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Profile No. 871

Marvin "Smitty" Smith

Drums, percussion, composition — American — B: June 24, 1961, Waukegan, Illinois
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Marvin "Smitty" Smith

Marvin "Smitty" Smith seated at his drum kit on the front cover of his debut album as a leader, *Keeper of the Drums* (Concord Jazz CJ-325, 1987), recorded at Skyline Studios, New York, in March 1987. Cover photograph by Bill May. Album cover art (not a CC-licensed artist photo), used as the only available image showing the artist. Copyright remains with Concord Jazz and the photographer. — Discogs release page for Keeper of the Drums - https://www.discogs.com/release/3370199

Marvin Smith was born in Waukegan, Illinois, on June 24, 1961, into a house that already had a drum set in it. His father, Marvin Smith Sr., was a drummer, and the son's formal training began at three, with his father as his first teacher. By eight he was being taken along to his father's sessions; at fourteen he made his first tour, with a funk band. He finished Waukegan East High School and enrolled at the Berklee College of Music, where he studied from 1979 and graduated in 1981. His earliest documented appearance on record comes from the year he left Berklee and is not a jazz date at all: In Command, a 1981 gospel LP on the small Chekmate label by a group called the Joyful Commanders, on which the young Smith shares the drum chair with Alvin Washington and the bass and keyboards are played by Reginald Veal.

New York followed immediately, and so did the singer Jon Hendricks, whose band Smith joined in the early 1980s. He is on Hendricks's 1982 Muse album Love, credited on the whole of the first side. It was on a Hendricks night at Manhattan's Blue Note that Roy Haynes christened him "Mah-velous Marvin" and urged him to sit in with a working band, an anecdote Chip Stern opened his March 1986 Modern Drummer cover feature with; by then the critic Stanley Crouch had been writing him up in the Village Voice for two years. The recording dates arrived in a rush. In December 1982 he cut Soul Song in Cologne with Archie Shepp, Kenny Werner and Santi Debriano. In 1983 alone he made Bobby Watson's Jewel (April), the Frank Foster and Frank Wess quintet date Two for the Blues (October), the Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison quintet's New York Second Line (October) and Watson's Gumbo (December). Then came Hamiet Bluiett's Ebu in February 1984 and David Murray's Children that autumn, with James Blood Ulmer and Don Pullen.

The association that made his reputation was with Dave Holland. Smith took the drum chair for the quintet's Seeds of Time, recorded in Ludwigsburg in November 1984, and held it across three ECM albums in six years: Seeds of Time, The Razor's Edge (February 1987) and Extensions (recorded at the Power Station in September 1989). The 1984 to 1987 band paired him with Kenny Wheeler, Julian Priester or Robin Eubanks, and Steve Coleman; Extensions replaced the brass with Kevin Eubanks's guitar. Holland's group is where the long partnership with Coleman began, and it fed straight into the other movement Smith belonged to.

Smith is a founding member of the M-Base collective, sharing its drum chair with Mark Johnson (a different musician from the bassist Marc Johnson, and the two are on the same record: both drummers are credited on On the Edge of Tomorrow). He plays on Coleman's leader debut Motherland Pulse, cut at ERAS Studio in March 1985 with Geri Allen, Graham Haynes and Lonnie Plaxico, and then on the Five Elements records On the Edge of Tomorrow (1986), Sine Die (1988), Rhythm People (1990), Black Science (1991) and Drop Kick (1992), where his credit is track by track on ten of the eleven pieces. He is the drummer on both Strata Institute albums, Cipher Syntax (1989, with Greg Osby) and Transmigration (1991, with Von Freeman), and on the one-off M-Base Collective record Anatomy of a Groove, recorded at Systems Two over December 1991 and January 1992 with Cassandra Wilson singing. Coleman's Rhythm in Mind (April 1991) put him in a band alongside Ed Blackwell, Holland, Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Wheeler.

