Energetic trio interplay from saxophonist James McKain with Damon Smith and Weasel Walter, recorded in Collinsville, Illinois, where taut lines, volatile textures, and razor-cut dynamics sketch "free jazz by way of the European tradition," six concise pieces whose titles nod to Thomas Bernhard and whose restless momentum — anchored by springy bass and splintered drums — turns spontaneity into vividly shaped form.
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Sample The Album:
James McKain-saxophones
Damon Smith-double bass
Weasel Walter-drums, percussion
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Label: Balance Point Acoustics / International School of Evidence
Catalog ID: bpaltd28028 / ISOE 002
Squidco Product Code: 36854
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Brid Cloud Recordings, in Collinsville, Illenois, on December 15th, 2024, by Ryan Wasoba.
Recorded at Bird Cloud Recording in Collinsville, Illinois, on 15 December 2024 by Ryan Wasoba, this trio set brings saxophonist James McKain into the long-running partnership of Damon Smith (double bass) and Weasel Walter (drums). Across six tracks (~48 minutes), they work a tense, mobile language — "free jazz by way of the European tradition" — where clipped motifs, quick pivots in texture, and sudden dynamic swells keep the music in a constant state of alert flux.
Titles draw on translations of Thomas Bernhard's poetry, and the performances feel appropriately literary: terse, mordant, and meticulously shaped, with Smith's springy, singing bass lines and Walter's fractured time under McKain's biting, aerated saxophone timbre. Issued jointly by Balance Point Acoustics and International School of Evidence, it's a sharp document of three improvisers treating form as something to be discovered in real time.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for James McKain James McKain is a "saxophonist and surrealist" from Queens, NY. He is known for the groups Dolphin Logic, Healthy Realism, The Hell, and The Relatives. ^ Hide Bio for James McKain • Show Bio for Damon Smith "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." ^ Hide Bio for Damon Smith • Show Bio for Weasel Walter "Weasel Walter (real name Walter Wyzowski) is a composer and instrumentalist who founded the band The Flying Luttenbachers in Chicago in 1991 with a current member of Cellular Chaos and Behold...The Arctopus. Over the years, The Flying Luttenbachers included noted Dylan Posa, and Michael Colligan, while creating a body of music drawing equally from no wave, death metal, gamelan, noise music, hardcore punk and modern classical. Walter moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003, where he formed the latest of many Luttenbachers lineups, remaining on percussion with the addition of bassist Mike Green (Burmese), and virtuoso guitarist Ed Rodriguez (ex-Colossamite, Gorge Trio). Singular guitar phenomenon Mick Barr (Krallice, Octis, Orthrelm) joined the group in 2005. The Flying Luttenbachers ceased to operate in late 2007. On November 25, 2009, Weasel Walter announced that he was moving to New York City to join the band Behold... The Arctopus on drums and will be writing "new, more extreme material from scratch." He also formed Cellular Chaos with Marc Edwards (drummer), Admiral Grey and Ceci Moss." ^ Hide Bio for Weasel Walter
10/27/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/27/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/27/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Wrecked Brain in the Capital 11:25
2. The Shit Of Four Thousand Years 4:05
3. A Cloud Which Does Not Last 9:22
4. Its Corpse Is Strewn With Flowers 7:24
5. Bring Me Schnapps, Fame & Love 5:53
6. She Sucks In The Rose Of The Cold 10:01
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Collective & Free Improvsation
Trio Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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