Richard Smith: Guitarist, writer, producer, recording artist, touring musician, Professor, collaborator, world traveler and musical ambassador. These are only a few of the roles that Richard Smith plays. Besides recording a series of hit smooth jazz albums and mentoring other artists in the process, he is on the faculty at the USC Thornton School of Music and was the Chair of the Jazz Guitar department before stepping down to pursue other interests. He has been spending a lot of time overseas teaching and playing all types of music and is involved in the new Pop Music Performance degree program at USC. The first of its kind, it will teach students who want to pursue careers in popular music both the technical and business sides of being a professional musician. In the midst of this all he has put together a group of L.A.'s finest musicians and released a CD. LA Chillharmonic, which we reviewed in October, is one of 2008's best. He stepped out of perpetual motion to give us an update on what he's been doing since we spoke several years ago.
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