Walt Smith Scholarship Fundraiser and CD Release

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The Walt Smith Scholarship Competition was established to support CMU students in their love of music. He was a lifelong champion of the arts, and this scholarship honors his legacy.

Walt Smith was a well-known and well-loved jazz pianist who has been making music on the Western Slope since 1950, first in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley and then in the Grand Valley. Walt played in Aspen at many venues including the Golden Horn, Red Onion, Hotel Jerome and later The Tippler which was, in his words, a magical room to play. He was inducted into the Aspen Hall of Fame in 2023. He also played Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Grand Junction Centennial band in the early 90’s.

He traveled all over the world playing with many big-name jazz players as well as the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, Monterey Jazz Festival and Telluride Jazz Festival. He was told he was the best piano player who ever played the Sacramento Festival.

Music was his calling from a young age. He started out as a classical piano player who turned to jazz and swing in his younger years. Jazz is where his heart took him. He also collaborated with Leon Uris on a Broadway Musical “Ari” based on Uris’s novel Exodus. Walt composed the music and Uris was the Lyricist. He was invited to go to Los Angeles to become a big name in the jazz scene there. He said he loved his life in Colorado with his beautiful wife Carol and daughters. He was quoted as saying “fame is fleeting, family is forever”.