Martin Smith was a drummer for Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...

 and Simon Dupree and the Big Sound

Simon Dupree and the Big Sound

Simon Dupree and the Big Sound were a British pop band formed by three brothers, Derek Shulman, born 1947 , Phil Shulman, born 1937 , and Ray Shulman, born 1949 .-Career:...

. He played on the first two Gentle Giant albums, Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant (album)

Gentle Giant was the first album of British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1970.-Side One:# "Giant" – 6:22...

 and Acquiring the Taste

Acquiring the Taste

Acquiring the Taste was the second album of English progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1971.This was a departure from the blues and soul styles found on their self titled debut. It was more experimental, more discordant, and with more varied instrumentation...

, before being replaced by Malcolm Mortimore

Malcolm Mortimore

Malcolm Paul Mortimore , is a drummer who has played with Gentle Giant, Spike Heatley, Tom Jones, Troy Tate, Ian Dury, G.T. Moore, Mick and Chris Jagger, Frankie Miller, Oliver Jones, and Barney Kessel.-External links:*...

. Smith was a versatile drummer who specialised in playing jazz

Jazz drumming

Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz-rock fusion and 1980s-era latin jazz...

 and blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 styles.

Smith died on March 2, 1997, at the age of 50, of internal haemorrhaging. He continued to drum until two months before his death. 150 people went to his funeral, including many fellow musicians, and Gordon Haskell

Gordon Haskell

Gordon Haskell is a Pop, Rock & Blues music vocalist, songwriter, and bassist. He first gained recognition as a member of the British band Les Fleur de Lys. He sang on one of the songs of King Crimson's second album, then played bass and sang on their third album...

 (of early King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

fame) wrote the eulogy.

External links

• http://www.blazemonger.com/cgi-bin/GG/member.cgi?martin