Art Edmaiston, Steve Hirsh, and Damon Smith bring a wide expanse of musical experience to the table. Between them, they have played with artists as diverse and influential as Roscoe Mitchell, Marilyn Crispell, William Parker, Daniel Carter, Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, Bobby Blue Bland, and Little Feat. The music they create will be surprising and deeply felt.

Band Members:
Art Edmaiston - Saxophones
Damon Smith - Bass
Steve Hirsh - Drums

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Art Edmaiston is a well-traveled musician hailing from Memphis, TN, who has played in the bands of rock ‘n’ roll luminaries and jazz/blues legends for the past 30 years. His work is featured on two Grammy-nominated albums and countless commercial recordings. His juicy tenor saxophone tone blends the screaming spiritual incantations associated with Pharoah Sanders and Albert Ayler with the bar-walking shouts of Junior Walker and Willis “Gator Tail” Jackson. Gregg Allman, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Little Feat, the Doobie Brothers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Pharrell Williams, and Levon Helm are among the artists who have called on Edmaiston to perform and record when there was the need for authentic, soulful saxophone. Recent years of intense playing almost exclusively in a duo format with master rhythmatist Ra-Kalam Bob Moses has honed Edmaiston’s ability to create melodies and conjure extreme textures from his horn.

Two full-length album releases that feature Art’s compositions and collective improvisation are now available on Bandcamp. The first is “Australopithecus,” a live sextet recording featuring Ra-Kalam on drums. The second, titled “The Back 9,” is a sax/drum duo recording that features Steve Hirsh.

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Damon Smith is a double bassist, improvisor, label proprietor, and teacher, currently residing in St. Louis, MO. A student of Lisle Ellis, Damon has been a part of several free improvisation scenes across the United States, including Oakland (1993–2010), Houston (2010–2016), Boston (2016–2019), and St. Louis (2019–present). His bass playing contains echoes of the gritty experimentalism of the ‘70s German free improvising tradition, but with a strong American jazz impetus that propels the improvisations in a very distinct and rhythmic way.

Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turetzky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser, and others. Damon’s explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson’s Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra’s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Keith Rowe, Jaap Blonk, Roscoe Mitchell, Weasel Walter, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Weasel Walter, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann, and Peter Kowald. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and six great years in Houston, TX, working regularly with Alvin Fielder, Sandy Ewen, Thomas Helton, David Dove, and Chris Cogburn, Damon moved to the Boston area in 2016 and began working with Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Joe McPhee and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, and many others.

Damon is the proprietor of the Balance Point Acoustics label, which he founded in 2001, and which is now quickly closing in on 60 releases. Balance Point Acoustics focuses on releasing transatlantic collaborations between U.S. and European musicians.

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Steve Hirsh composes music on the drumset. He's been leading improvising ensembles around Minnesota's Twin Cities for 20 years. He has played with some of the world's leading practitioners of real-time group composition, including Joel Futterman, William Parker, Dave Sewelson, Matthew Shipp, Ivo Perelman, Eri Yamamoto, Steve Swell, Chad Fowler, and Matt Lavelle. In addition to performing around Minnesota, he plays regularly in New York, around the United States, and collaborates internationally.