b. Carson Raymond Smith, 9 January 1931, San Francisco, California, USA, d. 2 November 1997, Las Vegas, Nevada USA. Smith’s family moved to Los Angeles while he was still a child, but, after completing his schooling, he first tried working in the New York area. Although he was a good bass player, work was scarce and in 1952 he returned to Los Angeles, where he promptly found work in Gerry Mulligan’s legendary quartet alongside Chet Baker. Mulligan not only used his playing abilities but also recorded some of his compositions, and later acknowledged that some of Smith’s ideas helped to shape the sound and style of the group. The absence of a piano, in particular, made his bass a central part of the quartet’s sound. The band broke up in 1953 soon after ‘My Funny Valentine’ had provided them with a big hit, and during the remainder of the 50s Smith worked in small bands led by Russ Freeman and Chico Hamilton; he also worked with Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Billie Holiday and Dick Twardzik. At the end of the decade he was briefly with Stan Kenton before relocating to Las Vegas, where he continued to work in jazz groups, including Charlie Teagarden’s band, Buddy Rich, Georgie Auld, with whom he toured Japan, Lew Tabackin, Zoot Sims and many others, including a Los Angeles reunion concert with Mulligan. Dizzy Gillespie remarked of Smith in the 80s that he had not heard a bass player like him since Oscar Pettiford. Smith’s brother, Putter Smith, is also a well-known west coast-based bass player.