You may know Ian Hendrickson-Smith from seeing him as part of The Tonight Show Band led by Questlove or you may know him from the seven years he played with Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings.  If not, meet the man already!

Adept on all saxes as well as the flute, the New York City based artist has been an in-demand session player for decades.  One album that I especially admire that he had a huge role in was In The Beginning by Dr. Lonnie Smith.  In addition to playing alto saxophone as part of the octet, Ian co-produced, mixed, and mastered that one which is really the quintessential recording of the Hammond B3 genius.  The alto sax, by the way, that he played at Smalls, was formerly owned by none other than Sonny Rollins!

Hendrickson-Smith has been on the road for a large part of this life but is now enjoying not living out of a bag as his Tonight Show commitments keep him in town for the most part.  However, those commitments are typically done for the day by early evening so he’s still able to play gigs like the ones at Smalls in the West Village this weekend with his wicked quartet featuring Joe Strasser on drums, Steve Einerson on piano, and Mike Karn on bass.  He’s found most weekends on the Upper East Side at Bemelmans Bar with Loston Harris.