About
Heart Dance Recording Artist and multi-instrumentalist Michael Kent Smith has over 20 years of experience teaching rock, blues, jazz, fingerstyle and classical guitar.
Smith’s latest album on Heart Dance Records, ‘After the Harvest’, is creating a buzz in the industry and was nominated for “Acoustic Guitar Album of the Year” in England and “Acoustic Instrumental Album of the Year” in the U.S. It rose as high as #2 on the U.K.’s One World Music Radio chart and #13 on the Zone Music Reporter chart in the United States and is receiving regular radio airplay across the globe from Australia to Egypt.
As a concert artist, Smith has performed in 16 countries on 3 continents at notable venues like the Kennedy Center, the Mexico City World Music Festival, The Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival and the Cervantino Festival. He also toured the world with the Tom Sank Festival.
Smith was selected as a top 5 finalist in the Blues division of the Yamaha/Lee Ritenour "Six String Theory" competition in 2011, has won the Outstanding Soloist award at the prestigious Midwest Jazz Festival, and was voted Chicago’s Best Guitarist by Illinois Entertainer magazine in 1989.
Michael Kent Smith has released three CDs: After the Harvest in 2002, Beauty Without Warningin 2005, and La Esperanza Siguein 2010. He has also appeared as a guitarist on CDs by a number of artists including Marc Smith, Steven Hashimoto, Joe Hasiewicz and Al Rose. Smith is also a painter and printmaker, and his work can be seen on the covers of all of his CDs.
Education History:
B.A. in Music from Elmhurst College, 1987
Private Studies with:
Denis Azabagic - Classical Guitar
Ed Gerhard and Martin Simpson - Fingerstyle Guitar
Manuel Lozano, Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) - Flamenco
Richard Medel - Improvisation
My first priority is inspiring the student to progress as a musician.
If you are already an experienced player, we will work together to find out where you want to go; I will help you to move in that direction and lift your playing to another level. I'll help you find the joy that comes from seeing your progress, developing your musicianship and accomplishing your goals. It takes hard work, but it is fun and so rewarding for both of us.
If you are less experienced, I will get you playing songs almost from the beginning so that you can feel the joy of actually making music! Once you are playing real music, we will get to work on learning the styles that inspired you to pick up the guitar in the first place.