Stewart Smith
@drstewartsmith
Writer: jazz, improvised, experimental, Scotland & the avant-garde @ The Wire, Bandcamp, The Quietus, We Jazz, Guardian. Associate lecturer Newcastle University. Musician. He/him. 🇵🇸
Really enjoyed the latest Simon Reynolds. He’s really sharp on the politics of “dreaming” ie it’s reductive to say it’s simply apolitical, quiescent etc. But I did find this quote from a young Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 hilarious in its cluelessness: the birth of Gen X indie centrism?
Join us online @unimainz.bsky.social on Tues 5pm (UK) for a talk on jazz & poetry in 1970s Glasgow centred on Tom McGrath & Third Eye Centre, building on my @thewiremagazine.bsky.social Once Upon a Time piece & @creativescots.bsky.social project. A bounty of rare footage & archival material!
Took a punt on this Hungarian folk-prog-heavy LP in a foil sleeve at Tynemouth Market. Glad I did, it’s petty groovy.
As you may be aware, when he became Glasgow head of the Arts Council in 1973, McGrath commissioned murals on tenement walls from the likes of John Byrne. Sadly long gone.
Gayageum wiz DoYeon Kim’s leader debut is rightly getting love. Nothing else quite like it. Her duo with Brandon Lopez from a while back is killer too.
Cracking trio of Alan Wilkinson, Darin Gray & Janne Tuomi. Some rich electro-acoustic textures, plus fantastic bass clarinet & free vocalising from AW.
Very lucky to get to hear stuff like this early: gorgeous duo record from Ambrose Akinmusire & Mary Halvorson. Check the preview track on Bandcamp.
So many riches on this box set of recordings from John Corbett & Ken Vandermark’s curation at the Empty Bottle in Chicago during the 90s.
Rufus Harley Kings/Queens. Super funky bagpipe jazz. Been a fan for years but finally picked up the LP recently in DC. Wild version of Eight Miles High.
Phillip Golub’s Partisan Ship: a microtonal journey to an utopian republic. Wiggy, proggy, glitchy, oddly beautiful in places
Tyshawn Sorey’s gorgeous reimagining of Max Roach, with a stellar band including Fay Victor on vocals and Adam O’Farill on trumpet. Coming soon!
An early Art Ensemble of Chicago masterpiece: I’ve reviewed the long overdue reissue for the next @thewiremagazine.bsky.social
Every day is International Jazz Day for me, but to enter into the spirit of the thing, a few things I’ve been listening to lately… Superior Viaduct reissue of Noah Howard’s Black Ark, glorious NYC free jazz from 1969
Viennese vinyl haul. Top 3 from Alt & Neu (the middle Bley is a record club edition of Tropic Appetites), rest from Substance. Merry improv Christmas!
Always nice to find an OG Ogun in the wild. A hidden gem in the vocal jazz section at Newcastle’s Beatdown. Jaimie Cullum it ain’t!
Brought to you by the good folks behind Yeah You & People Like Us, it’s Wild Pop @starandshadow.bsky.social I’ll be performing with @kenosist.bsky.social & Toi Guy as our Deleuzian midi power trio howls again! Helluva lineup!
Thrilled to be programming some Newcastle gigs @starandshadow.bsky.social starting with the great Tashi Dorji @dorjitashi.bsky.social on Oct 6! With 🔥 support from turntable legend Mariam Rezaei & a cassette DJ set from Posset aka Joe Murray. Tickets: starandshadow.org.uk/programme/ev...
Long shot, but does anyone know about Dave Kennard, who wrote jazz reviews for Peace News in the mid 1960s? Not a name I’ve come across elsewhere so could be an Eric Hobsbwam/Francis Newton style pseudonym. This must be one of the earliest UK reports on the Blue Notes.
My DJ set for Doxology @starandshadow.bsky.social last night. Brilliant live set from @krldslv.bsky.social & Gwilly Edmondez!
For Cosmos, the new issue of We Jazz magazine, I’ve written about an exhibit of real & imagined Sun Ra LP covers at Chicago’s Corbett vs Dempsey, Frequency Festival & The Ex! @wejazzhelsinki.bsky.social
New York! The Turntable Trio - Maria Chavez, Victoria Shen & Mariam Rezaei - play @roulettenyc.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥
Morning soundtrack: Paul Bley’s classic, courtesy of Chicago’s magnificent Hyde Park Records.
Bohman Brothers bring giant woodlice terror to Gateshead. Catch em Glasgow tonight, Edinburgh tomorrow!
Newcastle! Fantastic gig @starandshadow.bsky.social tonight with the great Mariam Rezaei & Kenosist unveiling a wild new project. I’ll be DJing between the acts: defiant jazz, liberation jams & anti-fascist punk! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ 🇵🇸