Kansas Smitty’s House Band at Christmas

From the moment they played their first note five years ago, the Kansas Smitty’s House Band has set out to reinvent how audiences experience jazz. The House Band is a tight-knit outfit that make jazz inclusive with an emphasis on camaraderie, spontaneity, and joy.

The eight-piece group were brought together from diverse backgrounds by American woodwind player, Giacomo Smith. Grounded in a shared love for the whole jazz tradition, the group is perpetually inventing new music with the aim that no two shows ever be the same, premiering new music at each show.

2018 has been a landmark year so far. The concept of a jazz band that owns its own bar is unprecedented and their now cult East London home, Kansas Smitty’s, turned three in May. The house band was recently nominated for best UK Jazz Act by Jazz FM, with members of the band appearing at the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Boileroom and Jazz at Lincoln Center at the request of Wynton Marsalis.

Kansas Smitty’s cares as much about fostering the creation of new original music as it does about leaving audiences energized. Come and be part of their new wave of jazz.