About John aka "JAS" (Pronounced "Jazz")
John Arnold Smith is a pianist and composer, living in Atlanta, GA. He has a unique improvisational style, that brings beautiful, original melodies and themes to life, ranging from contemplative to energetic, spiritual to spontaneous, and from classical to contemporary new age jazz. For over 30 years, John has performed his music in many different musical venues across the USA, Canada, Europe, and Asia in concert halls, churches, conferences, theme events, weddings, charity events, and jazz piano bars.
John's music is an artful combination of classical and new age piano, influenced by contemporary pianists like David Lanz, George Winston, Suzanne Ciani, Jim Chappell, as well as classical masters like Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Grieg. His original, solo piano compositions provide a variety of sounds, from peaceful, soothing, healing, reflective, inspirational, to emotionally stirring, powerful, dramatic, sentimental, and romantic. His recordings are perfect soundtracks for meditation, relaxation, dinners, conversation with friends, reading a book, massage, taking a bath, or a road trip. Listeners are comforted, inspired and uplifted through creative musical collections that are deeply emotional and transformational.
Musical Keynotes
In addition to being an accomplished performer, composer and recording artist, John is also a professional speaker. For special events, corporate and non-profit, he blends original music, performed live at the piano, with a customized keynote speech in a multi-media program he calls a “musical keynote”. His presentation is engaging and creative, with inspiring stories, compelling images, thought-provoking content, and entertaining “live” music – all focused on promoting awareness and reinforcing your organization’s message or meeting theme. It’s a great way to educate, motivate and generate support for your cause, at any size event. The title and focus of the musical keynote presentation is completely tailored to your organization’s event theme or purpose that you want conveyed through a compelling, inspirational multi-media experience.
During his musical keynote, John performs the musical pieces interchangeably with his spoken message, stories and images – all masterfully crafted and synchronized to provide a truly transformational experience that will inspire, inform and ignite your audience. A special highlight of John's musical keynotes and concerts is when he interacts with the audience, demonstrating how he composes and improvises on the spot, while involving the audience in the creation of a new composition “in the moment” right before their eyes and ears. It's a magical experience.