PETER KOWALD / DAMON SMITH
Mirrors - Broken But No Dust
Balance Point Acoustics
BPA 001
TONY
BEVAN / DAMON SMITH / SCOTT R. LOONEY
The sale of tickets for money was abolished
Balance Point Acoustics
BPA 002
It's
altogether fitting that Bay area bassist Damon Smith has put out a duet
session with German bassist Peter Kowald as the first release on his own
label. After all it was exposure to Kowald's DUOS: EUROPA LP in 1994 that
convinced the young musician to sell the fender bass he had been playing
in punk and art rock combos to concentrate on double bass and creative
improvised music.
Since
then, after extensive formal and informal studies, he has begun to establish
himself as an in-demand stylist, collaborating with dancers, actors and
poets and a variety of musicians. These have included Americans of such
different temperaments as Miya Masaoka Marshall Allen and John Tchicai
plus Europeans ranging from extrovert Gianni Gebbia to minimalists Wolfgang
Fuchs and Boris Hauf.
Nearly
30 years the American's senior, Kowald was around for Continental free
improv's genesis and flowering along with the likes of Peter Brötzmann
and Evan Parker. Always ready to trade ideas with others, the bassist
has made a practice of working with U.S. as well as European players.
Smith's
studies have obviously paid off, for the CD sounds much more like a father-son
meeting than equivalent sessions with real life relatives Dewey and Joshua
Redman or Peter and Caspar Brötzmann. Not that it's a clone act;
it's just that the two bull fiddle specialists have a similar powerful
attack and conception.
Often
working in unison, it's a compliment to Smith to say that it's almost
impossible to distinguish his lines from those of Kowald, who had already
recorded his first important session four years before the American was
born. Pulling, pushing and extracting sounds from the strings, wood and
pegs, the two lead their instruments through various states of loudness
and silence, interchangeably using bows as well as fingers, without the
common cop out of one playing arco while the other sticks to pizzicato
and vice versa.
Instead
the passages range from microscopic pointillistic examinations to nailing
great swaths of melody onto the air. Every bass sonance you can imagine
is here, as well as tones that resemble those produced from guitars, violins
as well as oddities like bagpipes or baroque flutes. The final track even
ends with one of the musicians -- Kowald perhaps -- gutturally vocalizing
in unison with the notes he creates on the bass like a free jazz Slam
Stewart.
Put
together in a somewhat more conventional configuration, the other CD offers
a program of instant compositions from Smith, Oakland, Calif.-based Scott
R. Looney on prepared piano and live electronics, and British bass saxophone
champion Tony Bevan, exactly as it unrolled in the studio.
Bevan,
a full-fledged evangelist for the low-pitched beast has concentrated exclusively
on that little-used woodwind since 1994, playing with the likes of Steve
Beresford, John Edwards and Mark Sanders. Looney who has a background
in interactive electronics as well as formal composition, jazz and improv
has worked with Leo Smith, Eddie Gale and the Oakland Electroacoustic
Quartet.
Although
only three men were present in the studio, their flexibility and versatility
meant that there is at least double the number of sounds you would expect
on offer. Bevan is as apt to head off on an altissimo flight as he is
to unleash a subterranean rumble or literally blow hot air through the
cylindrical metal. Smith can create cello, not to mention violin and viola
string approximations, when he's not using his instrument as a bull fiddle.
At times, as on "Debris of a mask factory," his attack is so
ferocious that he appears to be bowing more than one instrument. Looney's
prepared piano and electronics multiply the potential keyboards and string
sets he has at his fingertips. There are times, in fact, such as on "Brilliant
result of 30 or 40 drawings" where it seems either the piano's entrails
or the bass' surface approximate the sound of an entire percussion ensemble.
Often
the players play unexpected roles as well. On "Sacred drawing of
lots," for instance, Bevan takes up the constant bass rhythm as Smith
soars into viola range. When the saxophonist alternates stratospheric
reed biting with what sounds like duck calls, Looney somehow manages to
approximate accordion tones. While all this is going on, Smith's bow appears
to be marching up and down one of those long strung wires so beloved of
minimalists.
Other
times, as on "Preferred to scribble a brief argument," Looney
somehow manages to induce conventional pianisms, electronic bell ringing
and internal clinking to appear at the same time. And this is right after
the three have created what could be termed an outside swing session with
Bean's sax blats, some flowing bass asides and a few right-handed pinched
notes from the piano put into the mix.
Bevan
and Looney duetting may not exactly remind you of Gerry Mulligan and Tommy
Flanagan either, but the two know how to chase each other like fox and
hare on "To accept errors is not to contradict fate." Here the
pianist works curt, nervous notes from his keyboard as the saxophonist
blows out long-lined harmonic interludes. However "An adverse drawing
might mean mutilation," Bevan's duo with Smith, sees him spouting
great gouts of notes as the bassist saws bass clef lines with the delicate
finesse of a bass flautist.
Take
your pick of either session. With strong work like this, it would seem
that the future of Left Coast, leftfield bass playing is in good hands
-- and bow -- with Damon Smith.
--
Ken Waxman
Track
Listing Mirrors:
1. Broken mirrors Part 1; 2. Broken mirrors Part 2; 3. Reflections on
April 28th 2000; 4. Reflections on April 28th 2000 4; 5. Reflections on
April 28th 2000 5; 6. Reflections on April 28th 2000 6; 7. Reflections
on April 28th 2000 7; 8. Reflections on April 28th 2000 8; 9. Reflections
on April 28th 2000 9
Track Listing Tickets: 1. Custody of an enemy; 2. Brilliant result of
30 or 40 drawings; 3. Debris of a mask factory; 4. Sacred drawing of lots;
5. An adverse drawing might mean mutilation; 6. To accept errors is not
to contradict fate; 7. Time limit of 1 hour or 1 century; 8. Preferred
to scribble a brief argument; 9. Quapha - fissures in a dusty aqueduct;
10. Peaceful shadows of a room
Personnel
Mirrors: Peter Kowald, Damon Smith, basses
Personnel
Tickets: Tony Bevan, bass saxophone; Damon Smith, bass; Scott R. Looney,
prepared piano, live electronics