Concert: Pete Smith with Gregory Ryan

The Longfellow Summer Arts Festival brings music, poetry, and community to the East Lawn of the Longfellow House on Sunday afternoons through the summer. All events are free and open to the public.

New York City-based guitarist Pete Smith (and H.W. Longfellow descendant) returns to the Longfellow House with bassist Gregory Ryan to play a free concert on the lawn at 3:00 pm.  The duo will be performing choice standards from the jazz and American Songbook traditions, including compositions by Billy Strayhorn, Cole Porter, Cedar Walton, Jerome Kern, Charlie Parker as well as music from Brazil and Cuba.  Spend a lovely afternoon in the shade with us, listening to the sweet sounds of this exceptional duo.

Pete Smith is a New York City-based guitarist who performs in a wide range of musical settings.  As a founding member of Grupo los Santos (Santos4tet), a vanguard Afro-Cuban and Brazilian-style quartet, he has played New York’s Town Hall and concerts throughout the U.S., Cuba & Austria. He has performed at the Berlin Jazz Festival and Montreal Jazz Festival, as well as concerts in thirty countries throughout Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. He has worked with Norah Jones, trumpeter Donald Byrd, Cuban trombone master Juan Pablo Torres, Andrew Hill, Kat Edmonson, Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, the Moonlighters, Madeline Peyroux, Natalie Merchant and Huun-Huur-Tu, and is a member of Michael Feinstein’s Carnegie Hall Big Band. In 2023 he traveled to Congo-Kinshasa (DRC) as a member of the band Opius Bliss—as cultural ambassadors for the US Embassy—to perform for and teach, play and dialogue with local musicians in Kinshasa and Kisangani. 2023 also saw the release of Santos4tet's 4th album "Santos 4".  In 2024, Santos4tet was the recipient of a JazzRoad Touring Grant from SouthArts, funded by the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation, which supported their 5-city tour of the Sountheast.  Pete will be recording a new album with bassist Sean Smith (The Smith Duo) in 2025.

New York City native Gregory Ryan has established himself as an in-demand sideman on both acoustic and electric bass. His big supportive sound, swinging style, and complete understanding of harmony and his role on the bandstand combine to create his ability to make even the most complex modern composition swing in the tradition of the great bass players. At home in a variety of musical worlds — accomplished in Brazilian, Cuban, funk, and mainstream jazz styles — he performs in festivals and concerts worldwide. His Latin Jazz resumé includes performances with the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Arturo O’Farrill, Papo Vazquez’ Pirates Troubadours, Yosvany Terry and Brazilian Jazz artists Helio Alves and Maucha Adnet.  Mr. Ryan has appeared with pianists James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Harold Mabern, and Benny Green; guitarists Jim Hall and Pat Martino; vocalists Karrin Allyson and Dena DeRose; and numerous jazz luminaries including Eric Alexander, Regina Carter, Billy Harper, Tom Harrell, and Albert “Tootie” Heath, among many others.