Ches Smith

Ches Smith
Background information
Born
Gordon McChesney Smith

San Diego, California, United States
OriginSacramento, California, United States
Genres
OccupationMusician
Instruments
  • Drums
  • percussion
Websitechessmith.com

Ches Smith is an American musician, whose primary instruments are drums and percussion.

He recorded and performed an album of his own solo percussion pieces entitled Congs for Brums (2006). In 2010 he released Noise to Men.

Biography

Smith was born in San Diego, California, and raised in Sacramento. After studying philosophy at the University of Oregon, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995. He studied composition, improvisation and percussion with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, William Winant and Alvin Curran. In 1999, he toured with Mr. Bungle.

Discography

Ches Smith.

As leader/co-leader

  • 2006 – Congs for Brums (Free Porcupine Society)
  • 2010 – Noise to Men (Self Released) & Congs for Brums
  • 2010 – Finally Out of My Hands (Skirl) & These Arches
  • 2012 – Psycho Predictions (Figure Eight Records) & Congs for Brums
  • 2013 – Hammered (Clean Feed) & These Arches
  • 2014 – International Hoohah (ForTune) & These Arches
  • 2016 – The Bell (ECM) Trio w Craig Taborn, Mat Maneri
  • 2018 – A Complete and Tonal Disaster (Self Released) & Congs for Brums
  • 2021 – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic) & We All Break
  • 2022 – Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)
  • 2024 – Laugh Ash (Pyroclastic)
  • 2025 – Clone Row (Otherly Love Records)

As sideman

with Tim Berne
with Trevor Dunn's trio-convulsant
with Mary Halvorson
  • 2008 - Dragon's Head
  • 2010 - Saturn Sings
  • 2012 - Bending Bridges
  • 2013 - Illusionary Sea
  • 2013 - Ghost Loop
  • 2016 - Away With You
with Moe! Staiano
  • 2001 – The Lateness of Yearly Presentations
with Moe! Staiano's Moe!kestra!
  • 2006 – An Inescapable Siren Within Earshot Distance Therein and Other Whereabouts
  • 2007 – Two Rooms of Uranium Inside 83 Markers
with Graham Connah
  • 2001 – The Only Song We Know
with Good For Cows
  • 2001 – Good for Cows
  • 2003 – Cows Less Than or Equal To
  • 2004 – Bebop Fantasy
  • 2008 – 10th Concert Anniversary
  • 2010 – Audumla
with Theory Of Ruin
  • 2002 – Counter–Culture Nosebleed
  • 2003 – Frontline Posterchild
with Mitch Marcus Quintet
  • 2002 – Entropious
with Lou Harrison
  • 2003 – Drums Along the Pacific
with John Zorn
  • 2003 – Voices in the Wilderness (Tzadik)
  • 2016 – The Painted Bird (Tzadik)
  • 2018 – The Urmuz Epigrams (Tzadik)
  • 2018 – In a Convex Mirror (Tzadik)
  • 2020 – Les Maudits (Tzadik)
  • 2021 – Heaven and Earth Magick (Tzadik)
  • 2022 – Incerto (Tzadik)
  • 2022 – Suite For Piano (Tzadik)
with Xiu Xiu
with David Torn
  • 2019 – Sun Of Goldfinger (ECM)
  • 2020 – Sun Of Goldfinger (Congratulations to You) (Screwgun)
  • 2022 - Ozmir (Screwgun)
with Secret Chiefs 3
with Aaron Novik
  • 2004 – Gubbish: Notations in Tonations
  • 2006 – Kipple: Flashes of Irrational Happiness
with Redressers
  • 2004 – To Each According...
with Carla Bozulich/Evangelista
  • 2009 – Prince of Truth
  • 2011 – In Animal Tongue
  • 2014 – I'm Gonna Stop Killing
with Will Bernard Trio
  • 2005 – Directions to My House
with Fever Pitch
  • 2005 – Just Drums 2 Project
with Sean Hayes
  • 2006 – Big Black Hole and the Little Baby Star
with Todd Sickafoose
  • 2006 – Blood Orange
with Ben Goldberg Quintet
  • 2006 – The Door, the Hat, the Chair, the Fact
with 7 Year Rabbit Cycle
  • 2006 – Ache Horns
with Fred Frith, Darren Johnston, Devin Hoff and Larry Ochs
  • 2007 – Reason to Move
with Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog
with Leonid Fedorov, Vladimir Volkov, John Medeski, Marc Ribot
with Dave Holland
with Moonface
  • 2018 – This One's for the Dancer & This One's for the Dancer's Bouquet
with Craig Taborn and Mette Rasmussen [no]
  • 2024 – Weird of Mouth (Otherly Love)
with Craig Taborn
  • 2026 - Dream Archives (ECM)


References

  1. ↑ Wetzel, Florence (November 18, 2006). "CD/LP Review: Congs for Brums". All About Jazz. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Congs For Brums Noise to Men". Chessmith.com. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "Ches Smith bio". Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  4. ↑ "A series of interviews about Mr. Bungle's 'California' PART 2". faithnomorefollowers. July 18, 2019. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ Morton, Brian (December 2024). "Mette Rasmussen / Craig Taborn / Ches Smith: Weird of Mouth". DownBeat. Vol. 91, no. 12. p. 64.
  6. ↑ "Weird of Mouth". bandcamp.com. Retrieved November 30, 2024.