Jessika Smith is an award-winning jazz composer, saxophonist, and music educator. She teaches at Parkrose Middle School and High School in Portland, and she directs the Jessika Smith Big Band. She plays frequently with jazz groups throughout Oregon and Washington, including Torrey Newhart’s Obsidian Animals and the Frank Irwin Sextet. Jessika has worked with numerous young jazz groups in the Northwest, and frequently adjudicates jazz festivals and competitions throughout the west coast. Jessika studied Jazz Composition and Arranging with Steve Owen at the University of Oregon, and has played and recorded professionally with many groups, including the Bob Curnow Big Band, Spokane Jazz Orchestra, the Columbia Basin Jazz Orchestra, the Emerald City Jazz Kings, and the Portland Jazz Composer’s Ensemble. Her first album, “Tricks of Light” features “Lights”, which was the 2013 winner of the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra Composition Contest, and “Cyan Thread”, which won the 2015 NBA Young Jazz Composer Contest.
Jessika Smith
Jazz Chair
Parkrose School District
Portland, Oregon
Click here to contact Jessika