As a boy, New Orleans-born Chris Smith tagged along with his jazz trombonist father to gigs in the Ann Arbor area.
“Some of my earliest memories are of being on stage with my dad. I knew from a very young age that playing jazz was something I was going to be doing as an adult,” says Smith, Clinical Pathology Laboratories technical assistant.
The family had moved to Michigan so his mother Ingrid Hill could pursue a master’s degree at U-M while his father Robert J. Smith worked at Data Systems Center near Michigan Stadium.
Like his dad, Smith started with the trombone but later expanded his musical arsenal to include the trumpet and Sousaphone. Smith particularly benefited from two years of practicing from midnight until morning following his shifts at a local pizza parlor. “Finding a place to practice is often a problem for brass players,” he explains.
All that late night practicing paid off. Smith is represented on 30 or so CDs and plays jazz clubs, weddings, parties, New Orleans-style funerals and commercial recording sessions. In addition he tours on weekends to play jazz concerts all over the country with jazz stars like Detroit’s great trumpeter Marcus Belgrave.
Smith also is in his seventh year of managing and playing with a 10-member traditional hot jazz and dance band, Phil Ogilvie’s Rhythm Kings (P.O.R.K.). The Ann Arbor group draws a large crowd at the Firefly Club every Sunday evening.
“If someone comes and hears P.O.R.K., they will feel the spirit of those who originally made the music in the 1920s and 1930s,” Smith says. “James Dapogny (pianist and music director) and I work hard to bring this near-forgotten music back to life, and we think P.O.R.K. does this very well.”
At U-M Smith has worked part-time as a patient care technical assistant since late 1996. A typical day’s work has him filling and shipping orders for satellite sites and MLabs Clinics.
“It’s all related to laboratory work — specimen collection items like tubes, needles, anything that’s needed for collecting and processing samples; strep tests, pregnancy tests, automated lab analysis machine supplies. I also make deliveries to the various labs and clinics,” he says. Smith also puts away supplies that arrive in the afternoon, and takes walk-in orders, faxes, phone calls and helps other employees find what they need.
“My co-worker Brooks Barnes and I like to think of ourselves as the magic gnomes of the Pathology Department,” he says. “We do the little things that people don’t notice, but without which there would be chaos, a general riot or both. We simply keep the important lab supplies flowing.”
On advice he would offer others who would do his job, Smith says, “Learn proper lifting technique (they have to deal with some very heavy items), and be constantly vigilant about anticipating and solving the next supply chain-related crisis.”
Smith has passed his family’s musical abilities to his daughters. Bonnie, 10, has sung as a special guest with P.O.R.K. since she was 6 and Piper, 5, already has composed a song on the piano.
The weekly Spotlight features staff members at the University. To nominate a candidate, please contact the Record staff at [email protected].
