Balance Point Acoustics : Damon Smith

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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

"the sale of tickets for money was abolished - bpa002"
Players: TONY BEVANS / SCOTT R. LOONEY / DAMON SMITH
Reviewed by: Jason Bivins, cadence

An interesting, unorthodox trio centered around the low-end sounds of Bevan's rumbling bass saxophone and smith tempestuous bass. It's said that improvised music thrives on either long-running groups or on fly-by-night meetings. Well, these these fellows take the latter option to the extreme, recorded during a rare interval in the hectic lives of the these three. Smith works for a local ticket broker and spends many mornings waiting in line for concert or sports tickets; having just finished snatching up a batch for Lou reed, he rushed to the studio for a session before Bevan had to split for his plane. Wild. But, nothing about this music sounds rushed or compressed. Surprisingly, quite the opposite. The three players are each masters of extended technique. Looney plays a prepared piano, garnishing it with tasteful electronics, producing music somewhere close to the zone inhabited by Denman maroney - pitches are bent strings are attacked, mallets used, but there is a real warmth to his playing that distinguishes him from other many prepared pianists. Smith's bass work is highly graceful. Without sacrificing heft and presence, he works in limber figures (often arco) that situate him in the same general stylistic camp as Kowald, Guy and Rodgers.

Bevan, now playing only his bass saxophone, unleashes the most raucous but can follow them with the most delicate gestures. Together, they patiently unfolds music of rich detail, concentration and passion. The smallest sounds speak for themselves and silence is generally incorporated- when they rise up and roar for a bit it actually means something.

"debris of a mask factory" is a great study in texture - it's constant flow of buzzes, rattles, and sounds like those that might come from the ocean floor. Bevan has amazing control over his massive horn, able to create intense caustic sounds even playing triple piano. On many of these pieces such as "Sacred Drawing of lots" and Quapha", the range of sound is just huge. Indeed there are many moments when the listener is bathed in such multiplicity that it's impossible to tell which instrument is responsible for which sound. "An Adverse drawing of lots" is a splendid bass/bass sax duet that starts as a gurgling drone and works it's way into a concise squeal. The following track is a highly abstract duo of Bevan and Looney. �A brief Argument� begins with barely audible scrapping and rumbling. It's very satisfying to listen to players concentrating on a small area of the, exploring all of it's possibilities, music then moving on without aimless meandering.

The enigmatic titles come from a Borges piece. These creations - gestural, incisive, elusive - have something of the great man's ellipticality, something of his penchant for complex but almost impenetrable layers of meaning. A really fine recording that stands out from the pack.