I played an open string against the top string and it was effective,” remembers Smith. “We played – I suppose you’d call it – hard bop. It was great.”Smith later played with Ronnie Scott’s Big Band. I still played with a soft sound but it was much more exhilarating because when you do a jazz gig you play standards or bebop tunes. “No wonder they’re all stone deaf!”Meanwhile the guitarist joined Zzebra, whose music contained African influences, along with Dave Quincy and Osibisa saxophonist Loughty Amao, and played on the band’s self-titled debut album.