feature photo: Sheldon Omar Abba
A long-time first-call drummer in NYC’s downtown scene, Ches Smith’s reputation as a composer and bandleader is fast catching up to his reputation as a fearless, versatile percussionist. Laugh Ash was going to be a tough act to follow as it was one of the very best progressive jazz releases of 2024. Smith met the challenge by replacing his entire ten-piece band with a two-guitar quartet while retaining his adventurous, forward-minded character.
Clone Row — out on June 6 2025 from Otherly Love Records — introduces on record the Ches Smith Quartet first formed in 2019. These members are familiar names to anyone who keeps tab on the current crop uniquely creative musicians…true peers of Smith. Mary Halvorson and Liberty Ellman form the double-guitar unit, and Nick Dunston locks things down on bass. “This definitely ain’t your father’s guitar band,” deadpanned Smith’s Ceramic Dog boss and boss guitarist Marc Ribot in the liner notes he colorfully wrote for the album. Smith doesn’t just take care of percussion of all sorts, he’s once again injecting weird, wooly electro sounds into the mix, but in such a way that enhances the ingenuity. Dunston along with Smith add samples to increase the fun and intrigue even further.
It’s not just the setup that informs this music: he’s a thirsty student of percussive techniques from all over the world (his deep dive into the Haitian Vodou drumming has heavily informed his compositional approach on a couple of his albums). You’ll hear exotic rhythms all over this album, and it’s how Smith stands apart as the drummer-leader, not by soloing. He goes further than just introducing alien meters, he’s figured how to purposefully fit them into the whole presentation.
Smith has his guitarists play in the most unconventional manners, so it’s good he chose such naturally unconventional musicians as Halvorson and Ellman. They frolic, buzz and deliberate all over “Abrade With Me,” going in and out of unison and obliterating the lines between lead and comping. Smith’s irregular beats set the table as Dunston establishes the harmony underneath. “Ready Beat” beautifully blends not only rhythm and melody but also the past and future of jazz. Ellman and Halvorson play in a modern jazz state of mind to begin with, reaching a heavy metal mindset by the end of the song.
“Clone Row” is the clearest example where Smith is using the ‘tone row’ twelve-tone compositional technique popularized by Arnold Schoenberg but Smith is clearly adding his own disruptive twists to the plot.
Smith sets up knotted note progressions tightly bound to his rhythms for “Town Down” and then right after the guitars put a bold font on them by turning up the distortion, he unexpectedly joins them on xylophone to put a bow on it. Smith heads to the vibes to unify with Halvorson a while on “Heart Breakthrough” while electronics handle the pulse. It gets even better when Ellman and Halvorson toss phrases back and forth.
“Sustained Nightmare” breaks down into a free-for-all, even the bent circuitry gets in on the total improv action. The free show continues into “Play Bell (for Nick),” which ends with a particularly funky 5/4 groove.
In imposing his large ambitions on the smaller scale of a quartet, Ches Smith made music that’s still grand in scope. All it took were the right partners and some resourcefulness to pull off that magic act. Pre-order/order Clone Row from Bandcamp.
*** Ches Smith CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
- Ches Smith Quartet – ‘Clone Row’ (2025) - May 30, 2025
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet – ‘Abstraction Is Deliverance’ (2025) - May 27, 2025
- Soft Machine – ‘Drop’ (1971, 2025 remaster) - May 21, 2025
