A musical mentor gained his chops in the Corridor

Whether playing piano for the first time or playing trumpet for the last time, a love for music permeated Paul Smoker's life as he recorded more than 50 songs and imparted his passion to hundreds of students.

Smoker, who grew up in Davenport and was a musician and music teacher at multiple Eastern Iowa colleges including Coe College and the University of Iowa, died May 14 at his home near Rochester, N.Y. He was 75.

His legacy as a jazz artist and a mentor to musicians, friends say, will carry a tune for years to come.

'He was certainly dedicated to jazz, his students, his trumpet,' his wife, Beverly Smoker, professor of music and chair of the Nazareth College Music Department in New York, told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. 'Jazz was his life.'

Growing up, Smoker got into music when he received piano lessons from a neighbor. He began playing trumpet, which seemed to be his calling, when he was 12 or 13 years old, said his younger brother, Phil Smoker.

Some teens sneak away from home at night for mischief. But Smoker's purpose was to fulfill his passion for music in Rock Island — a hot spot for jazz in the 1950s.

'He caused my parents a lot of problems. He'd be out playing in nightclubs, at 15, and it was tough because my parents were always worried about him,' Phil Smoker said.

After graduating from Davenport Central High in 1959, Smoker went on to study music and play in the marching band at the UI.

He later shared his passion for music as a teacher with the UI, Coe, the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Nazareth College in New York while continuing to play and compose jazz and classical music.

Steve Grismore, who teaches at the UI School of Music, got his first college teaching job when Smoker hired him to teach guitar at Coe in 1982. Grismore said he forever will be grateful to Smoker for giving him the opportunity, but more importantly imparting knowledge that Grismore now uses in his own teaching.

During Smoker's time at Coe, he asked Paul Scea to be his sabbatical replacement for a year. Scea, like Grismore, launched his teaching career because of Smoker, he said.

'If you knew Paul, you wanted to learn as much as you could from him,' Scea said.

Scea not only saw Smoker's enthusiasm and passion for music, but also saw his talent for playing the trumpet. He wasn't the only.

Damon Short, who was also from the Quad Cities but was 12 years younger, heard of Smoker as he was growing up. But after arriving in Chicago in 1988, contacting Smoker was one of the first items on Short's to-do list.

Short contacted Smoker, who was teaching at Coe at the time but was able to come play with Short's group, the Damon Short Quintet, in Chicago.

Soon after the performance, the two sat down together, listening and discussing music — the start of a mentorship and friendship.

'He was a no B.S. guy,' Short said. 'He had a good heart and certainly cared about his students and the people he played with. He insisted on getting the best out of everyone he worked with.'

After many years of teaching in Iowa, Smoker moved to Rochester, N.Y.

'My band's on the cutting edge of new music,' Smoker said in a 1988 interview with The Gazette. 'Internationally, I'm getting a lot of recognitions, but not here because people don't understand the music or don't want to.'

In a city the size of Cedar Rapids, there may only be 10 to 20 people interested enough in jazz to go to a performance, Smoker said then.

'Frankly,' Phil Smoker said Monday, 'the people that enjoyed jazz music were in New York, not Cedar Rapids.'

In 2000, a reviewer for the Democrat & Chronicle described a performance of the Paul Smoker Trio like this:

'The band managed to take off and land together. In between, though, the improvisational jazz sounded like a cubist painting set to music — a nose where the ear should be, one eye off-center and bigger than the other. The music is angular, gritty and, to the uninitiated, can sound like a jumble — and it's mind-bendingly beautiful. You couldn't have been happier locked in a room with Picasso, Leger and Braque.'

Smoker continued recording and teaching after he and his wife moved there in 1990. He continued to come back to Eastern Iowa to perform, sometimes with Short.

Eventually, a heart problem posed a barrier to continuing his passion.

In 2009, Smoker became one of the first patients in the United States to get a left ventricular assist device. The condition of Smoker's heart could be fatal, but the device enabled him and his music to live on.

'Not only was he alive, he was productive,' Short said. 'He had a positive spirit and a will to live.'

Post-operation, Smoker went on to record more albums including 'Cool Lives,' 'Landings' and 'It Might Be Spring.'

Even with the device, Smoker still faced fatigue from his heart problems, but that didn't keep him from his love of music.

'He couldn't walk up half a flight of stairs, but he could play the trumpet,' Phil Smoker said. 'I never could understand that and neither could his doctors.'