Warren Smith was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trombonist.

Smith played piano from age seven, and learnet cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

 and saxophone before settling on trombone. He started out in the territory band

Territory band

Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, 6 or 7 nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges,...

 Harrison's Texans in the 1920s, then followed with an extended run in Abe Lyman

Abe Lyman

Abe Lyman was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade....

's employ in the 1930s. He worked with Bob Crosby

Bob Crosby

George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...

 late in the 1940s before returning to work with Lyman briefly. Moving to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, he worked with Bud Jacobson and Bob Scobey

Bob Scobey

Bob Scobey was an American jazz musician born in Tucumcari, New Mexico.He began his career playing in dance orchestras and nightclubs in the 1930s. In 1938 he worked as second trumpeter for Lu Watters in the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. By 1949 he was leading his own band under the name Bob Scobey's...

, then worked on the West Coast with Jess Stacy

Jess Stacy

Jess Stacy was an American jazz pianist who gained prominence during the Swing era.-Early life:Stacy was born Jesse Alexandria Stacy in Bird's Point, Missouri, a small town across the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois. In 1918 Stacy moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri...

 and Lu Watters

Lu Watters

Lucius "Lu" Watters was a trumpeter and bandleader of the Yerba Buena Jazz Band in the "West Coast revival" of Dixieland music...

. In 1955 he toured with Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

, then played with Joe Darensbourg

Joe Darensbourg

Joe Darensbourg was an American New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and saxophonist notable for his work with Buddy Petit, Jelly Roll Morton, Charlie Creath, Fate Marable, Andy Kirk, Johnny Wittwer, Kid Ory, Wingy Manone, Joe Liggins and Louis Armstrong.-Discography:* The New Orleans Statesman*...

 from 1957 to 1960. In the 1960s he worked with Wild Bill Davison

Wild Bill Davison

Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz cornet player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s...

 and Red Nichols

Red Nichols

Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader.Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet player, a solid improviser, and apparently a workaholic, since he is...

.