The leader dates are two, and both are on Concord Jazz. Keeper of the Drums was recorded at Skyline Studios in March 1987 with a front line of Wallace Roney, Robin Eubanks, Ralph Moore and Steve Coleman over Mulgrew Miller and Lonnie Plaxico, and every one of its eight pieces is Smith's own. The Road Less Traveled followed at A&R Recording Studios in February 1989 with the same horns, James Williams on piano and Robert Hurst on bass; Smith wrote and arranged seven of its eight tracks. Around them sits an extraordinary run of mainstream work in the same decade: the reunited Art Farmer and Benny Golson Jazztet at Sweet Basil in February 1986, which produced both Back to the City and Real Time; Art Farmer's Strayhorn program Something to Live For (January 1987) and Ph.D. (April 1989); the George Shearing trio album Breakin' Out with Ray Brown, cut in New York in May 1987 in six and a half hours; Donald Byrd's Harlem Blues at Van Gelder's in September 1987; Emily Remler's East to Wes with Hank Jones and Buster Williams in May 1988; the Don Sickler-led Superblue's Superblue 2 in April 1989; and Sonny Rollins's music for Robert Mugge's film Saxophone Colossus. He was also the house drummer for Peter Leitch across eight albums between 1987 and 1997, and for Ray Drummond's Arabesque dates Excursion (1992) and Continuum (1994).

In 1995 Smith moved to Los Angeles to take the drum chair in the NBC late-night band led by his fellow Berklee alumnus Kevin Eubanks, beginning January 30, 1995. He held it for roughly fifteen years, through the end of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 29, 2009 and into the show's successor, until Eubanks left the bandleader's job in 2010. It is a large and genuine part of his working life that left almost no discography behind it: the television band's own records all predate his tenure. His playing career continued around it and after it, and much of it stayed with Eubanks, on Spirit Talk (1993) and its sequel, Zen Food (2010), The Messenger (recorded at Spirit Studios in West Hills and issued in 2013, where his credit is track-level on eight of eleven pieces) and East West Time Line (2017, where he takes the five Los Angeles tracks and Jeff "Tain" Watts takes the New York ones). Since then he has recorded Delfeayo Marsalis's The Last Southern Gentlemen (2014) with Ellis Marsalis and John Clayton, Azar Lawrence's Elementals (recorded in Pasadena in September 2016), Teodross Avery's Harlem Stories (January 2020), Orrin Evans's The Red Door (Smoke Sessions, 2023) and, in January 2025, the two-guitar quartet album Recreational Substance, co-led by Oz Noy and Andrew Synowiec with Hadrien Feraud on bass.

Smith's first teacher was his father, and the drummer he most obviously descends from is Roy Haynes, whose blessing at the Blue Note is the origin story every profile of him repeats: the same crispness of touch, the same habit of commenting on a soloist rather than merely supporting one. What set him apart in the 1980s was range at a moment when the jazz world was busy sorting itself into camps. In one week he could play a Strayhorn program with Art Farmer and Clifford Jordan, a hard-swinging trio night with George Shearing and Ray Brown, and the odd-metre, loop-derived rhythmic architecture of the M-Base records, where the drum part is not a swing pulse with decoration but an interlocking cell worked out against the bass. He is a composer as well: all eight pieces on Keeper of the Drums and seven of the eight on The Road Less Traveled are his, and he later contributed songs to two of Dean Brown's albums. Modern Drummer put him on its cover in March 1986, when he was twenty-four and had not yet made a record under his own name, and Stanley Crouch had been advertising him in the Village Voice before that. Gregory Hutchinson, a generation younger, names him as one of his three teachers.

Key Recordings
Full Discography

Marvin "Smitty" Smith: Full Discography

Marvin "Smitty" Smith has made exactly two albums as a leader, both for Concord Jazz, and something over two hundred as a sideman. The two tables below reflect that shape: a short leader table that is complete, and a selected sideman table that is not and does not try to be.

Identity confirmed via the live Discogs API: artist ID 253780 ("Marvin 'Smitty' Smith," real name Marvin Otis Smith II, American jazz drummer and composer, born June 24, 1961 in Waukegan, Illinois), which credits him on 282 releases: 253 tagged as appearances, 16 as main credits, 7 as unofficial releases, 5 as track appearances and 1 as production. Every one of those entries was fetched at release level and read. Entries of type master, of which there are 171, were resolved through their main release, and the title that came back was checked against the title requested before any label, catalogue number or personnel was written down. Where a release returned no credit for him at all, the album's other pressings were enumerated and checked. What follows is roughly a third of the whole, weighted towards the records where the credit is substantial and towards the leaders he worked with repeatedly.

Seven mechanical notes for anyone extending these tables.

