Balance Point Acoustics : Damon Smith

CONCERTS

calendar

NEWS

reviews
workshops
projects

MULTIMEDIA

audio
video
visual

Featured CD:

Firestorm is an intense and musically assaultive release of killer, balls-out free jazz that will appeal to those who long for the most bombasic works of Broetzmann, Ayler, Takayanagi and Cecil Taylor! This release reveals many shades of intensity and mood while remaining frenzied and inventive at all times. Featuring Taylor alumni Marco Eneidi (alto), Marc Edwards (drums), Lisle Ellis (bass), Elliott Levin (tenor), Sun Ra Arkestra legend Marshall Allen (alto), bassist Damon Smith and manic Austrian reedist Mario Rechtern, Firestorm is a delerious concoction of new energy music that pushes beyond the stratosphere of sound!

You can send a paypal for $15 pp to damon@balancepointacoustics.com If you would like one. Buy This CD

A few copies of "Healing Force" are available You can send a paypal for $15 pp to damon@balancepointacoustics.com If you would like one.

Vinny Golia-reeds
Aurora Josephson-voice
Henry Kaiser-guitar
Mike Keneally-piano, guitar and voice
Joe Morris-guitar and double bass
Damon Smith-double bass
Weasel Walter-drums

Seven major figures from the art-punk, free-jazz, brutal prog, improvisational and modern jazz world come together for a ROCKING tribute to the unfairly ignored, misunderstood and vilified late period works of Albert Ayler. These late period songs have always seemed to me like they may have been some of the most personally spritually resonant for Ayler, but the musicians and the culture of the late 1960s were possibly not able to successfully translate and perform his concept of spirituality, free jazz, boogaloo, nursery rhythms, marching bands, blues and r'n'b, and certainly the free-jazz following public was not ready to accept it. Now, 40 years and many stylistic mash-ups later, perhaps these works can be better enjoyed.

“Albert Ayler's later works (Love Cry, New Grass and Music is the Healing Force of the Universe) seem to be generally reviled. Through meditations, dreams, and visions, the players on this project were given the message to once again attempt to send the people of earth a message of love, peace, and spiritual understanding. We selected a representative set of tunes for this material and essentially let it play itself through us. We hope you will be as surprised as we still are by the results of this invocational experiment. We hope you will like this record.”
- Henry Kaiser, producer and guitarist Buy This CD

Limited copies of the "Noisy People" dvd are available here. It is a Film by Tim Perkis featuing Damon Smith and other Bay Area Musicians. Includes footage of Gratkowski/Bryerton/Smith and Wolfgang Fuchs' Six Fuchs Project. Buy This CD

Improvised music form Oakland and Tel Aviv from the Jerusalem based Kadima Label.
Aurora Josephson - voice
Ariel Shibolet - soprano saxophone
Jen Baker - trombone
Scott R. Looney - piano
Damon Smith - double bass Buy This CD

"Ghetto Caylpso" Peter Kowald/Marco Eneidi/Damon Smith/Spirit out now on NOTTWO records. Buy This CD

New from Nuscope Records: Biggi Vinkeloe, alto saxophone, flute; Damon Smith, double-bass; Kjell Nordeson, drums, vibraphone Buy This CD

Forthcoming CD's

BPA 013 "Pepper Spray" Ariel Shibolet/Jen Baker/Damon Smith/Jerome Bryerton

Bertram Turetzky/Damon Smith ThoughtBeetle

"Zero Plus - bpa007"
Players: Josephson, Aurora/Wachsmann, Philipp/Lindsay, Jacob/Smith, Damon/Blume, Martin
Reviewed by: François Couture

Singer {Aurora Josephson}, clarinetist {Jacob Lindsay} and bassist (and {Balance Point Acoustics} owner) {Damon Smith} perform regularly as the Triple D trio. Keen on developing projects with European free improvisers visiting the United States, the latter arranged for three consecutive days of concerts and recording sessions, in April 2003, with violinist {Philipp Wachsmann} and drummer {Martin Blume}. The two concerts at {21 Grand} (Oakland, CA) and {The Luggage Store} (San Francisco, CA) were recorded on a multitrack machine by {Scott R. Looney}, who also presided the studio session. As a result, {Zero Plus} offers very good and consistent sound quality throughout, the shift from one venue to another detectable only through the few extra seconds of silence separating the three �chapters� of the CD. The music could easily have taken the form of a "trio+2" setting, the guests attempting to find a niche among the existing dynamics of the core unit. Instead, we assist to a total reconfiguration of the group. Lindsay and Wachsmann team up, developing intricate dialogues (themselves interacting with the other voices). Smith and Blume form a partnership that answers the modus operandi of a bona fide rhythm section, even if they never actually sound like one (the bass also establishes a strong connexion with the violin at times). Josephson either leads the way -- her warm tone and extended techniques captivate the listener�s attention in a way that gives her predominance over the other improvisers -- or integrates a sub-unit by mimicking a particular sound that has attracted her. In the quieter passages, her voice can often be confused with the clarinet or violin. Highlights include {"Tiger, Tiger!"} and {"Zero,"} but the level of involvment is high from start to finish, with excellent balance between the pensive and the frantic ends of the free improv spectrum. Recommended.

1.The Hairy Heel of Achilles: Scissors Cut Paper~13:05~
2.The Hairy Heel of Achilles: Tiger, Tiger!~9:05~
3.The Hairy Heel of Achilles: Long Tail on a Ghost~3:48~
4.The Hairy Heel of Achilles: The Deadly Tube~7:18~
5.La Tricoteuse: Two Men in Straw Hats/Big Fleas Have Little Fleas~7:59~
6.La Tricoteuse: A Bird with a Wing Down~4:42~
7.Zerotables: Facts or Figures~3:50~
8.Zerotables: Table Z~3:57~
9.Zerotables: Zero Minus~3:22~
10.Zerotables: Zero~8:16~
11.Zerotables: Zero Plus~3:39~

Josephson, Aurora/voice
Wachsmann, Philipp/violin/electronics
Lindsay, Jacob/clarinet (Ab)/clarinet (Bb)/clarinet (bass)
Smith, Damon/double bass/liner notes
Blume, Martin/drums
May, D.E./artwork
Anzalone, Alan/graphic design
Looney, Scott R./engineer/mastering

-Avntg
-Free Improvisation
-69:32