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Jazz Articles about Damon Smith

5
Album Review

Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Damon Smith: Duals

Read "Duals" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The Jeopardy answer is “three to the power of 2." If you buzzed in fast enough with “what is the album Duals“? You would be correct. The three musicians, trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Damon Smith, and pianist Pandelis Karayorgis recorded these 33 duos in Boston between the fall of 2021 and the summer of 2022. While we promised there would be no math, the equation 'three to the power of 2' actually equals three separate discs each with duo combinations ...

4
Album Review

Jason Stein / Damon Smith / Adam Shead: Volumes & Surfaces

Read "Volumes & Surfaces" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Damon Smith might be the hardest working man in show business. Free-jazz show business, that is. If there is a performance or recording somewhere in the States or Europe, there is a very good chance his double bass is in attendance. You name an improvising artist and he's recorded with them, from Roscoe Mitchell to Joe Morris, Jaap Blonk, Joëlle Léandre, Peter Kowald, Sandy Ewen, Burton Greene, Joe McPhee, Fred Van Hove and Henry Kaiser. The list is practically endless. ...

10
Album Review

Seth Andrew Davis, Michael Eaton, Kyle Quass and Damon Smith: Ghost Tantras

Read "Ghost Tantras" reviewed by Troy Dostert


In 2020, saxophonist Michael Eaton and electronic improviser & guitarist Seth Andrew Davis together formed Mother Brain Records, designed to highlight some of the more experimental music coming out of the Midwest. The label has headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri but, if Ghost Tantras is any indication, we will not be hearing much that connects directly to that city's roots in early jazz. Those craving new avenues for adventurous free improvisation will find much to like, however. Combining ...

Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Double Trio: CliffPools

Read "CliffPools" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Ateniese di nascita, ma ormai residente a Boston dal 1985, il pianista Pandelis Karayorgis riunisce in questo album i due piano trio—rispettivamente Cliff e Pools—con i quali aveva registrato per la Driff Records altrettanti lavori negli anni precedenti, dando vita a una formazione atipica: un quintetto con due contrabbassi e due batterie, formalmente un doppio trio che condivide il pianoforte. A fronte dell'organico e dei lunghi studi dedicati dal pianista a Thelonious Monk e Lennie Tristano, non stupisce ...

5
Album Review

Damon Smith: Whatever Is Not Stone Is Light

Read "Whatever Is Not Stone Is Light" reviewed by Mark Corroto


A well-known standing joke instructs a concert goer that the proper time to have a conversation during a performance is to wait for the bass solo. Maybe that joke is funny because it does happen all too often. Try as one might, though, it is impossible to get side-tracked during this solo bass performance by Damon Smith. This COVID-19 virus solo recording follows Smith's previous live solo date Winter Solos for Robert Ryman (Balance Point Acoustics, 2019) and presents an ...

6
Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Double Trio: CliffPools

Read "CliffPools" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Visit any dog park and you'll notice canines need no instruction on how to play together. Chasing the ball, chasing each other, or investigating a pond is quite instinctive for our furry friends. Apologies for equating the master musicians heard on CliffPools with a pack of dogs, but a ferocious struggle for dominance this is not. Boston-based pianist Pandelis Karayorgis had the idea to merge two of his piano/bass/drums trios into one coterie of kindred spirits. His trio work with ...

2
Album Review

Henry Kaiser/Steve Parker/Damon Smith/Chris Cogburn: Nearly Extinct

Read "Nearly Extinct" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The title of this improvising free jazz quartet's release Nearly Extinct, is a reference to the current state of instant composing. The cover lists various players (Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane), Bands (ICP Orchestra, SME, AMM, AACM, ISKRA 1903), and refers to differing scenes from San Francisco to London and Wuppertal. That title is certainly a misnomer. If we think of it in terms of popular music, free jazz or free improvisation was a stillborn child back ...


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