First, the Discogs Main tag is not a leader catalogue here. Sixteen entries carry it and only two of them are records he leads. The other fourteen are sleeve billings on other people's albums: a Jamey Aebersold play-along volume, a Frank Foster and Frank Wess quintet date, a George Shearing trio album, a Bobby Watson quartet album, a Benny Golson orchestra project, a Gebhard Ullmann and Andreas Willers record, a Michel Sardaby trio, a Harvie Swartz quartet, a Steve Marcus quintet, a Riccardo Fassi trio, a Japanese trio led by Daichi Kondo, a Dave Holland Quintet concert video, a James Weidman trio and a Dr. Lonnie Smith organ trio. The billing on each was read on the release itself before the row was placed.

Second, a single-pressing check on this artist produces false negatives at a measurable rate. Twenty of the 282 entries, one in fourteen, returned no credit for him on the pressing the master points at. Thirteen of those were re-checked against the album's other pressings and all thirteen turned up a real, well-formed credit on a different one. Bobby Watson's Love Remains is the clearest case: the pressing Discogs treats as canonical carries no personnel at all, while the Italian LP and the 2021 remaster both carry the full quartet. Branford Marsalis's Father & Son, Michele Hendricks's Carryin' On and Keepin' Me Satisfied, Joyce's Music Inside, Emily Remler's Retrospective Volume Two, Amani A.W.-Murray's album and John Scofield's Live 3 Ways all behave the same way. A negative from one pressing is not a finding.

Third, the release-level credit block is often not where the personnel lives. Steve Coleman's Drop Kick has no album-level credit for him at all and lists him track by track on ten of eleven pieces; Kevin Eubanks's The Messenger does the same on eight of eleven, Opening Night on three of eight, Dean Brown's Rolajafufu on eleven of twelve and Ed Motta's Perpetual Gateways on all ten. Where a credit does carry an explicit track string it is reproduced here as given.

Fourth, the non-performing-credit scan came back almost clean, and the exceptions are worth naming. Every credit string on all 282 releases was read. The performing roles account for all but three rows: "Drums" 173 times, "Drums, Percussion" 13, plus single instances of drums with sampler, with tambourine, with voice, with additional rap, and percussion or vocals on their own. The three exceptions are an "Interviewee" credit on a Pearl drum-company promotional disc, which is not a performance; a bare "Musician" tag on Michael Lington's Alone Together, which is the tag that release gives to all thirty of its players and which cannot be resolved to an instrument from the data; and a "Producer" credit that is discussed in the next note. He also carries a composing and arranging credit on seven of the eight tracks of his own second album, and writing credits on two Dean Brown albums.

Fifth, the coarse role tag understates as well as overstates, and it does so here on a record he plays the whole of. Bheki Mseleku's Celebration (World Circuit WCD 028, recorded in London in December 1991 and January 1992) is the one release in his catalogue tagged "Producer." Read from the tag alone he is a producer on it and nothing else. The release itself credits him twice, as drummer and as one of three co-producers with Mseleku and Russell Herman, and he is the only drummer on the record.

Sixth, two of his credits belong to other people, and the corpus should not inherit them. The Discogs artist record's namevariations field lists "Marvin 'Bugalu' Smith" as a variation of his name. It is not: Marvin "Bugalu" Smith is a separate drummer, born 1948, a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra from 1986 to 1992, and Discogs holds him as a separate artist with a note on each page warning against the confusion. Separately, the compilation This Is Northern Soul 2 (Crimson CRIMCD274, 2000) files its track "Have More Time" under this artist ID. That recording is a 1966 Chicago soul single by a different Marvin Smith, the former Artistics vocalist also billed as "Sweet Louie," who has his own Discogs entity. Smitty Smith was five years old. Neither row is in the tables below.

Seventh, his Spotify presence is split across three artist pages, 63N3BaGKxqFtJs2YWnQA9S, 4bdotT8NlTTt3zThhVruJb and 2gtJr6T0gUMOu1esplb5JB, all genuinely his and none of them complete. The first is linked from this profile. Album links below were confirmed one by one against the Spotify catalogue; where an album could not be found the cell reads the same placeholder the Buy column uses. Neither of his two leader albums is on Spotify, nor are the Steve Coleman records Motherland Pulse, On the Edge of Tomorrow, Rhythm People or Cipher Syntax, nor Superblue 2, Harlem Blues, Breakin' Out, Prelude and Sonata, Karma or Frankly Speaking.

As Leader

Album Title Recording Date(s) Release Date Label Catalog Number Format(s) Personnel Role Reissue History Spotify Buy Notes
Keeper of the Drums Skyline Studios, New York, March 1987 1987 Concord Jazz CJ-325 Vinyl LP, Album Wallace Roney (trumpet), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Ralph Moore (tenor saxophone), Steve Coleman (alto and soprano saxophone), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Lonnie Plaxico (bass), Marvin "Smitty" Smith (drums); produced by Bennett Rubin, liner notes by Gary Giddins Leader, composer of all eight pieces (none listed) — — His debut as a leader, made at twenty-five. The Discogs notes read "All selections composed by Marvin Smith." The cover photograph, by Bill May, is the portrait used on this page.
The Road Less Traveled A&R Recording Studios, New York, February 1989 1989 Concord Jazz CCD-4379 CD, Album Wallace Roney (trumpet), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Ralph Moore (tenor saxophone), Steve Coleman (alto saxophone), James Williams (piano), Robert Hurst (bass), Kenyatte Abdur-Rahman (percussion), Marvin "Smitty" Smith (drums); produced by Allen Farnham, liner notes by Howard Mandel Leader; composed and arranged tracks 1 to 5, 7 and 8 (none listed) — — The same front line as Keeper of the Drums with a new rhythm section. The composing credit carries an explicit track string, so "Gothic 17" is the one piece he did not write.

Note on a persistent misattribution: German Wikipedia's article names Carryin' On (1993) as a second album by Smith's own group. It is not his record. Carryin' On is Michele Hendricks's 1987 Muse album (MR 5336), on which he plays drums on six of its nine tracks; the 1993 Hendricks album is Me and My Shadow. He has no third leader date.

As Sideman (selected major credits)

This is a representative selection, not a complete list. Roughly two hundred further credits exist, most of them one or two tracks on compilations and samplers.

