Shirley Smart is recognized as one of the United Kingdom’s most versatile and creative cellists – being equally at home and well versed in jazz and Middle Eastern music, as well as classical music.
Originally trained under Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music, and János Starker in Paris, she subsequently moved to Jerusalem and remained there for 10 years. She was studying and performing a wide variety of musical traditions from the region, and working with such artists as Avishai Cohen, Omer Avital and Yasmin Levy. Since returning to the United Kingdom, she has quickly become established as a unique performer, and is in demand with artists such as Mulatu Astatke, Maya Youssef, Neil Cowley, and Robert Mitchell.
Shirley leads and co-leads several projects: her own trio released their first album “Long Story Short” in 2018, receiving critical acclaim, and she also has an improvising piano trio “Quanta”, which is going to release its first album in 2025. Other projects she is involved include acoustic jazz collective “Bezique”, centered around the music of Django Rheinhardt, and a free improvising trio with multi-instrumentalist James Arebn and percussionist Demi Garcia Sabat.
She also performs with Nikki Yeoh’s “Cafe Oran”, which debuted at the Ronnie Scott’s International Piano Trio Festival, and in a duo with pianist Robert Mitchell. Shirley has appeared at numerous festivals in the UK and abroad, including the Cheltenham Festival, “Aberjazz”, Birmingham, Scarborough and EFG London Jazz Festivals, Amsterdam’s Biennale, and “Vivacello” in Moscow.
She is also a keen educator, and is working a professor of musicianship and improvisation at the Royal College of Music in London, and is also a lecturer at the Trinity Laban. Additionally, she has given workshops at the Chetham’s School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, also while working in collaboration with the National Youth Jazz Collective and the “Jazzlines”, at the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the Universities of Huddersfield, Manchester and Kent.
“she morphs seamlessly from Stephane Grappelli like swing and Bird-like bebop…a charming kaleidoscope and jazzy showcase of her global folk music-inspired compositions.” – The Jazzwise
“…some of the most inventive use of the cello I’ve heard for some time.” – The Kind of Jazz