The Squid's Ear Magazine
Autumn Hat Sale!
105 ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd @ $10 off each!




Michalowski, Piotr / Damon Smith: How To Ripen In Ice (Balance Point Acoustics)

Taking their titles from the avant poetry book "Tent Posts" by author Henri Michaux, this concert of collective free improv at Ziggy's Ypsilanti in Michigan between double bassist Damon Smith and reed & wind player Piotr Michalowski is an active and impressive set of dialogs, Michalowski switching between bass & contralto clarinets, sopranino & soprano saxophones, and Japanese Shinobbue flute.
 

Price: $13.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Piotr Michalowski-bass clarinet, contralto clarinets, sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone, Japanese Shinobbue flute

Damon Smith-double bass


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: Balance Point Acoustics
Catalog ID: bpaltd 21021
Squidco Product Code: 35178

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Recorded live at Ziggy's, in Ypsilanti, Michigan by Taylor Greenshields.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.
Taking their titles from the avant poetry book "Tent Posts" by author Henri Michaux, this concert of collective free improv at Ziggy's Ypsilanti in Michigan between double bassist Damon Smith and reed & wind player Piotr Michalowski is an active and impressive set of dialogs, Michalowski switching between bass & contralto clarinets, sopranino & soprano saxophones, and Japanese Shinobbue flute.

Artist Biographies

"Piotr Michalowski grew up in Poland and moved to the United States in 1968 to earn his master's degree and Ph.D. at Yale University. After postgraduate research at Harvard and Penn, he took his first job at UCLA.

He'd been an avid jazz fan since he was a teenager -- he swore off rock 'n' roll after seeing the Jazz on a Summer's Day concert film -- but his tastes leaned more toward the old school, New Orleans-style than the new avant-garde.

In Los Angeles, Michalowski made friends with a record-store clerk who turned him onto some further-out sounds, including L.A. players the clerk also booked at the storied Century City Playhouse. There, Michalowski checked out gigs by adventurous improvisers, like John Carter, Nels Cline, and Golia, the last of whom inspired him to start playing clarinet.

"It was a fantastic scene," he says.

After a stint teaching in Philadelphia during which he didn't really play, Michalowski landed in Ann Arbor in the early '80s to work at the University of Michigan, where he continued to teach until just last year.

He took up music again at the urging of a friend and was soon playing traditional jazz, swing, and standards on alto and tenor sax, performing with David Swain's II-V-I Orchestra and jams with friends. He enjoyed the tunes, but it didn't feel right.

"I was playing 'Body and Soul' at some art place, and I just thought, 'It's totally ridiculous for me to play "Body and Soul."' I have in my head Coleman Hawkins and all these classic performers. It's almost sacrilegious for me to do it. While I love listening to that music, playing it was absurd. You could say playing as an amateur is absurd anyway, but I love doing it. That was just so crazy. I decided I was just making an ass of myself, and I just couldn't really justify it."

So, in the '90s, he turned back to his love of improvisation and found some like-minded, younger players at the University of Michigan and its Creative Arts Orchestra, who he started sitting in with. He collaborated regularly with James Ilgenfritz, Sarah Weaver, and "a whole generation" of musicians until they eventually left town to pursue their music.

Another longstanding collaborator for years was Detroit violinist Mike Khoury, with whom Michalowski has released a half-dozen or so short-run CDs. He's also continued to play with Ilgenfritz when the two are in the same city. In March, the two played as an impromptu trio with U-M music professor Stephen Rush during an Ilgenfritz show at Kerrytown Concert House, and earlier this month, Michalowski and Relyea, a mezzo-soprano vocalist, joined the bassist in Steve Swell's band for a New York performance.

Through Kerrytown and Detroit's free improvisation scene, Michalowski has made connections around the country that have developed into mini-tours with professional musicians and one-off shows in other cities when traveling for work.

He recalls one notable house show in Berkley, Calif., wiith Golia and Jon Raskin of the Rova Saxophone Quartet all playing sopraninos. "It was advertised as a very squeaky evening," he says.

When pianist Thollem McDonas was recruiting musicians to perform with at Kerrytown last summer, he asked Michalowski and Ann Arbor cellist Abigail Alwin to join him. McDonas recorded the session, which is now posted to Bandcamp as part of a 15-album series produced while touring."-Christopher Porter

-Ann Arbor District Library (https://aadl.org/taxonomy/term/106916)
10/30/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon's explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson's Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including: Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra's Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Roscoe Mitchell, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and five great years in Houston, Texas working regularly with Alvin Fielder, Sandy Ewen, David Dove & Chris Cogburn, Damon will move to the Boston area in the fall of 2016. Damon has run Balance Point Acoustics record label since 2001, releasing music focusing on transatlantic collaborations between US and European musicians."

