Linda Kiger Smith: A promoter who put the spotlight on Morristown

Linda Kiger Smith with Chuck Berry, circa 1999. Photo by George Brennan
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The late, great Chuck Berry could be a challenge for promoters.

Before performing at Morristown’s Community Theatre, he stipulated that a Cadillac be waiting at the airport, and he insisted on driving it. He wasn’t doing any warmups, and he was in no rush to tune his electric guitar onstage.

About a week after the show, Linda Kiger Smith got a check in the mail. The legendary rocker sent $8, for hotel coffee and a doughnut that were not part of his contract.

“I hope we work again together — Charles,”  Berry wrote.

Linda Kiger Smith, pictured in 2009. Photo courtesy of Gellman Images.

Smith, who died Friday of breast cancer a few weeks shy of her 73rd birthday, had a knack for making artists feel comfortable while taking care of business.

Those skills served her well in her proudest gigs: Helping to save Morristown’s Community Theatre (now the Mayo Performing Arts Center) from ruin, and co-promoting the Morristown Jazz & Music Festival.

Today, MPAC is Morristown’s crown jewel, a world-class venue that is the downtown’s economic engine.

But only mushrooms felt at home in the crumbling South Street movie house championed nearly three decade ago by volunteers led by Smith and her husband and business partner, Don Jay Smith.

Linda Kiger Smith with Dave Brubeck. Photo by Susan Donnell

The place was in such desperate shape that on one of its first opening nights, then-Gov. Christine Todd Whitman found herself locked in a dressing room. According to local folklore, State Police where prepared to shoot off the lock to make sure Whitman could welcome the audience.

As the Community Theatre’s first executive director, Linda Smith recruited a volunteer staff and convinced icons to play there: Berry, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Maynard Ferguson, Midori, Greg Allman, B.B. King, and Judy Collins, to name a few.

“She was the one who thought big— she thought about the bigger performers and went after them,” said Joen Ferrari, an early volunteer who lent furniture for the lobby in those fledgling days.

Jazz history was made on Linda’s watch, when Dave Brubeck reunited with drummer Joe Morello.

VOLUNTEERS FROM 1994, at 20th anniversary of what is now the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown. From left: Greg and Sara Toffoli, Mary Louise Smith, Linda Smith and Don Jay Smith, in January 2015. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“Her contribution to laying the foundation of our venue, now one of the most successful in the country, will not be forgotten,” said MPAC President Allison Larena.

More recently, the Smiths helped put the historic Morristown Green on the nation’s festival map.

While Don handled marketing and logistics, Linda signed the talent that has drawn crowds to the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival since 2010.

There was Robben Ford from California, and Matt Schofield from England. And Robert Randolph. Johnny A.  Charlie Musselwhite. Walter Trout. Quinn Sullivan. Davy Knowles. Bernard Allison. The late Bucky Pizzarelli.

Bucky Pizzarelli signs a poster at the 2016 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, for promoters Linda and Don Jay Smith. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Bucky Pizzarelli signs a poster at the 2016 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, for promoters Linda and Don Jay Smith. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

And Linda Smith gave each festival its special rhythm, said Mayor Tim Dougherty, who founded the event.

“She was just a genius at how it flowed. She could get the right act to fit in the right time slot so it was a smooth, intimate, jazzy blues festival. That’s just raw talent. She will be sorely missed,” Dougherty said.

Slideshow photos by Morristown Green. Click/hover on images for captions.

Linda Smith and Don Jay Smith, co-producers of the 2016 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Bucky Pizzarelli signs a poster at the 2016 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, for promoters Linda and Don Jay Smith. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Promoter Linda Smith, left, welcomes Richie 'LaBamba' Rosenberg at the 2018 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Vince Giordano, Linda Kiger Smith, and Festival Co-Producers Don Jay Smith, Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, Aug. 19, 2017. Photo by Jeff Sovelove
Organizers Linda and Don Smith and Mayor Tim Dougherty check forecasts at the 2018 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Margret Brady and Linda Smith at 'Celebrate the Arts 2016.' Photo by Kevin Coughlin , March 30, 2016
From left: Morristown First Lady Mary Dougherty, Bernard Allison, David Knowles, Linda Kiger Smith and Mayor Tim Dougherty, at the 2018 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival promoters Don Jay and Linda Smith with Josh Rockland at Great Conversations, April 27, 2017. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival Co-Producers Don & Linda Smith, Aug. 19, 2017. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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‘SHE KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING’

Music was part of Linda Smith’s life from an early age. The Ohio native was chosen for an All-State Chorus in high school.

After attending the Rhodes Preparatory School–alma mater of Robert DeNiro, James Caan and Fiona Apple–and New York University, she landed at a marketing agency, where she designed record jackets.

