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

"Ausfegen"
Players: Hartsaw/Aspelin/Smith/Bryerton
Reviewed by: Mike Szajewski, WNUR 89.3 FM, Chicago
Hartsaw/Aspelin/Smith/Bryerton Ausfegen: Dedicated to Joseph Beuys” (Balance Point Acoustics, 2007) Paul Hartsaw (ss, ts), Kristian Aspelin (g), Damon Smith (b), Jerome Bryerton (perc) Here’s an example of highly experimental jazz that is executed in a way that avoids being overly daunting or completely inaccessible. While many of the most experimental jazz albums today incorporate elevated Ayler-esque raucousness or spacey minimalism, “Ausfegen” manages to be both quiet and highly interactive, mostly due the gentle percussiveness of this album. Percussionist Jerome Breyerton displays a beautiful small-sounding percussion kit, which he will play at almost any speed and intensity level. Aspelin’s guitar work is also in this percussive vein, being somewhat similar to the style and approach of New York’s Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut but applied to a more quiet setting. Another interesting note regarding the guitarist’s work – the seventh track here features Kristian Aspelin playing his instrument with a broom. Rounding out the ensemble are Chicago saxophonist Paul Hartsaw and San Fransisco Bay Area bassist Damon Smith, whose Balance Point Acoustics label released this CD. Hartsaw has made his rounds with many of today’s Chicago greats, is also the leader of the Desiring-Machines free improv ensemble. Damon Smith, perhaps the best known member of this quartet, has recorded with greats such as the late bassist Peter Kowald and reed player Frank Gratkowski. - Mike Szajewski