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Ari Smith (b. 1997) is a bassist, organist, improviser, and composer spanning genres of jazz, experimental, and contemporary classical music, currently based in the Twin Cities (and can be found frequently in Madison, Wisconsin). Ari has been a particularly active member of the free jazz and free improvisation scenes, having shared the stage with artists such as Hanah Jon Taylor, Vincent Davis, Jim Baker, Isaiah Collier, Junius Paul, and Tatsuya Nakatani. In his through-composed work, Ari draws on an academic background in science and technology studies to explore scores as boundary objects/“power tools” that redistribute agencies and relationships of power across humans and nonhumans, and the potentialities of academic citation styles as a demonstration of dedication to others as well as a creative-expressive practice, within pieces that are underpinned by deeply interdisciplinary conceptual webs.

Ari will serve as an Assistant Professor of Computer, Information, and Data Sciences at University of Wisconsin, River Falls starting in the Fall of 2025. Prior to moving to the twin cities area, he earned his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a minor in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, while contributing to the Madison and Milwaukee music scenes. Before graduate school, Ari graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory in 2019 with both a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Bass. At Oberlin, he studied bass performance under Dr. Peter Dominguez as well as studying classical composition with Dr. Stephen Hartke. Additionally, he was a member of the first ever iteration of Oberlin’s Sonny Rollins Scholarship Ensemble, which combined touring performance with community outreach, in line with Rollins’ tenet of “service to the world with and without music”.

Ari’s additional musical projects and involvements include: Curb Furniture, a tropicalia/art rock group with Frank McKearn, Jakob Heinemann, Matt Blair, and Tim Russell; Laminal Animil, an experimental improvised music trio with Luke Leavitt (keyboards) and Tim Russell (percussion); and Helen Feest’s jazz-pop group the Feestet. Ari’s duo album with Tim Russell, Junct, was included in Tone Madison’s Top 20 Local Albums of 2020 list.