Linda worked on releases by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and Melanie. Stints followed at Kama Sutra Records and the James Dine Newsletter, which famously predicted the gold frenzy of the ’70s.

During that decade she married William Kiger. They had two children before splitting up.

Linda’s partnership with Don Jay Smith began in 1980. He needed help running his solo public relations business. A client suggested Linda.

“I got her number at 4, called her in at 5, and hired her at 6,” Don recounted with a laugh.

“She was very good looking, but it was her brains I was hiring. She knew what she was doing.”

Linda Smith and Don Jay Smith, co-producers of the 2016 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Linda Smith and Don Jay Smith, co-producers of the 2016 Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

He estimates they co-produced 1,500 events, from galas for the New Jersey Hall of Fame and Stockton University to the Jersey City Sounds of Summer Program and jazz at the Morris Museum’s Bickford Theatre.

Their business was communication. It was the secret sauce of their professional and marital success, he said.

“We always talked to each other. If one started feeling tension from the other, we didn’t let it fester. We never went to bed mad at each other,” said Don, describing his wife as his best friend and soul-mate.

Before moving to Tewksbury in 2004, they renovated a Victorian home in Morristown’s Historic District and founded an Historic Neighborhood Association.

The couple adopted a daughter from Central America. Because of the family business, she grew up thinking every kid got to hang out backstage with Justin Timberlake, Don said.

In her 40s, Linda took up the violin. She made the first violin section in the Abbey Orchestra at the Delbarton School.

The Smiths were partners there, too. Don played timpani.

‘A BIT OF A ROLE MODEL’

Linda loved New York Times crossword puzzles, Scrabble and puns. She was handy with a crochet needle, liked to cook, and doted on her dogs and cats — 17 pets over the years, and dozens of foster animals. Calico, her favorite cat, died only a couple of hours before she did.

She hated the spotlight.

Morristown Green tried for years to quote her at the jazz festival. She politely deferred to her husband. At the Community Theatre, it fell to him to make the speeches. Don remembered pleading with Linda to attend a newspaper dinner where she was honored as Morris County Business Woman of the Year.

Behind the scenes, however, artists appreciated Linda’s straightforward approach and meticulous attention to detail.

“She was efficient and right to the point, and warm with me,” said Grover Kemble, headliner of the first Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival and an early performer at the Community Theatre with his band, Za Zu Zaz.

Svetlana Shmulyian

“She was a bit of a role model— a strong, confident woman who likes the music, but also knows the business,” said jazz singer Svetlana Shmulyian, of Svetlana & The Delancey Five.

Shmulyian arrived from Russia in the 1990s “with a suitcase and a guitar.”  She impressed the Smiths, who made sure her shows were well attended. Linda even renegotiated a contract in the performer’s favor, reasoning it would be a win-win, Shmulyian said.

“Her whole conversation started with, ‘We know who you are, we’ve known about you for years, we’re so excited to bring you here.’ For a presenter to come in with that is really powerful. That’s such a beautiful start.

“She really looked out for the artist. She wanted to be sure there was a way for an artist to make money, to make a living. It’s not that common in jazz. It was really refreshing,” Shmulyian said.

Grover Kemble and Jerry Vezza at the Bickford Theatre, April 5, 2018. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Grover Kemble and Jerry Vezza at the Bickford Theatre, April 5, 2018. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Pianist Jerry Vezza met the Smiths at the Community Theatre, circa 1994. They were on ladders, “scraping mold off the walls.”

Linda’s backstage abilities would come into sharp focus for Vezza 13 years later, when he was laid low by throat cancer.

An experimental treatment saved his life. A benefit concert in Chatham, emceed by Bill Moyers and organized by the Smiths, restored his financial health.

“I knew I could never thank Linda and Don enough for that,” said Vezza, president of the Madison Arts & Culture Alliance.

But he and his wife Diane had to try, after learning last summer that Linda’s cancer, in remission for three years, had returned.

The Vezzas’ GoFundMe drive, to help the Smiths cover medical bills and lost income over the pandemic, has raised nearly $56,000 so far.

“We can never be grateful enough for what Jerry and Diane have done,” Don said.

A memorial service is planned for Sept. 9, 2021, at a place to be determined. Don said he intends to continue as promoter of the 10th anniversary Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, scheduled for Sept. 18 after a year’s COVID hiatus.

Linda Kiger Smith is survived by daughters Allison Kiger of New York City, and Rebecca Smith-Fuentes and her husband William of Hackensack; a son, Charles Kiger of Long Beach Island; a sister, Janice Potash of Madison; her husband’s family; seven nieces and nephews; a rescued Spaniel mix named Riley, and a cat, Minou.

Donations in Linda’s name may be made to the Tewksbury Rescue Squad, the Whitehouse Rescue Squad or the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia PA.

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