Sunday, April 24, 2016

My favorite things, pt. 4: Balance Point Acoustics

Wrapping up this series of "My favorite things" is bassist Damon Smith and his label, Balance Point Acoustics. Smith was active on the West Coast avant-garde scene, founded the label in 2001 and then relocated to Houston, Texas in 2010. Damon is known for his adventurous playing, an insatiable thirst for listening to new music, and his culinary adventures (which he documents on Facebook). He's also known for his outspoken opinions on other players, something of a rarity among improvising musicians, at least in public. I recall his comparison of MOPDK's Kevin Shea to Jimmy Cobb generated strong reactions when the group's Blue album, a recreation of Kind of Blue, came out.
Smith has played with musicians from all over the world, and is known for long-running collaborations with guitarists Henry Kaiser and Sandy Ewen. Some of the work on Balance Point Acoustics that I've enjoyed recently include:

Sandy Ewen/Damon Smith - Background Information













Fred Van Hove / Peter Jacquemyn / Damon Smith - Burns Longer













Peter Kowald/Damon Smith - Mirrors Broken - But No Dust













One other outstanding album on which he plays is on the Nuscope label:

Magda Mayas / Damon Smith / Tony Buck - Spill Plus


Sunday, April 3, 2016

My favorite things, pt. 3: Setola Di Maiale

I've sung the praises of drummer Stefano Giust's label before on this blog. Founded in 1993, Setola Di Maiale continues to put out a steady stream of releases that combine some names you know with some you don't, and are always challenging and worthwhile.

These CR-Rs are well-recorded and come housed in contemporary, eye-catching graphics, most of them designed by Giust himself, who trained as a graphic designer. Setola Di Maiale illustrates how vibrant an improvised music scene there is in Italy, in the same way For Tune highlights Polish musicians.

Some recent Setola Di Maiale releases I've enjoyed are:

One Lip 5 - Apro il Silenzio (I open the silence); with Guido Mazzon, Nicola Catteneo, Franco Cortellessa, Alberto Mandarini, Stefano Giust, etc.











Sabir Mateen (sax), Gianni Lenoci (piano), Giacomo Mongelli (drums) - Testing the System




Guido Mazzon (trumpet), Marta Sacchi (clarinets), Stefano Giust (percussion) - Neu Musik Projekt










The site is down temporarily, but you can see most of the catalog at Discogs.