NICKEL-A-DANCE: Will Smith & The New Orleans Jass Katz

Trumpeter Will Smith was introduced to jazz at an early age by his older sister, civil rights activist and longtime early Jazz Fest and Preservation Hall staffer, Dodie Smith-Simmons, and his brother-in-law, fellow trumpeter John "Kid" Simmons, who would take him almost nightly to Preservation Hall as a youth. In 1975, Will joined the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band, founded by legendary jazzman and author Danny Barker. Later, Will organized his own band, The Jass Katz, but also played and toured with famed bands like Dejean's Olympia Brass Band, Chosen Few Brass Band, Tremé Brass Band, and the Original Pinstripe Brass Band. Today, he is a resident musician at Preservation Hall Jazz, and a youth educator in New Orleans schools. 

NICKEL-A-DANCE is a free series of Sunday afternoon traditional jazz concerts started in 1994 that now take place each spring and fall season, and is a hit with children, families, seniors, and the general dancing public that don’t tend to go to night clubs.  It attracts a diverse group of fans that meet on Frenchmen Street to celebrate jazz as America’s original dance music while listening to the best of today’s classic jazz bands. Nickel-A-Dance is produced by the New Orleans Jazz Celebration, Inc. (NOJC)