Some of the musicians who play regularly as part of Clint Smith's bands include: Erik Feder (drums), Evan Lytton (drums), John Romey (bass; www.myspace.com/johnromey), Matthew Coleman (www.myspace.com/ambienaos), Claude Bauschinger (bass, see my friends for his site I can't recall the extension!), Bill Buchen (tabla) and Seth Mehl (erhu)...www.nonalignedmovement.com.
Influences
John Coltrane, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Andrew Hill, John McLaughlin, various fusion, jazz, and ambient artists
Sounds Like
John McLaughlin, Santana, classical Arabic music, John Abercrombie
Clint Smith has been playing guitar for 20 years, ever since he picked up an old 3/4-size acoustic in his bedroom and started plucking the open strings (needless to say, the fact that the instrument had frets and the strings had to be pressed into them came a bit later to him)
Starting out exploring blues, heavy metal, and other sorts of music that he thought people would get into, and getting involved in the typical "fast guitar lick" duels with various other guitarists, Clint was eventually pushed towards jazz by his teacher, Eric Waters, a professor at George Washington University. His early 20s were spent attempting to master the theory behind the music and understand how all of the disparate rhythmic and harmonic elements of jazz came together to make a very abstract, yet also very vibrant and beautiful music.
It was at this time that he recorded his first record, "Obliteration of the Self", with Sarth Calhoun on bass and Erik Feder on drums (Feder continues to play with him today in various duo and larger band contexts). "Obliteration" mixed fusion, pop forms, and loud extended jams with some sensitive jazz that would prove to be the foundation for his second recording, "Resolve", with Jordan Young on drums and Marco Panascia on bass.
Smith is entering the studio for 2 different recording sessions in the months of June and July; a record with Newt, led by the jazz-meets-Coldplay-meets Nick Drake, moody stylings of Matthew Coleman on piano (with Chris Beal on drums and Claude Bauschinger on bass). They're up at my space at www.myspace.com/newtband. In the middle of July, Smith, Matt LaVon, Erik Feder, and John Romey are entering the studio to record Smith's original compositions. Some of the music from this record will be posted on the My Space site when it is finished, and it will be sold through CD Baby (thus available at the web sites of Tower, Amazon, etc).
Those interested in booking the band or contacting Clint can do so here or at clinton-smith@lycos.com.
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