Ed Smith

Ed Smith's music career as a jazz vibraphonist and percussionist spans more than thirty years and has taken him to Europe, Asia and Mexico. He has performed with distinguished artists such as John Cage, Phil Wilson, Louie Bellson, Eric Sammut, Trichy Sankaran, Glen Velez, Hands On’Semble, Brahmah and many others. In 1992 Ed helped form the internationally recognized world percussion group, D'Drum, which recorded the soundtrack for the National Geographic Film Lions of Darkness and performed in Hong Kong as part of the Chinese modern presentation of Mozart's The Magic Flute. A PBS short film about the group and their world travels won an Emmy in 1999.  As a member of D’Drum, Ed recently collaborated with Steward Copeland, drummer of The Police, on a world music concerto called Gamelan D’Drum. Its world premiere with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in February 2011 received rave reviews.

Ed began traveling to Bali, Indonesia in 1995 to study the music of wayang kulit (shadow puppet play) on the gamelan gender wayang. In 1998 Ed received the high honor of performing with his teacher, Ketut Madri, in a temple celebration. Since 2002 he has been studying the repertoire of the large Balinese gamelan, gong kebyar.

Ed teaches vibraphone and Balinese gamelan at the University of North Texas. He also teaches at Southern Methodist University and Cedar Valley College. He has his own signature vibes mallet produced by Malletech.

View Ed Smith Products