The Squid's Ear Magazine
Squidco Harvest Sale! October 16 - October 19, Save 10% to 15% on all new items!



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.
 

Price: $12.55
Price Was: $13.95
Squidco Harvest Sale




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:



Jason Stein-bass clarinet

Damon Smith-double bass

Adam Shead-drums, percussion

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



Label: Balance Point Acoustics
Catalog ID: bpaltd16016
Squidco Product Code: 31736

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded in Chicago, Illinois, on August 29th, 2021, tracks 1,3,5 at Elastic Arts, and tracks 2,4 at The Hungry Brain, by Bill Harris.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

"Jason Stein was born in 1976 and is originally from Long Island, New York. Stein is one of the few musicians working today to focus entirely on the bass clarinet as a jazz and improvisational instrument. He studied at Bennington College with Charles Gayle and Milford Graves, and at the University of Michigan with Donald Walden and Ed Sarath. In 2005, Stein relocated to Chicago and has since recorded for such labels as Leo, Delmark, Atavistic, 482 Music and Clean Feed. Stein has performed throughout the US and Europe, including performances in festivals in Lisbon, Cracow, Utrecht, Barcelona, Debreccen and Ljubljana. He has had the opportunity to perform with a number of exciting local and international musicians including: Michael Moore, Jeff Parker, Oscar Noriega, Rudi Mahall, Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Jeb Bishop, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, Urs Leimgruber, Pandelis Karayorgis, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Tony Buck, Eric Boren, Kent Kessler, Tobias Delius, Michael Zerang, Michael Vatcher, Peter Brotzman, and Wilbert DeJoode."

-Jason Stein Website (http://jasonsteinmusic.com/biography)
10/14/2025

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/)
10/14/2025

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

"Adam Shead, who holds a BM in Percussion Performance from Columbia College Chicago, Graduate Certificate in World Performance Studies, and MM in Improvisation from The University of Michigan specializes in interdisciplinary performance, composition, and improvisation. Adam has performed at renowned music festivals such as The Chicago Jazz Festival, The Ann Arbor Edge Fest, and The Present is Present Festival in Amsterdam. Adam has performed alongside such musicians as Mary Oliver, Andrew Drury, John Dikeman, Jasper Stadhouders, Tim Daisy, Josh Berman, Ed Sarath, Dave Rempis, Ada Rave, Benny Green, and John Hollenbeck."

-ArtLitLab (https://artlitlab.org/artists/adam-shead)
10/14/2025

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


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Trio Recordings
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation

