Shead (pronounced like shed) is almost certain that this will be the trio’s Cleveland debut, though who knows? Road dogs like these three rack up more gigs than they can remember. Smith and Shead have numerous Cleveland appearances in other contexts, including a concert by Shead’s Microplastique band last year and Smith’s duo concert with his friend Ra Washington at Mack’s Backs.
There are more, many of them at small venues, such as Mistake on the Lake Records and the lamented Mahall’s Apartment. That speaks to the DIY ethos of the three players.
“I love to tour,” Shead, 33, said on a Zoom call last week with Smith (Stein, who was on tour with Natural Information Society, wasn’t available). “I’m from a small town in Indiana, Mishawaka, Indiana, and I kind of fell in love with music because there was this really active punk rock scene in the Midwest in the mid 2000s. I feel like I need to go out and tour a lot to also provide that to people who need music all across the country that don’t live in big metropolitan areas. I think that’s somewhat of a responsibility of musicians, and especially creative musicians, to get out there with creative music or improvised music or punk or whatever it is, to bring the culture to the country. You know what I mean?”
At 53, Smith had a generation’s head start on Shead in the indie scene from his multiple home bases in the Bay, Houston and now St. Louis. Through extensive touring, including memorable encounters with important European musicians, Smith has built an impressive list of colleagues, including his current two bandmates.
He met Stein in Ann Arbor when the latter was a student and heard him at a concert in Philadelphia and was impressed. He heard Shead on a recording, and, Smith said, “It was really fantastic and so good that it was able to transcend a phone speaker. I think it was always in the air that we should play. Adam finally pulled it together that we did a trio recording of the concert, and that was just fantastic.”
That recording, Volumes and Surfaces, is the first of five issued by either Smith’s Balance Point Acoustics label or the Irritable Mystic label curated by Shead, two of which document live concerts at which the eminent pianist Marilyn Crispell joined the trio. Those are volcanic, showcasing the criminally underrated Crispell in peak form.
The three recordings of the trio by itself offer an intriguing preview of the freewheeling style of collective improvisation you can expect to hear at Waterloo Arts. In Stein’s hands, the bass clarinet moans, shrieks, growls, and sometimes croons. Smith’s bass, whether plucked or arco, at times moves in great waves of sound and at others, scatters showers of notes to feed the or cool the ensemble fury. Shead employs a variety of small instruments and at the drum kit can unleash high speed volleys in a manner reminiscent of the great free jazz drummer Clifford Jarvis.
“When we’re on stage, we’re equal. When we’re playing together, we’re equal,” Smith asserted. “if younger players are going to play with older players, you have to find a way to be on stage with everyone and contribute fully, which is what has happened from the beginning. So, it’s always been a great trio of peers where everyone’s contributing something has taken on its own life and character over time.”
Stein/Smith/Shead, Thursday, May 31, 8 p.m., Waterloo Arts, 15605 Waterloo Rd. Cleveland, tickets $20 available at the door
For the most complete listing of jazz and jazz-adjacent events., look to Jim Szabo’s essential, weekly Northeast Ohio jazz calendar.
