Creative Music -- 1

AMG Review of Creative Music -- 1

Eugene Chadbourne
All Music Guide

Subtitled "Six Solo Improvisations," this artist-produced record from 1972 remains an important historical document and will hopefully not be the only commercial release of this improvising master's solo performances from this era, which were in two words consistently outstanding. An all-encompassing vision exists around the music Smith would create in his setup with various trumpets, woodflutes, and xylophone, along with a self-designed system of steel poles supporting various gongs and metal objects. It is a music in which the performer becomes the master not only of sound, but of silence. The ringing out and placement of various tones through these pieces makes one feel in the presence of some sort of all-knowing spirit. There is no nervousness, agitation, or over-eagerness to the movements. A joke at the time was that this album had been pressed on a waffle iron. The surface noise has become less of an issue as time marches on, although it is still a pity. During these years of the Kabell company, Smith was refusing to release his music on other labels out of fear of losing ownership of his compositional properties. The real plus of musician-run labels is that the listener has the possibility to receive a completely uncompromised, pure version of the artist's work, and, in the case of this album, that is one large treasure indeed.