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


Recommended & Related Releases:
Blonk, Jaap / Damon Smith / Michael Zerang
Improvisers
(Kontrans)
The first meeting as a trio between Jaap Blonk on voice, Damon Smith on bass, and Michael Zerang on percussion, captured live in Chicago and continuing the Kontrans Improvisors series, bringing together three longstanding collaborators in new formation for an inventive and uncompromising set of free improvisation that highlights their commanding spontaneity and creative rapport.
Schindler, Udo / Sandy Ewen / Damon Smith
Munich Sound Studies Vols. 4, 5 & 6 [3 CDs]
(Balance Point Acoustics)
An expansive 3-CD document recorded live across three Munich venues in May 2023, featuring Udo Schindler (clarinets, saxophones, brass), Sandy Ewen (electric guitar), and Damon Smith (double bass), each session enhanced by collaborators Karina Erhard, Jaap Blonk, and Sebastiano Tramontana, in an inventive series of improvisations of dynamic interplay and innovative sonic experiments.
Lyle, K. Curtis / Jaap Blonk / Alex Cunningham / Damon Smith / Kevin Cheli
A Radio Of The Body 7 Neutrino Broadcasts Searching For 8
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Expanding on the insightful poetry of K. Curtis Lyle, who narrates seven evocative works alongside the freely improvising, chamber-oriented jazz trio of Alex Cunningham (violin), Damon Smith (double bass), and Kevin Cheli (drums, percussion & vibraphone), with free vocalist Jaap Blonk reinforcing and amplifying Lyle's words; a fascinating and thought-provoking exploration of sound and verse.
Mitchell, Roscoe
One Head Four People
(Wide Hive)
"Following his 2024 grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chicago saxophonist, percussionist, composer, and AACM legend Roscoe Mitchell recorded this quartet with bassist Damon Smith, guitarist Sandy Ewen, and drummer Weasel Walter, delivering nine uniquely fascinatingly approaches to free improv, bringing "Ruckus," "Ripples," "Shivers," and "The Final Bell."
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.
Stein, Jason (Stein / Abrams / Cleaver / Boon)
Anchors [VINYL]
(Tao Forms)
Chicago-based bass clarinetist-composer Jason Stein returns from a six-year hiatus as bandleader with a beautifully personal, nuanced, and expansive album, created with bassist Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society), drummer Gerald Cleaver, and guitarist and co-producer Boon, in a suite of seven Stein compositions ranging from meditative calm to gripping intensity.
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.
Bishop / Karayorgis / Smith
Duals [3 CDs]
(Driff Records)
Three albums of three duos between three frequent Boston collaborators and improvisers -- Jeb Bishop on trombone, Pandelis Karayorgis on piano and Damon Smith on double bass -- each CD respectively a combination of trombone & bass, piano & bass and piano & trombone, each recorded during the last year of Jeb Bishop's residency in Boston between 2016-2022.
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).
Bryerton, Jerome / Damon Smith
There Must be a Reason for Generating Sounds... [CD + BOOKMARK]
(Balance Point Acoustics)
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, drummer Jerome Bryterton & double bassist Damon Smith toured & recorded with legendary German multi-reedist Wolfgang Fuchs, who was a great influence on both musicians, here presenting a tribute to the late improviser through 11 recordings titled with quotes from Fuchs, and released with a bookmark from an improvisation workshop in Oakland.
Rumback, Charles
Seven Bridges [VINYL + DOWNLOAD]
(Astral Spirits)
Merging disparate styles into music that is clearly jazz-based, warm and beautifully structured, Chicago drummer and composer Charles Rumback's 7th album as a leader assembles a large group of luminaries including Jim Baker, Ron Miles, Jason Stein, and Greg Ward for a set of instrumentals and songs that are effusive but never sentimental, a beautiful balance.
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.
Moore, Chris / Adam Shead
The Flower Of Paradise
(Amalgam)
Two Chicago compatriots--established drummer/percussionist Adam Shead and newcomer to the Chicago improvised scene, saxophonist and multi-reedist Chris Moore, in an expressive album of sax & drum interaction, thoughtful interactions in twelve succinct dialogs that focuses on the depth of their conversation through clear expression and response.
Mitchell, Roscoe / Sandy Ewen / Damon Smith / Weasel Walter
A Railroad Spike Forms The Voice
(ugEXPLODE)
The first meeting between Art Ensemble of Chicago saxophone legend Roscoe Mitchell and the long running improvisational trio of Sandy Ewen (guitar), Damon Smith (double bass) and Weasel Walter (drums), in an epic 72-minute recording captured live at Duende in Oakland, CA in 2014, an amazing display contrasting control & chaos, form and deconstruction; exemplary!
Alexander, Sarah Ruth / Damon Smith
God Made My Soul an Ornament
(Balance Point Acoustics)
An unusual duo of double bass, voice, hammered dulcimer, recorder, slide whistle, and various objects, recorded in 2019 between bassist Damon Smith and Sarah Ruth Alexander, freely improvising through nine pieces that show the breadth of creative imagination and powerful technical skills of each; curiously compelling, unpredictable and marvelously diverse.
Clucas, Dan / Jeb Bishop / Damon Smith / Matt Crane
Universal or Directional
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Three quartet improvisations and six duo combinations between Dan Clucas on cornet, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Damon Smith on double bass, and Matt Crane on drums, recording in the studio in Rhode Island, 2018, the various permutations of each player elucidating the full group interactions through focused and captivating investigations of instrumental combinations.
Fielder, Alvin / Damon Smith
Song For Chico [CASSETTE]
(Balance Point Acoustics)
Free improvisations and a few fascinating covers of work by Cecil Taylor, Chico Hamilton, and Johnny Dyani from the duo of double bassist Damon Smith and legendary drummer Alvin Fielder, showing intense and unusual approaches in great rhythmic dialog.
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.
Karayorgis / McBride / Smith / Gray / Rosenthal
CliffPools
(Driff Records)
Merging two Boston-based trios--Cliff of bassist Damon Smith, drummer Eric Rosenthal and pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, and Pools of bassist Nate McBride, drummer Luther Gray, and Karayorgis--performing Karayorgis compositions with collective input from all five, creating profoundly great music in a shared language fueled by long collaborative relationships.
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.
Turner, Roger / Henry Kaiser / Martin Kuchen / Damon Smith / Jeff Coffin / Ed Pettersen / Tania Chen / Jordan Muscatello
Interstellar Transmissions
(Split Rock Records)
Two fascinating experimental concepts executed by Roger Turner, Henry Kaiser, Martin Kuchen, Damon Smith, Jeff Coffin, Ed Pettersen, Tania Chen, & Jordan Muscatello; Disc 1, each musician improvised alone to NASA recordings from the Voyager spacecraft, the results mixed together over the Voyager track; Disc 2, three improvisers play together in response to Voyager tracks.




The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC