Smooth

Every musician in this group is a seasoned professional, with many years of experience. Drawing from their own musical backgrounds, each member is a consummate musician blending each one's rhythmic and musical experiences into fiery and sultry tones that appeal to all audiences. Each member of this group has played with the likes of Gloria Gayner, Dave Liebman and others.

Smooth at StroudFest 2009

Calvin Blount —Keyboardist extraordinaire Calvin Blount is a veteran of R&B, Jazz, Blues and anything else “cool”. He has played with the likes of Gloria Gayner and bands like the Ultraband. Not only does he play, but he writes and produces too.

Diane Taitt—Diane started out with formal vocal training for many years and has been involved in numerous chorus and choir activities throughout her life. She has been singing for over 30 years. She sang with the Fred Waring group for a number of years in the 80’s and sang in wedding, dance and club bands since. She is fluent in many vocal styles that range from jazz to country. She has also donated her time and talent to the Starving Musicians charity efforts. Most recently Diane sang "The Standards" with Dave Liebman, Tony Marino, Jesse Green, Tony Diecidue and Lydia Liebman at the St. Luke's Summer Festival in Stroudsburg.

Reggie Woodside—Woody has been playing since he could walk. He started playing bass at the age of 13. Attended a specialized Jr. High School for music under the direction of Mr. Nathaniel Phipps. Where they later would perform at the Kennedy Estate, Good Morning America and the Today Show. He would then take his studies further by attending Erasmus Hall H.S.none as the Music and Arts of Brooklyn along with such none artist as; Will Downing, Hubert Eaves III (who plays for Erika Badu), James Williams-aka-D-Train Monique Walker and a host of others in the entertainment industry today. He has worked and recorded with such know industry professionals as: BeBe Winans, Gloria Gaynor, Tremaine Hawkins, Nat Townsley Jr. Cheryl Pepsi Riley, Pat Petrillo, Morace Landy(Sr. V.P. of Atlantic Records),Bow Legged Lu of Full Force, Joe Wilson(M.D. for Byonce),the internationally acclaimed group Mecca Bodega who was featured in a HBO special called Subway Stories.

Ken Barry—started playing sax in 1980, and took lessons initially from John Alexander in Miami, Florida (John played with Ira Sullivan). In college he studied with Gary Campbell at University of Miami while studying Music Engineering, and used to go to Wolfe Tayne's mouthpiece studio in Ft. Lauderdale to buy mouthpieces... and was amazed at all the machines there that created his mouthpieces and reeds! In 1987 he received a jazz performance scholarship to go to Florida State University, where he played lead alto and jazz tenor in the 1st band, and studied shakuhachi and the WX7 wind synthesizer. He graduated in 1990 with a degree in Studio Art (drawing, painting, sculpture) and moved to Kansas City where he played many jazz gigs and some studio recordings, studied mechanical engineering for 2 years, and worked at a digital media company doing HTML, Photoshop, 3DStudio, and Macromedia Flash and Director programming.