The Rick Smith Quintet

Rick Smith is a guitarist, educator and composer with over 50 years of professional experience. Based in Singapore since 1991, he has been active in the local arts and music scene as a performer and educator. He served as director of the NUS Jazz Band for more than 10 years and was bandleader and guitarist at Harry’s Boat Quay for 17 years. He currently teaches at the School of the Arts (SOTA) and LASALLE College of the Arts.

Nobu Shiraiasi is a double bassist, pianist and composer from Japan. With over 25 years in the music scene, he has performed at clubs and festivals worldwide, including the Detroit Jazz Festival and the Thailand International Jazz Conference.

Takashi Kuge is a drummer based in Osaka, Japan. From 2012 to 2019, he was a percussionist at Universal Studios Japan and worked as a producer and sound engineer for Osaka Jazz Channel. Since 2020, he has hosted a monthly live jazz series, Jazz at the Parlor, held at Brooklyn Parlor Osaka, and has curated a jazz event for the 25th anniversary of The Ritz-Carlton Osaka.

Jens Bunge is a German jazz chromatic harmonica player. After meeting Rick Smith in 1994, he has been a regular guest performer with The Rick Smith Quintet. His harmonica playing is inspired by Belgium harmonica player Jean Toots Thielemans.

Rachma Lim is a jazz pianist from Medan, Indonesia, who moved to Singapore as a teenager and graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts School of Contemporary Music in 2010. She has spent over a decade performing with groups such as Raghajazz, Orkestra Melayu Singapura, The City Swing, Singapore Wind Symphony (SWS) City Swing Big Band, and Qi & Teng. She has also released an EP of original jazz compositions, Her Nocturnal Chapters. After completing her Master’s degree in jazz studies at Queens College, New York City, she returned to Singapore to continue contributing to the local jazz scene.