Ars acustica inspired by lines from John O'Donohue's Anam Cara.

The duration is 4'33" in a nod to John Cage's famous piece exploring silence, and there are a three "movements" (visible, I see, in the waveform above!)

Four Thirty-Three with Aoife [BBC Radio 4, 2021-05-18]

This place is a hand-me-down wetsuit,
Squeezing you into the person you were:
One of the cousins in the car parked up
At the end of the lane where the land ends.

Selves return, the tide of the years is out,
The sound of the saint’s bell, muffled and clear,
Cannot be carried off to some museum:
You will always reach Inishkeel Island.

Summers at once, hard to tell apart,
The strung-together spoils of another
Afternoon on all fours, fishing for crabs,
Time’s uncoiled wire hanger in your hand

(You prod the poor creatures, until their last
Play is to cling to what pains them, as our
Belonging is intensification 
Of the longing to hold on to a stretch of sand,

Or sweep of hills, or the feel underfoot
Of a day in the life of the heather
Surrounding the fort at Loughadoon,
Where a boat and its post joke like old friends.)

Received, passed on, this was your father’s gift,
The chance to know you might be found somewhere,
Here, amongst the nights running from kids’ pub
To adults’ pub, along the shore that winds


Through Rossbeg and Portnoo, inside the knit
Weave of a jumper it takes a whole hour 
To buy from Hugh, once talk of relations
And a tangle of yarns have been exchanged.

This new pilgrimage moves with the rust
Of mountains in autumn, and marsh and river
Bathed in yellow light straight from the taps
Of a cottage lost to childhood’s bogland;

And it comes as the disappearing act
Of rainbows over the beach at Tramore,
And as regulars at Nancy’s sensing the room
Truer for their having left and returned;

And it arrives, across an alphabet 
Of dunes, as the voice of our daughter,
Strapped to my chest, she a mad accordion
Who bellows in the language of the wind,

One who is still entering the world, and yet
to know that we don’t really ever 
find the words (ours are the odd consonant
of kelp, and vowels pooled like ink on the strand); 

But you - who were her water and her craft,
Prepared to break that night, breathing in for four
And out for eight - offer now these waves at Narin
Which seem to say what you both understand.

Donegal Revisited [BBC Radio 4, 2022-03-29]

Words adapted from Chapter 80 of the Tao Te Ching, sung into the room of The Hand In Hand, Brighton, at dusk on the 25th of August 2022, with Ozzy Moysey playing the double bass and myself at the piano. Thank you to Jen for the communion that is the annual Staggering In The Dark night.

Song from the Tao Te Ching (live at The Hand in Hand, Brighton)

"The Everyday weaves its way among these vast and frightening events. But I do think that much of life is like that: a person having a normal day bumps into someone who is having the worst day of their life; someone singing a beautiful elegiac folksong is in the same tunnel as somebody who is on their mobile phone. And for me, the way to keep going, and even to try and be useful, is to manage and focus on The Everyday enough so that you don't get so overwhelmed that it stops you altogether: staying present in the place that we are, nurturing the world around you, and seeing what you can make grow." ~ Josie Long

Made for "Short Cuts - Memento Mori"
Thank you to @fallingtreeproductions

Bower (BBC Radio 4, 2022-09-20)

I forgot to mention that, among the other beautiful and kind things that Fabi and Slavi did was that, when Malena bar closed they gave me the piano on loan which was a beautiful presence in my kitchen until I left Berlin.

Jazz Dis-junction - Leaving A Bar That's Closing [NTS Radio, 2022-12-11]

Summer was in its prime, and I had tape I'd been sitting on for two years. . . 

"Our fear of dying came into the world before we did. It was conjured every time those we descend from ran . . . "

An hour built around the words of Stephen Jenkinson (@orphan-wisdom) with folksongs sung by @marlais.

<<< MUSIC >>>

Marlais - Craigie Hills
Carmen Villain - A Year Ago
Hermeto Pascoal - Velório (Mourning)
String Orchestra of Brooklyn & Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti - with eyes the color of time: enfolding
Eliza Niemi - Walking Feels Slow
Max Loderbauer - im Wald
Siavash Amini & Eugene Thacker - A Shape Forlorn (For Zhu Shuzhen)
Marlais - You Rambling Boys of Pleasure
Ellen Arkbro & Johan Graden - Close
John Hurn, Marc Muir & Penny Howe - Safehouse Wildcard Sessions (Part 6): P18 Q19 R21
Karen Dalton - Katie Cruel
Stephen Jenkinson & Gregory Hoskins - Fate
Nina Simone - Stars / Feelings (Live)
The Magic Lantern - How Simple

NTS: Phil's Jazz Dis-junction [2022]

Jazz Dis-junction - What Endings Are (feat. Stephen Jenkinson) [NTS Radio, 2022-08-29]

A show made in Brighton in winter/spring 2021, when there were things called "restrictions" and "lockdowns". With the music and voices of @juliesassoon (in Berlin) & @denizcuylan (in Los Angeles).

