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Douglas I. Smink, Jr.Freelance arranger, transcriber, and reed man from Gaithersburg, MD, a suburb of Washington, DCFor
an annotated list of big band, small band, and saxophone quartet arrangements,
transcriptions, and other services, please contact Douglas at
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Douglas began his study of music at the age of eight when his mother - a pianist who graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD, and who taught music at McDonogh School in Baltimore County - insisted that he learn to play the piano. As soon as he was able to escape his piano lessons, he did, only to take up the study of saxophone and clarinet a few years later. During high school, he played in the school concert band and jazz ensemble and in an independent dance band. Although his college major was English, Douglas continued his pursuit of music at Washington & Lee University, where he studied harmony and counterpoint with composer Robert Stewart, played in the concert and ROTC bands, performed for shows, and led a dance band. As a student at Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA), he studied arranging with John LaPorta and saxophone with Joe Viola and played in the school jazz ensembles. While teaching at Worcester Academy (Worcester, MA), he directed and arranged music for the school band and swing ensemble and composed, arranged, and directed music for an original musical comedy. He was also co-director of the Worcester Community Youth Band. As a teacher at Governor Dummer Academy, now known as Governor's Academy (Newburyport, MA), he directed and arranged music for the jazz ensemble. While teaching abroad at the American College for Girls (now part of Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey), he played college concerts and public shows and nightclubs. As a teacher at Holton-Arms School (Bethesda, MD), he directed and arranged music for the summer jazz ensembles. Douglas holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Duke University and a Master of Arts in English from Middlebury College. While living in the Washington, D.C., area, Douglas has written arrangements or played saxophone, clarinet, and flute for several big bands, including Big Band Tradition, Band for All Seasons, New Hots Jazz Orchestra, Richard Bray, Frankie Condon, Doc Dikeman, James Bazen, the Olney Big Band, and Roland Cumberland. For over 25 years, he has performed on clarinet and saxophone with the Village Jazz Band, a traditional jazz (Dixieland) band for whom he has written some 50 arrangements. He performs and writes arrangements for Sax Appeal, a saxophone quartet. From audiotapes, he has also transcribed big band and small band arrangements and constructed lead sheets for a published fake book. Several of his arrangements are published by Ambassador Music & Publishing. Having retired from his first career as an English teacher and from a second career as a technical editor, Douglas devotes much of his leisure time to arranging and playing music and collecting and maintaining a library of professional-level big-band arrangements, many of which have been recorded by well-known musicians such as Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, Doc Severinsen, Matt Catingub, and Natalie Cole. Other Links: |
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