Year Project (Leader) Title Label Catalog Role Notes
1981 Joyful Commanders In Command Chekmate Records LP 7011 JC Drums A gospel LP and his earliest documented appearance on record. He shares the drum chair with Alvin Washington; Reginald Veal plays bass, keyboards and organ.
1982 Jon Hendricks & Company Love Muse Records MR 5258 Drums (A1 to A6) Recorded across three studios. His credit covers the whole of side one. Michele Hendricks and Judith Hendricks sing; Jerome Richardson and Harry Edison are on the horns.
1982 Archie Shepp Quartet Soul Song Enja Records enja 4050 Drums Recorded at Studio N, Cologne, December 1, 1982. His first jazz leader date, with Kenny Werner and Santi Debriano. Released 1983. Spotify - Soul Song
1983 Bobby Watson Sextet Jewel Amigo AMLP 846 Drums Recorded at La Piana Jazz, New York, April 1983, with Curtis Lundy, Mulgrew Miller and Steve Nelson; Dom Um Romao guests on congas.
1984 Frank Foster + Frank Wess Two for the Blues Pablo Records 2310-905 Drums Recorded at Don Elliot Studios, Weston, Connecticut, October 11 and 12, 1983, with Kenny Barron and Rufus Reid. Spotify - Two For The Blues
1984 Terence Blanchard / Donald Harrison New York Second Line Concord Jazz (George Wein Collection) GW-3002 Drums Recorded October 15 and 16, 1983, with Mulgrew Miller and Lonnie Plaxico. The co-led quintet's first album.
1984 Hamiet Bluiett Ebu Soul Note SN 1088 Drums Recorded at Classic Sound Studio, New York, February 1, 2 and 13, 1984, with John Hicks and Fred Hopkins. Spotify - Ebu
1984 Branford Marsalis Scenes in the City Columbia FC 38951 Drums (A1 to A3, B2) Recorded April and November 1983 at RCA Studio A. He plays four of the six pieces; Jeff "Tain" Watts plays the others.
1984 Archie Shepp The Good Life Varrick Records VR005 Drums Recorded at Media Recording, Northampton, Massachusetts, with Kenny Werner and Avery Sharpe.
1985 David Murray Children Black Saint BSR 0089 Drums Recorded at Vanguard Studios, New York, October 27 and November 15, 1984, with Don Pullen, James Blood Ulmer and Lonnie Plaxico. Spotify - Children
1985 Dave Holland Quintet Seeds of Time ECM Records ECM 1292 Drums, percussion Digital recording, Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, November 1984, with Kenny Wheeler, Julian Priester and Steve Coleman. His first record with the band; he replaced Steve Ellington, who played the previous album, Jumpin' In. Spotify - Seeds Of Time
1985 Steve Coleman Group Motherland Pulse JMT JMT 850001 Drums, percussion (A1 to A4, B2 to B4) Recorded at ERAS Studio, New York, March 1985, with Geri Allen, Graham Haynes and Lonnie Plaxico. Coleman's leader debut.
1985 Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, Marvin "Smitty" Smith Frankly Speaking Concord Jazz CJ-276 Drums, named in the sleeve billing Recorded and remixed at Skyline Studios, New York, December 1984. The five-way billing is why Discogs tags this a main credit; it is a Foster and Wess record.
1985 Gunter Hampel New York Orchestra Fresh Heat: Live at Sweet Basil Birth Records Birth0039 Drums Digital recording at Sweet Basil, New York, February 4, 1985, 10pm to 2am, in a fifteen-piece band including Bob Stewart, Perry Robinson, Bill Frisell, Curtis Fowlkes and Jeanne Lee.
1985 The Andy Jaffe Sextet Manhattan Projections Stash Records ST 247 Drums Recorded at Classic Sound, New York, January 24, 1984, with Wallace Roney and Branford Marsalis.
1985 Bobby Watson and the Horizon Quintet Gumbo Amigo AMLP 851 Drums Recorded at Classic Sound Productions, New York, December 27, 1983, with Hamiet Bluiett, Mulgrew Miller, Melton Mustafa and Curtis Lundy. Reissued on CD by Break Time in 1988.
1985 Kevin Eubanks Opening Night GRP GRP-D-9520 Drums (3 of 8 tracks) The album-level credit block names no drummer; his name appears only in the track list, on "Opening Night," "The Navigator" and "A Place Before You've Been."
1986 Steve Coleman and Five Elements On the Edge of Tomorrow JMT JMT 860005 Drums (A3, B5); percussion, backing vocals Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, January 1986, with Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Graham Haynes and Kevin Bruce Harris. Mark Johnson shares the drum chair; both drummers are credited.
1986 The Art Farmer / Benny Golson Jazztet Back to the City Contemporary Records C-14020 Drums Recorded live at Sweet Basil, New York, February 21 and 22, 1986, with Curtis Fuller, Mickey Tucker and Ray Drummond. Spotify - Back To The City
1987 Art Farmer Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn Contemporary Records CCD-14029-2 Drums Recorded at Secret Sound Studios, New York, January 14 and 15, 1987, with Clifford Jordan, James Williams and Rufus Reid. Spotify - Something To Live For
