Kester Winston "Smitty" Smith was an American

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

. Born in Granada and raised from a young age in Trinidad, he was the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

for the Taj Mahal Trio and collaborated with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

musicians. He performed with and alongside

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

for over forty years. He recorded music with Taj Mahal,

Geoff Muldaur Geoff Muldaur (born August 12, 1943) is an American singer, guitarist and composer, who was a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days. Career Having established a reputation with the Kweskin J ...

Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar, fiddle, dobro, banjo, bass, piano and mandolin. He has a wide vocal range and yodels. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall o ...

Cedella Booker Sidilla Editha "Cedella" Booker (previously Marley, née Malcolm; 23 July 1926 – 8 April 2008) was the mother of reggae legend Bob Marley. Biography Booker was born Sidilla Editha Malcolm in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, the dau ...

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...

, Ellen McIlwaine, Mary Coughlan and

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Lifet ...

Selected discography

, ''Mo' Roots,''

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, 1974. * Taj Mahalm Music Fuh Ya' (Musica Para Tu) *Taj Mahal, ''Big Blues: Live at Ronnie Scott,'' Silverline Records, 1991 *Taj Mahal, ''Mule Bone,'' Gramavision, 1991 *

, ''Secret Handshake,'' HighTone Records, 1998 *Taj Mahal, ''Sugar Mama Blues,'' Just a Memory Records, 2004 *Taj Mahal, ''Maestro,''

Telarc Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long assoc ...

, 2008 *Taj Mahal, '' Swingin' Live at the Church in Tulsa'', Lightning Rod Records, 2024

Death

Smith died surrounded by family, in his adopted hometown of St. Helena, California on January 15, 2024.

References

2024 deaths American percussionists American male drummers Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-drummer-stub