Contours: Reflections on the Life and Work of Hale Smith

Composer Hale Smith, an “unknown” icon, made a lasting impact through collaborations in jazz and poetry.

Cleveland-born composer and arranger Hale Smith once described himself as “one of America's most famous unknown composers.” The Hale Smith exhibition explores the influence Smith had on the music world through his numerous collaborations with other musicians and poets, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Eric Dolphy, Langston Hughes, Anne Wiggins Brown, Regina Harris Baiocchi, and others. The exhibition showcased his student days at the Cleveland Institute of Music to his later years writing, recording, and teaching in the Northeast. Smith’s letters, photographs, essays, musical compositions, and other personal and collected papers expose a life lived as a humble, but influential, arranger, composer, and performer.