The Holly Smith Jazz Trio is a swinging combo of voice, piano, bass, and drums. Lead by Holly's vocals, the group plays swing tunes and standards of the 1920's, 30's, and 40's. From the happiest love tunes, to the most melancholy ballads, her rich tone captivates audiences: The timbre of her voice is sweet and soulful, and her rhythmic creativity keeps the show entertaining.
The Holly Smith Jazz Trio has played together for over two years, performing at The Calumet. Stuart's Coffee House (now Bay St. Coffee), and Boundary Bay Brewery. You can see Mark and Holly regularly at the Old Towne Cafe on Sunday mornings performing a quieter guitar and voice set. The trio also plays house parties and private weddings. They look forward to a weekly gig this summer in the Boundary Bay Beer Garden.
Bass/Guitar
Mark Woodworth has been teaching and performing music in Washington and Alaska for the last twenty years. He has played with numerous bands ranging from funk to bluegrass and everything in between. Most recently he played with the Dirt Brothers, a Bellingham bluegrass band. He plays a myriad of instruments, including the mandolin, trumpet and clarinet. He currently lives in Ferndale with his wife and two children. He now teaches music at an elementary school in Whatcom county.
Piano & Vocals
Holly Smith grew up in Bend, Oregon. The daughter of a piano teacher, she studied classical piano for ten years and jazz piano for 4 years. She sang in choir and played piano for the jazz choir in Jr. High and High School. After moving to the area in 1999, she quickly decided to call Bellingham home. The town gave her opportunities to study African dance and drum and to join the rhythm-based band, Land of Mu. Performing voice and drums with the band for over a year strengthened her performance skills and she rediscovered her love of jazz. Starting with a handful of tunes, she sang with Bill McDonough's band at Boundary Bay's Jazz Night. Later she began accompanying herself and now her catalog now includes over sixty tunes. She still regularly joins jam sessions at Boundary Bay and the Archer Alehouse. And, as a mother of two young girls, she can really belt out a mean Itsy, Bitsy Spider.
Drums
Tom Campbell grew up in Doraville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. He got his first drum set at the age of fourteen and immediately formed a band with two classmates. The band, whose repertoire never exceeded three songs, went unnamed, though, sadly, tapes of the three songs remain. Tom attended college in Athens, Georgia, a hotbed of college music, and performed with several groups. He later joined a popular Atlanta punk band, the Demagogues. After a decade of hitch-hiking and working as a bike messenger, fisherman, cycling team mechanic, and stock broker, Tom moved to Bellingham, Washington in 1999. He sat in for a Skagit country band and jumpstarted the band 76 Charger. His love of Jazz began in the early 90's while living blocks from a Georgetown jazz club in Washington, D.C.