Craig Handy is an accomplished musician on both alto and tenor saxophone and flute, bandleader, composer and arranger, actor, and teacher.Handy toured with Herbie Hancock throughout 1996 to mid-1999, and he led two more recording projects on the Sirroco label – 1999’s Reflections in Change and 2000’s Flow. By this time, he had amassed performing and recording credits with Cedar Walton, Elvin Jones, Joe Henderson, George Adams, Freddie Hubbard and Wynton Marsalis.

Handy now leads a new project entitled Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith, drawing on New Orleans music and the groove-filled re-imaginings of originals and standards by the late, great organist Jimmy Smith. Their release in 2014 under Okeh/Sony featured many well-known stars including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, Jason Marsalis, Herlin Riley, Ali Jackson and Steve Williams.