Percussionist, drummer, and composer
Ches Smith is a forward-thinking, genre-bending musician with a bent toward experimental and avant-garde improvisation. Initially getting his start as a replacement touring musician with
Mr. Bungle in the mid-'90s,
Smith has established himself as a highly regarded collaborator with artists like
Xiu Xiu,
John Zorn,
Mary Halvorson, and others. He's issued his own inventive albums including 2010's
Finally Out of My Hands with his Three Arches group, the 2012 solo percussion album Psycho Predictions, and his 2016
ECM debut
The Bell with
Mat Maneri and
Craig Taborn. The following year he and his Haitain jazz project We All Break digitally issued their self-titled debut. He worked on
Dave Holland's
Uncharted Territories in 2018, and with
David Torn and
Tim Berne on
Sun of Goldfinger a year later. He signed We All Break To
Kris Davis's Pyroclastic Records in 2020 and released Path of Seven Colors in 2021. In addition to his quartet, the set doubled the band's size and included saxophonist
Miguel Zenon and vocalist Sirene Dantor Rene. The drummer returned to recording with
Taborn and
Maneri with guitarist
Bill Frisell rounding out a quartet for 2022's
Interpet It Well.
Born in San Diego,
Smith grew up in the Sacramento area, where he became interested in music in his teens, playing with a variety of punk, metal, and avant-garde jazz groups. After high school, he attended the University of Oregon, where he studied philosophy before relocating to San Francisco in the mid-'90s. Once in the Bay Area,
Smith spent several years playing in bands and studying privately with percussionist
Peter Magadini before enrolling in the graduate program at Mills College in Oakland. While at Mills, he studied percussion, improvisation, and composition under the tutelage of such luminaries as
William Winant,
Fred Frith,
Pauline Oliveros, and
Alvin Curran. It was during this period that
Smith got his first big break, subbing for
Winant as the touring drummer for
Mr. Bungle, an association that also led to his joining
Mr. Bungle bassist
Trevor Dunn's
Trio-Convulsant. After leaving Mills,
Smith developed into an in-demand collaborator and sideman, splitting his time between performances with noise rock acts like
Xiu Xiu and
Secret Chiefs 3 as well as playing with cutting-edge musicians including
Tim Berne,
John Zorn,
Wadada Leo Smith, and many others.
As a solo artist,
Smith made his debut with
Congs for Brums in 2006, followed by
Finally Out of My Hands with his group These Arches in 2010. Two years later, he delivered the solo percussion and electronics album Psycho Predictions, played on
Berne's
Snakeoil for
ECM (his third date with this band) and
Darius Jones'
Book of Mae'Bul: Another Kind of Sunrise from AUM Fidelity.
2013 proved a prolific year for
Smith as a sideman. He played on recordings by
Marc Ribot,
Mary Halvorson,
Matt Mitchell, and
Berne, as well as
Secret Chiefs 3's
Book of Souls: Folio A. This band issued Ishraqiyun the following year, as well as
Ches Smith's These Arches' release, International Hookah.
2015 found the drummer working again on recordings by and with
Berne,
Jones, and
Halvorson.
Smith made his label debut as a leader on
ECM with the trio date
The Bell in January of 2016. His sidemen were pianist
Craig Taborn and violist
Mat Maneri. He then paired with bassist
Dave Holland, saxophonist
Evan Parker, and
Taborn for 2018's
Uncharted Territories. The following year, he was back on
ECM for
Sun of Goldfinger with
David Torn and
Tim Berne.
For many years
Smith has a held a deep, abiding, studious interest in Haitian music, and vodou ceremonial music. He studied and played with Haitian master drummers in New York, and visited Haiti for further study and playing. In 2015 he formed We All Break, a quartet with pianist
Matt Mitchell, and hand drummers / vocalists
Daniel Brevil (one of his teachers) and Markus Schwartz. They digitally issued their self-titled debut two years later.
Even as he pursued other projects,
Smith was deeply invested in the music he made with We All Break, and they continued to play together whenever schedules would allow. In 2020, he signed the band to pianist
Kris Davis's Pyroclastic Records, and entered the recording studio. Smith had expanded the band into an octet with the addition of saxophonist
Miguel Zenon, bassist
Nick Dunston, vocalist Sirene Dantor Rene, and third percussionist Fanfan Jean-Guy Rene. Path of Seven Colors appeared in June 2021. The deluxe boxed package included a physical pressing of the original album--titled 2015 for the year the band formed--alongside the statement from the newly expanded group, titled 2020.
Back in 2018, guitarist
Bill Frisell attended a concert by
The Bell trio of
Smith,
Maneri and
Taborn. The guitarist contacted
Smith with many questions about the compostions they played. Further communication resulted in
Frisell joining the trio for a performance in 2020, just before the world locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic. In October, the quartet entered an upstate NY studio with
Ron Saint Germain and recorded
Smith's compositions over two days while social distancing. The finished recordings were eventually released by Pyroclastic in May 2022 as
Interpret It Well. ~ Matt Collar & Thom Jurek