famous for having Winton Marsalis as one its artistic directors.

In parallel Oliver took a position as a music tutor at University "Paul Sabatier" in Toulouse, where he taught Jazz Saxophone and improvisation.

In 1996,he settled in Hong Kong, playing regularly at the Hong Kong Jazz Club and other venues (Kee Club, Club 97, 1/5, Dragon Eye...), for different organizations including the New Zealand Society, Saint Patrick Society, Blue Crane Society, Scottish Society...

Thanks to his versatility, he's been asked thinks as different as to play for the local production of "West Side Story", to backing up or recording with Canto pop stars (Alan Tam, Chris Wong, The Twins...).

Hong Kong being an International city gave him the opportunity to meat and perform with excellent local musicians and many touring artists among others Eric Marienthal who became his teacher, Michel Legrand, Liane Foly, Tamaya Honda, Kazuo Takeda...

In 2003 he became responsible for the "Thursday Jazz Night" at San Marzano Pizza Express which main branch in London Soho was voted best Jazz Club in Britain.

The following year, Oliver Smith was approach by the marketing department of Hennessy XO to form a band for their Smooth & Mellow Asian Jazz Tour which brought him to Taiwan, Malaysia and Korea. He is currently teaching in ESF Schools, including West Island School, King George V, and at the French International School, where he's been preparing successfully many of his students to the prestigious Guildhall Music & Drama Jazz Examinations.