Rusty Smith

Lecturer

North Carolina native Rusty Smith (Lecturer) received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree and postgraduate certificate in Jazz Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Previously, he earned a BM in Music Education from Appalachian State University and a Master of Music in trumpet performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts. In addition, he spent two years at the prestigious Indiana University School of Music studying with renowned trumpet pedagogue William Adam.

Dr. Smith has decades of experience teaching at the collegiate level and is frequently called upon to serve as a clinician and adjudicator for state and regional honor bands. Through his private studio instruction, his students have earned All-State recognition and a number have gone on to pursue careers in the music industry.

From 1997-2005, Rusty was the trumpet player for the Louise Mandrell Theater in Pigeon Forge, TN. He is currently a charter member of Winston-Salem’s Camel City Jazz Orchestra and regularly performs with the Carolina Horns, backing such groups as Motown legends the Four Tops and the Temptations. In addition, he has performed with numerous headline artists including Olivia Newton-John, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, the Pointer Sisters, the Spinners, and many others. He has performed with the North Carolina, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestras. He can frequently be found in the orchestra pit providing accompaniment for national touring company productions of a number of Broadway musicals including Dreamgirls, Anything Goes, Motown, Matilda, Wicked, Mean Girls, Tina, Ain’t Too Proud, and MJ: The Musical (Fall ‘23).

Dr. Smith toured the US and abroad with the Ray Charles tribute I Can’t Stop Loving You, the world premier tour of Ziegfeld: a Night At The Follies, the Motown Christmas Spectacular, and the Motown Legends Tour. As the featured soloist with the Spirit of America National Honor Band, he worked with hundreds of high school and college students from across the United States, touring Europe and winning first place in the festival division of the World Music Contest in Kekrade, Holland.

A regular in the recording studio, Rusty has recorded for many national and regional artists. For more than 20 years, he has been a member of the Excelcia Recording Ensemble (formerly the Trade Winds Ensemble), providing educational reference recordings for hundreds of new works for concert band.  GIA Publications’ upcoming Developing Error Detection Skills in the Wind Band Educator features Dr. Smith as the trumpeter for the recorded examples accompanying this textbook.

Rusty’s television appearances include The Road with the Four Tops (PBS), The Louise Mandrell Celebrity Shoot (TNN), Motown Live with the Four Tops, Gerald Levert and Anastacia, Lee Ann Womac’s Christmas Special (GAC), and most recently Shout Hallelujah by the Firebird Arts Alliance. He can also be seen on the Four Tops 40th Anniversary Special.

For more information, please visit Dr. Smith’s website at www.rustysmithmusic.com