-Balance Point Acoustic Website (https://www.balancepointacoustics.com/damon-smith/)
10/30/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Gripped by these Ticks 13:08

2. Harmonize your Disintegration 08:42

3. Philosopher in Need of a Bed 06:20

4. Camoflage into Opposites 05:30

5. What you've Ruined 02:10

6. What you've let get Ruined (DS Solo) 05:52

7. How Not to Act 04:33

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Collective Free Improvsation
Jazz
Duo Recordings
Woodwinds
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Balance Point Acoustics.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Gregorio / Smith / Bryerton
The Cold Arrow
(Balance Point Acoustics)
The second trio release from clarinetist Guillermo Gregorio, double bassist Damon Smith and Jerome Bryerton on gongs, selected metal & cymbals (but no drums), in a sophisticated album of eight collective improvisations numbered as "The Planar Effect" and two Gregorio compositions, an absolutely impressive set that obscures the line between "spontaneous" and "composition".
Crispell, Marilyn / Jason Stein / Damon Smith / Adam Shead
Spi-Raling Horn
(Balance Point Acoustics)
A collaboration between the working trio of bass clarinetist Jason Stein, double bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Adam Shead, adding pianist Marilyn Crispell, initiated by Smith & Crispell's admiration of painter Cy Twombly, whose artwork graces this album's cover, recorded live and complete in the studio after two live concerts between the quartet; masterful collective improv!
Blonk / Smith / Moses
Rune Kitchen
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Four unusual studio recordings of voice, electronics, double bass, drums & percussion from the trio of Netherland vocal improviser Jaap Blonk with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Moses and Blonk collaborating on the concrete poem that makes up "liner notes" for this wonderfully odd and sophisticated album of avant free improv.
Smith, Damon / Louis Wall / NNN Cook / Michael William / Fred Tompkins
Fire Point [CASSETTE + DOWNLOAD]
(Notice Recordings)
A dark album of sound art from the quintet of mostly St. Louis improvisers--Damon Smith, Louis Wall, NNN Cook, Michael Williams and noted flutist Fred Tompkins on two tracks--starting through shrouded percussion and unidentifiable sources, the group's sessions are edited into a cohesive album that takes its listeners on a unique journey of electronic and acoustic interaction.
Cameron / Smith / Cunningham
Time Without Hours [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Storm Cellar)
The of trio of Lisa Cameron on percussion, Damon Smith on double bass and Alex Cunningham on violin, continue their work after 2020's Dawn Throws Its First Knife with this cassette and download releases of five collective improvisations, using extended techniques amidst cogent conversation, from assertively exciting to darkly moody atmospheric interplay.
Vinkeloe, Biggi / Mark Weaver / Damon Smith
Desert Sweets
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Twenty two vignettes of improvised conversations named for desert fauna between alto saxophonist & flutist Biggi Vinkeloe, tuba & trombonist Mark Weaver, and double bassist Damon Smith, using a unique tuning choice for the band suggested by Vinkeloe, and applying a quality to the studio to create a uniquely orchestrated and resonant album of masterful playing.
Neumann / Smith / Graham / Rosenthal / Fujiwara / Ewen
Quartet:Quartet:Trio [2 CDs]
(Balance Point Acoustics)
A double album of electroacoustic improv sessions from Sommerville, MA, centered around electronic artist Andrew Neumann on the Buchla Music Easel--a complex additive analogue synth--heard in quartet and trio sessions with Forbes Graham (trumpet), Sandy Ewen (guitar & objects), Junko Fujiwara (cello), Damon Smith (double bass) and Eric Rosenthal (drums & percussion).
Stein, Jason / Damon Smith / Adam Shead
Volumes & Surfaces
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Live recordings from the trio of Chicago improvisers Jason Stein on bass clarinet and Adam Shead on drums & percussion in a trio with double bassist Damon Smith, 3 tracks recorded in the studio at Chicago's Elastic Arts and then 2 live performances captured at The Hungry Brain that same night, an album of rich proportion through the deep strings, dark drums and deep reeds.
Fielder, Alvin / David Dove / Jason Jackson / Damon Smith
The Very Cup of Trembling
(Astral Spirits)
Five inventive, lively and informed collective improvisations plus one brief interlude from the quartet of Alvin Fielder on drums, David Dove on trombone, Jason Jackson on tenor & baritone saxophones and Damon Smith on double bass, recording in Texas three years after their excellent From-To-From, with titles provided courtesy of poet and scholar Fred Moten.
Ulher, Birgit / Damon Smith / Chris Cogburn
The Eternity-Cult
(Balance Point Acoustics)
A building and extended set of fully free improvisation using unusual techniques, from the trio of Birgit Ulher on trumpet, radio, speaker & objects, Damon Smith on double bass and Chris Cogburn on percussion & electronics, Ulher using the trumpet as a sound source as much as a conventional instrument, as the trio builds from near silence to intensely controlled interaction.
Feichtmair, Tanja / Damon Smith / Gino Robair
The Shrilling of Frogs
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Discovered in a box of recordings in BPA's possession, this recording from 2003 restores a stimulating freely improvised studio encounter between then-West Coast frequent collaborators, double bassist Damon Smith and percussionist Gino Robair, in a trio with Austrian alto saxophonist & bass clarinetist Tanja Feichtmair, mastered to pristine quality by Weasel Walter.