1987 Dave Holland Quintet The Razor's Edge ECM Records ECM 1353 Drums Digital recording, Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, February 1987, with Kenny Wheeler, Robin Eubanks and Steve Coleman. Spotify - The Razor's Edge
1987 The George Shearing Trio with Ray Brown and Marvin "Smitty" Smith Breakin' Out Concord Jazz CCD 4335 Drums, named in the sleeve billing Recorded in New York, May 1987, "in six and a half hours" per the release notes. Remixed at PER, Hayward, California.
1987 Peter Leitch Red Zone Reservoir RSR CD 103 Drums (1 to 4, 6, 8, 11) Pepper Adams plays baritone saxophone; Billy Hart takes the drum chair on the tracks Smith does not. The first of eight Leitch albums.
1987 Buddy Montgomery Ties of Love Landmark Records LLP-1512 Drums (A1, A2, B4) Three of eight tracks; Billy Higgins plays the rest. A large cast including Ron Carter, David "Fathead" Newman and Claudio Roditi.
1987 Sonny Rollins Sonny Rollins Plays G-Man and Other Music for the Soundtrack of the Robert Mugge Film "Saxophone Colossus" Milestone M-9150 Drums Also issued as the Saxophone Colossus film soundtrack and drawn on for Rollins's 1987 album Dancing in the Dark.
1987 Benny Golson and Freddie Hubbard Stardust Denon 33CY-1838 EX Drums Recorded at Clinton Studio, New York, June 22 and 23, 1987.
1988 Donald Byrd Harlem Blues Landmark Records LCD-1516-2 Drums Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, September 22 and 24, 1987, with Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller and Rufus Reid.
1988 Emily Remler East to Wes Concord Jazz CCD-4356 Drums Recorded in New York, May 1988, with Hank Jones and Buster Williams. Spotify - East To Wes
1988 Bobby Watson Quartet Love Remains Red Record RR 123212-2 Drums Recorded live to two digital tracks at Manhattan Recording Company, New York, November 13, 1986, with John Hicks and Curtis Lundy. The credit is absent from the pressing Discogs treats as canonical and present on the Italian LP and the 2021 remaster. Spotify - Love Remains
1988 Dianne Reeves The Nearness of You Blue Note CJ32-5020 Drums (1, 4, 6, 7) Four of nine tracks, shared with Michael Baker and Terri Lyne Carrington. Greg Osby and Kevin Eubanks also play.
1988 Steve Coleman and Five Elements Sine Die Pangaea 461159 1 Drums, percussion Recorded December 1987 to January 1988, with Cassandra Wilson, Robin Eubanks, Gary Thomas and James Weidman. Billed on the sleeve as an M-Base production.
1988 The Art Farmer / Benny Golson Jazztet Real Time Contemporary Records C-14034 Drums The second album from the same two Sweet Basil nights in February 1986. Spotify - Real Time
1989 Art Farmer Ph.D. Contemporary Records CCD-14055-2 Drums Recorded at Home Base Recording, New York, April 3 and 4, 1989, with Clifford Jordan, Kenny Burrell, James Williams and Rufus Reid. Spotify - Ph. D
1989 Strata Institute Cipher Syntax JMT JMT 834 425-2 Drums (1 to 3, 5, 7 to 10) Eight of ten tracks; Tani Tabbal plays the other two. Steve Coleman and Greg Osby's co-led project, with Robert Hurst and David Gilmore.
1989 Superblue Superblue 2: The 50th Year Somethin' Else CJ32-5512 Drums Recorded in Englewood Cliffs, April 24 and 25, 1989, engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. Kenny Washington had the drum chair on the band's 1988 debut; Smith took over for this one.
1989 David "Fathead" Newman Fire! Live at the Village Vanguard Atlantic Jazz 81965-1 Drums Recorded direct to two-track digital at the Village Vanguard, December 22 and 23, 1988, with Stanley Turrentine, Hank Crawford, Steve Nelson and Kirk Lightsey. Spotify - Fire! Live At The Village Vanguard
1989 J.S. Bach / Benny Golson's New York Orchestra Brandenburg Concertos Alfa Jazz 29R2-38 Drums, named in the sleeve billing Recorded at National Edison Recording Studio, New York, January 17 to 22, 1989, with Art Farmer, Mulgrew Miller and Rufus Reid. Reissued in 2011 on Snailworx as Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 1, 3 and 5.
1990 Dave Holland Quartet Extensions ECM Records ECM 1410 Drums Digital recording at the Power Station, New York, September 1989, with Steve Coleman and Kevin Eubanks. The last of the three ECM albums.
1990 Steve Coleman and Five Elements Rhythm People (The Resurrection of Creative Black Civilization) Novus / RCA PD83092 Drums, percussion Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, February 1990. Dave Holland, Robin Eubanks and Cassandra Wilson appear as tagged special guests; Smith carries no guest tag.
