PATRICK SMITH

WORDS UNDERLINED

Lit Soc Records

Patrick Smith, saxophones; Dan Pitt, guitar; Lowell Whitty, drums

The Patrick Smith trio is a part of Toronto, Canada’s young jazz and improvised music circle.  They became quite well-known playing at a local, popular bookstore.  The owner, Peter Sellers, decided he would host a musical performance space in his shop to attract people, while providing an opportunity for independent musicians to perform and be heard. Five hundred shows later, the Little Italy shop in Toronto has become one of the most beloved performance spaces in town.

Patrick Smith has become know for his exploratory saxophone performances in a number of genres.  That is very clear on this album that begins with a piece he calls “Hazel.” It’s warm and melodic.  I love the tone of his saxophone and the appealing melody of his original composition.

Suddenly, the tide turns and Dan Pitt smashes onto the scene with his electric guitar, all fuzzy and brutal against space.  I am unexpectedly transported to a rock show.  It’s only for an uncomfortable 1:17 minutes, but it’s an interlude that clearly breaks the peace of the moment and creates a totally different musical presentation. The intro is called “Banff (intro)” which is also the title of the following tune. It carries on the concept of free jazz mixed with a rock arrangement.

The following tune “Poseidon Rising” settles the music down a bit.  The guitar plucks at the upper register, sometimes sounding like a vibraphone. The music becomes very ethereal, like an outer-space motion picture track.

Another tune marked “I’ve Found A New Nemeses (intro)” features Lowell Whitty on drums for fifty-five seconds. Then, the band joins him to explore that tune in greater depth.  Smith’s saxophone offers an inspired solo, followed by Dan Pitt’s improvised solo song on guitar. This composition by Smith is back to straight-ahead jazz with a nod to bebop and the early music of Ornette Coleman.

On “As Years Go Bye” a pretty ballad unfolds like the petals of a rose opening to the sun’s morning kiss.  This is a gentle song, with Smith’s saxophone unwinding the melody across my listening room, a yellow ball of yarn rolling notes slowly across the wooden floor space. I appreciate the technique and creativity of Smith on his axe. Patrick has a peacefulness wrapped in his saxophone tones. Dan Pitt, a Toronto-based guitarist, appropriately accompanies the woodwind master. Pitt holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from the University of Toronto.

Lowell Whitty has been an active musician on the Canadian music scene for two decades. The drummer is a band leader, as well as a founding member of the Heavyweights Brass Band and enjoys performing as part of orchestras for stage and theater companies from Toronto to New York City. This is a trio of master musicians who create their own time and space, letting their musical conversation speak for itself.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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