Gregorio, Guillermo / Damon Smith / Jerome Bryerton
Room of the the Present
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Two performances of Chicago reedist and composer Guillermo Gregorio's graphic score "Moholy 2", inspired by the artwork of László Moholy-Nagy, recorded in two conductions at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago in 2007 & 2008 by the trio of Gregorio on clarinets & alto sax, Damon Smith on double bass, and Jerome Bryerton on percussion, cymbals and drums.
Ewen, Sandy / Damon Smith / Weasel Walter
ST
(ugEXPLODE)
Four unorthodox improvisations that evade idiomatic playing through "wantonly abstract" and unusual approaches to their instruments, keeping their listeners guessing where their playing might take them, from frequent collaborators Sandy Ewen on guitar, Damon Smith on bass, and Weasel Walter on drums & percussion, recording in the studio in Brooklyn, 2019.
Smith, Damon
Whatever Is Not Stone Is Light
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Taking his title from a poem by Octavio Paz with titles from translations by Lysander Kemp of other Octavio Paz poems, this solo album from double bassist Damon Smith is his definitive statement on the instrument: 23 tracks from 46 seconds to 5 minutes 50, developed over 15 years and displaying Smith's incredible technique and creative intent; incomparable.
Cliff Trio (Pandelis Karayorgis / Damon Smith / Eric Rosenthal)
Precipice
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Recording at the Lilypad in Cambridge, MA, the Boston-area trio of pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Eric Rosenthal are captured in concert for an adventurous album of free improvisation, Karayorgis's compositions leading this piano trio of magnificent mastery into buoyantly exciting interaction as they take their listeners to a dizzying precipice edge.
Smith, Damon
Winter Solos for Robert Ryman [CASSETTE]
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Reflecting on the passing of artist and musician Robert Ryman, double bassist Damon Smith dedicated this concert of outstanding playing, technique and momentum at Cafe Fixe in Brookline, MA to Ryman, as Smith sought to present a definitive solo concert as an overview of his own work, ably realizing Ryman's concept of finding all the things you can do with your instrument.
Greene / Smith / Moses
Life's Intense Mystery
(Astral Spirits)
Performing live at Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA, the trio of free jazz piano legend Burton Green in a trio with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, in 6 collective improvisations, with impressive playing from all three as they segway through the three part "Life's Intense Mystery", taking exploratory moments and even some "Kid Play" inbetween.
Karayorgis, Pandelis Trio (w/ Damon Smith / Eric Rosenthal)
Cliff
(Driff Records)
Contrasting his concurrent piano trio album with Nate McBride and Luther Gray, "Pools", "Cliff" is a first encounter between Boston-area pianist and composer Pandelis Karayorgis and drummer Eric Rosenthal with double bassist Damon Smith, recently migrated from the West Coast, as the three present a concentrative album of collective improvisation revealing three masterful players.
Leap Of Faith
Domains
(Evil Clown)
One of the core ensembles in Boston's Evil Clown collective led by multi-reedist David Peck is Leap of Faith, a uniquely inspired collective free improv band with unusual instruments and percussive devices, here in a live concert at Outpost 186 as quintet with Glynis Lomon on cello, Damon Smith on bass, Silvain Castellano on bass, and Yuri ZBitnov on drums & percussion.
Gratkowski, Frank / Damon Smith / Jerome Bryerton
The Voice Imitator
(Balance Point Acoustics)
German reeidst Frank Gratkowski in a trio with West Coast percussionist Jerome Bryerton and bassist Damon Smith, in an album of free music that blends the sensibilities of free improv with contemporary compositional music.
Hartsaw / Aspelin / Smith / Bryerton
Ausfegen
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Extreme improvisation from the West Coast, using dissonance, dynamics, harmonics, conversational interaction, extended techniques and energy, new viewpoints inspired by a mix of contemporary classical and jazz.
Josephson / Wachsmann / Lindsay / Smith / Blume
Zero Plus
(Balance Point Acoustics)
The Triple D Trio of Aurora Josephson (voice), Jacob Lindsay (clarinet) & Damon Smith (bass) met with visiting European improvisers Philipp Wachsmann (violin) and Martin Blume (drums) to record these live concerts in Oakland and SF.
Genetti / Smith / Lonberg-Holm
Sense of Hearing
(Balance Point Acoustics)
8 duos recorded in the studio between bassist Damon Smith and free vocalist Carol Genetti, and 4 trio tracks adding Fred Lonberg-Holm on violoncello and performing live at Chicago's Empty Bottle.
Fuchs / Lindsay / Smith / Baghdassarians / Baltschun
The Happymakers
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Hartshaw / Aspelin / Smith / Bryerton
Ausfegen (Dedicated To Joseph Beuys)
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Unusual improvisational forms from the quartet of saxophonist Paul Hartsaw, guitarist Kristian Aspelin, bassist Damon Smith and percussionist Jerome Byrerton, recording in Oakland, CA in 2006.
Shibolet / Josephson / Baker / Looney / Smith
untitled (1959)
(Kadima)
Kadima collective saxophonist Ariel Shibolet and 4 California Bay Area players in impressive and intense improvisation that make for an unusual and open-minded discourse.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC