Damon Smith


Damon Smith is an American free-jazz bassist. He has worked with Cecil Taylor, Peter Brötzmann, Marshall Allen, John Tchicai, Elliott Sharp, Fred Frith and Jim O'Rourke. Since 2016, Smith has lived in Boston.

Biography

Smith spent his childhood in eastern Washington but moved to Oakland in the mid-1980s. He took up bass in his late teens, inspired by the Minutemen's Mike Watt.
His love of Minutemen got him to explore other bands on the SST Records label which led to his discovery of Henry Kaiser, Elliott Sharp and Saccharine Trust. Smith credited Saccharine Trust's improvised live album Worldbroken with altering his views on punk rock, jazz, and free-form jamming. Eventually Damon was fortunate enough to meet Kaiser and the two have collaborated for over twenty years including more than ten recordings together.
Initially an electric bass player due to his love of Minutemen and Watt's followup band fIREHOSE, Smith switched to double bass and began focusing on improvisation inspired by Peter Kowald and his album Duos:Europa
Smith studied with Bill Douglas, Lisle Ellis, Kristin Zerneg, and Bertram Turetsky.
In 2001, Smith launched his own record label called Balance Point Acoustics.
More recently, Smith has played with Weasel Walter in his Weasel Walter Quartet and in Plane Crash which also includes Henry Kaiser. The latter expanded to become Astral Plane Crash with the inclusion of Vinny Golia and Bob Moses.
Smith has also collaborated with Werner Herzog on soundtracks to his documentary films Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World.

Partial discography