1990 Gebhard Ullmann and Andreas Willers with Marvin "Smitty" Smith and Bob Stewart Suite Noire Nabel NABEL CD 4649 Drums, percussion, percussion sampler; named in the sleeve billing Recorded at Sound On Sound Studios, New York, January 1990, with further work at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, that August. A quartet with tuba and no bass.
1990 Kevin Eubanks Promise of Tomorrow GRP GRD-9604 Drums (2, 4) Two of ten tracks.
1991 Robin Eubanks Karma JMT JMT 834 446-2 Drums; additional rap Recorded May 1990 with Dave Holland, Greg Osby, Kevin Eubanks, Branford Marsalis and Cassandra Wilson. The rap credit is real and is shared with the leader.
1991 Steve Coleman and Five Elements Black Science Novus / RCA PD83119 Drums, percussion Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, December 1990, in the quintet with David Gilmore, James Weidman and Reggie Washington. Spotify - Black Science
1991 Strata Institute Transmigration Rebel-X Records CD9101 Drums The second Strata Institute record, with Von Freeman on tenor saxophone, David Gilmore and Kenny Davis.
1991 Mingus Dynasty The Next Generation Columbia CK 47405 Drums Shares the drum chair with Victor Lewis. George Adams, Craig Handy, John Hicks and Ray Drummond play.
1992 Harvie S, Mick Goodrick, John Abercrombie, Marvin "Smitty" Smith Arrival RCA / Novus 74321 11223 2 Drums, named in the sleeve billing Recorded at Eastside Sound, New York, September 5 to 7, 1991. Billed as Harvie Swartz. The two guitars are hard-panned, Abercrombie left and Goodrick right.
1992 Bheki Mseleku Celebration World Circuit WCD 028 Drums; co-producer Recorded at Raezor Studios, London, December 1991, except one track at CTS in January 1992. Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson and Jean Toussaint each guest on one track. The only production credit in his catalogue.
1992 M-Base Collective Anatomy of a Groove DIW DIW-864 Drums Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, December 1991 to January 1992. The only album billed to the collective itself. Spotify - Anatomy Of A Groove
1992 Steve Coleman and Five Elements Drop Kick Novus / RCA 01241 63144 2 Drums, percussion (10 of 11 tracks) Recorded at Systems Two, January 1992. The album-level block credits no drummer; the credit exists only track by track.
1992 Kevin Eubanks Turning Point Blue Note CDP 7 98170 2 Drums (1 to 3, 6) Four of nine tracks.
1993 Ray Drummond Excursion Arabesque Jazz AJ0106 Drums, percussion (right channel) Recorded June 22 and 23, 1992, with Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano and Craig Handy. Mor Thiam takes the left channel. Spotify - Excursion
1993 Mingus Big Band Nostalgia in Times Square Dreyfus Jazz FDM 36559-2 Drums (1, 2, 5 to 10) Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, March 1 and 2, 1993. Eight of ten tracks; Victor Jones plays the others. Chris Potter, Michael Formanek and Kenny Drew Jr. are in the band.
1993 Kevin Eubanks Spirit Talk Blue Note CDP 0777 7 89286 2 1 Drums; percussion; vocals With Dave Holland, Robin Eubanks and Kent Jordan. Two drummers are credited, Smith and Mark Mondesir, and nobody on the release carries a track restriction, so the division between them cannot be established from this data. Spotify - Spirit Talk
1993 Steve Marcus featuring John Hicks, Christian McBride, Marvin "Smitty" Smith Smile Red Baron JK 53751 Drums, named in the sleeve billing A quartet date under the saxophonist's name.
1994 Ray Drummond Continuum Arabesque Jazz AJ0111 Drums, percussion Recorded at Sound on Sound, New York, January 16, 1994, with John Scofield, Kenny Barron, Randy Brecker and Thomas Chapin.
1994 Michel Camilo One More Once Columbia CK 66204 Drums (5, 9, 10) Recorded at Carriage House Studios, May 20 to 26, 1994. Three of ten tracks in a big band; Cliff Almond plays the rest. Gary Smulyan and Paquito D'Rivera are in the reeds. Spotify - One More Once
1994 Robin Eubanks Mental Images JMT 514017-2 Drums (5, 7) Recorded at the Power Station, April 1994. Two of nine tracks, credited only in the track list.
1994 John Hicks Beyond Expectations Reservoir RSR CD 130 Drums Digital recording at Van Gelder Recording Studio, September 1, 1993.
1995 McCoy Tyner Prelude and Sonata Milestone MCD 9244-2 Drums Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, November 26 and 27, 1994, with Christian McBride, Joshua Redman and Antonio Hart.
1995 Joanne Brackeen Quartet Turnaround Evidence ECD 22123-2 Drums With Donald Harrison and Cecil McBee. Spotify - Turnaround
1995 Kevin Eubanks Spiritalk 2: Revelations Blue Note CDP 7243 8 30132 2 7 Drums The sequel to Spirit Talk. Spotify - Spirit Talk II - Revelations
1995 Michael Philip Mossman Springdance Claves Jazz CD 50-1094 Drums Recorded May 9 and 10, 1994. The trumpeter's first record entirely under his own name.
1996 Don Byron Quintet No-Vibe Zone Knitting Factory Works KFW 191 Drums Recorded live at the Knitting Factory, New York, January 7, 1996, with Uri Caine, David Gilmore and Kenny Davis.
1996 James Weidman, Belden Bullock, Marvin "Smitty" Smith People Music TCB Records TCB 96302 Drums, three-way sleeve billing A trio record with the pianist from the Five Elements band.
1997 Peter Leitch Up Front Reservoir RSR CD 146 Drums The last of the eight Leitch albums, which run from Red Zone (1987) through Portraits and Dedications, Mean What You Say, Trio/Quartet '91, From Another Perspective, A Special Rapport and Colours & Dimensions.
1997 The Lonnie Smith Trio featuring John Abercrombie and Marvin "Smitty" Smith Afro Blue Venus Records TKCV-79022 Drums, named in the sleeve billing The organist is Dr. Lonnie Smith, not Lonnie Liston Smith. The same trio also cut the two Hendrix tribute albums Foxy Lady and Purple Haze for Venus in 1994.
2005 Billy Childs Ensemble Lyric: Jazz-Chamber Music Vol. 1 Lunacy Music LM-1001 Drums (3, 9) Two of nine pieces.
2010 Kevin Eubanks Zen Food Mack Avenue MAC 1054 Drums, percussion His first album for Mack Avenue after the television years, with Billy Pierce and Rene Camacho. Spotify - Zen Food
2012 Dean Brown Unfinished Business Moosicus Records M 1204-2 Drums (8 of 9 tracks); arranger (1, 5); co-writer (1) The album-level block credits him only as an arranger. The track list shows him drumming on eight of the nine pieces, singing on one and playing tambourine on another.
2012 Kevin Eubanks The Messenger Mack Avenue MAC1065C Drums (8 of 11 tracks) Recorded and mixed at Spirit Studios, West Hills, California; issued February 2013. Credited only in the track list.
2014 Delfeayo Marsalis The Last Southern Gentlemen Troubadour Jass Records TJR081814 Drums A quartet with Ellis Marsalis and John Clayton. Spotify - The Last Southern Gentlemen
2016 Dean Brown Rolajafufu Not On Label (self-released) 005US Drums (11 of 12 tracks); co-writer Credited only in the track list; he plays a marching snare on one piece.
2016 Ed Motta Perpetual Gateways Must Have Jazz / Membran 234112 Drums (all 10 tracks) Credited track by track with no album-level entry.
2017 Kevin Eubanks East West Time Line Mack Avenue MAC1119 Drums (6 to 10) The album is split geographically: Smith plays the five Los Angeles tracks with Rene Camacho, Jeff "Tain" Watts the five New York ones with Dave Holland. Orrin Evans and Nicholas Payton appear. Spotify - East West Time Line
2018 Azar Lawrence Elementals HighNote Records HCD 7306 Drums Recorded at No Sound Recording Studio, Pasadena, September 1, 2016.
2020 Teodross Avery Harlem Stories: The Music of Thelonious Monk WJ3 Records WJ31024 Drums (6 to 10) Recorded January 14, 2020. Five of ten tracks; Willie Jones III plays the others.
2021 Will Lyle LA Source Codes Circle Theory Music 001 Drums (1, 4, 8, 10) Four of twelve tracks.
2023 Orrin Evans The Red Door Smoke Sessions Records SSR-2305 Drums (1 to 3, 5 to 8, 10, 12) Sessions in Ambler, Pennsylvania (March 2020), at Yamaha Artist Studios (November 2021) and at Sear Sound (December 2022). Nine of twelve tracks; Gene Jackson plays the rest. Buster Williams, Robert Hurst, Gary Thomas, Nicholas Payton and Wallace Roney appear. Spotify - The Red Door
2025 Oz Noy & Andrew Synowiec Recreational Substance Self-released (Bandcamp) (none) Drums Released January 17, 2025. Eight tracks, two guitars, with Hadrien Feraud on bass; mixed by John Paterno and Sean P. Jones, mastered by Peter Doell. This album is not in the Discogs database at all, under either guitarist's artist ID; the personnel above comes from the release's own Bandcamp page. Bandcamp

Excluded from the tables above

Personnel & Collaborations
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Oz Noy
Oz Noy
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Dave Holland
Dave Holland
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Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman
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Clarence Penn
Clarence Penn
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James Genus
James Genus
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Gregory Hutchinson
Gregory Hutchinson
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Kenny Washington
Kenny Washington
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Benny Golson
Benny Golson
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Art Farmer
Art Farmer
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