Houston Smith at the Blue Room

Alto saxophonist Houston Smith, mentored by Bobby Watson since he was thirteen, plays two Friday sets at 18th & Vine.
About this Event

Houston Smith first played this room ten years ago. In January 2016, while he was still a Berklee student, he shared a Blue Room sax showcase with Ernest Melton and Mike Herrera, and Plastic Sax wrote that his statement on a Duke Ellington standard "transcended cliché." That December, the Kansas City Star reported he'd play the national anthem at Arrowhead before the Chiefs–Broncos game.

He started formal lessons at three and studied drums with Leon Brady at Brady Music Studio for ten years. At ten he took up the alto saxophone and joined Brady's Kansas City Youth Jazz, which put him on stage for the musical opening of the Kauffman Center and got him featured on Good Morning America. By thirteen he was working professionally around the city, mentored by saxophonists Bobby Watson, Gerald Dunn, and Chris Burnett and pianists Luqman Hamza and Pearl Thuston-Brown. At Berklee he studied with Terence Blanchard, Walter Beasley, and Tia Fuller, and finished in the class of 2019.

Then he came home. In 2019 he taught as a clinician for Kansas City Area Youth Jazz. In August 2020 he co-led "Searching for Charlie Parker, An Ode to Bird" with fellow saxophonist Morgan Faw. And in April 2025 he shared a Blue Room bill with Bobby Watson, the mentor he'd been learning from since his teens.

The Blue Room, 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108. Friday, September 25, 2026. Shows at 8:30 pm & 10 pm. $10 per show.