<<< MUSIC >>>

Deniz Cuylan - Object Of Desire
Joe McPhee - Mic Feedback One
Deniz Cuylan - Flaneurs In Hakone
Julie Sassoon - Murmuration
Deniz Cuylan - Clearing
Joe McPhee - Mic Feedback Two
Marni Nixon & Leonard Stein - Anton Webern: Fünf Lieder, Op. 4 No. 4, “So ich traurig bin”
Deniz Cuylan - Purple Plains Of Utopia
Julie Sassoon - At The Water Tower
Mitsuko Shirai & Hartmut Holl - Anton Webern: Fünf Lieder, Op. 4 No. 4, “So ich traurig bin”
Deniz Cuylan - She Was Always Here

NTS: Phil's Jazz Dis-junction [2021]

Jazz Dis-junction - Solos Together (w/ Deniz Cuylan & Julie Sassoon) [NTS Radio, 2021-05-02]

"Everything goes in and down and sinks and sediments..."

A three-way conversation on creativity, practice, spirit and rivers, with @lucyrailton (in Berlin), @sophiefetokaki (on Thasos) and myself in Brighton. 

"On the surface, improvisation appears to be a form of spontaneous creativity, but all improvisers know that it's a long process of exploration, repletion and discovery..."

<<< MUSIC >>>

Sophie Fetokaki - Am I born to die?
Lucy Railton & Kit Downes - Folding In
Lucy Railton & Kit Downes - Lazuli
Lucy Railton - 5 S-Bahn Part 4
Sophie Fetokaki - The Resurrection
Lucy Railton & Kit Downes - Of Becoming and Dying
Gaelic Psalm Singers - Kilmarnock, Psalm 16: 8-9 (Live)
Lucy Railton - Lament (Part 1)
Αντώνης Κυρίτσης & Πέτρος Λούκας Χαλκιάς Σήκω, Μαριόλα 'μ, απ' τη γή
Lucy Railton - 5 S-Bahn Part 5
Sophie Fetokaki - Bist du bei mir
Lucy Railton & Kit Downes - Down To The Plains
Sophie Fetokaki - Am I born to die?

Jazz Dis-junction - Wending (w/ Sophie Fetokaki & Lucy Railton) [NTS, 2021-08-22]

A chat about life, love, music and poems with singer-songwriter, composer, actress and playwright @anoushkalucas, recorded during the UK winter "lockdown" of 2020.

<<< PLAYLIST >>>

Ville Herrala - Pu: 5
Anoushka Lucas - Morning
Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest - Make Me Lovely
Frank O’Hara - Having A Coke With You
Anoushka Lucas - Falling
Anoushka Lucas - Brixton Hill (live)
Anoushka Lucas - Northern Line (live)
Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debby (Take 2)
Gwendolyn Brooks - Kitchenette Building
PJ Morton - Go Thru Your Phone (live)
Cannonball Adderley - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Anoushka Lucas - Heavy And True
Anoushka Lucas - This Could Be Good

Jazz Dis-junction - The Space Between People w/ Anoushka Lucas [NTS, 2021-02-07]

After a Road to Damascus moment watching Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit, I realised that the answer to most things is simply to sing - and to enjoy the singing of others. This month's NTS mix celebrates the sound of the voice in protest and praise, at work and at play.

///

The St Francis Choir (feat. Lauryn Hill & Ryan Toby) - Joyful, Joyful
The Ace of Cups - Music
Deben Bhattacharya - Sowing Song By Women (Deoki Rai / Asha Rai / Chandra Chhetri / Krishnakumari Chhetri)
Tikar Woman - Grinding Song
The +2’s - Ya Ya Ya
Gilberto Gil - João Sabino
Edu Lobo - Oremus
Nina Simone - Come Ye
The Byrd Ensemble & Markdavin Obenza - Berlin Mass, Credo (Arvo Pärt)
Keith Tippett's Centipede - Septober Energy: Part 1
Abbey Lincoln - Caged Bird
Hugh Masekela - Ingoo Pow-Pow (Children's Song)
Carmen McRae - Music

///

Jazz Dis-junction - The Singing Will Never Be Done [NTS Radio, 2015-01-14]

The Hand in Hand pub is Kemptown, Brighton is the setting for an evening of shared grief and collective remembrance that happens every year in August. Landlady Jennifer Left and her partner Clark started the night in memory of two dear friends who passed away suddenly in the space of a few weeks; and over the years since, Staggering in the Dark has become a well-loved feature in the community’s calendar and consciousness. Poets, pianists, comedians and singers crowd into the tiny space to offer performances in honour of the dearly departed.

This mosaic for radio combines the companionship of barroom scenes with forays into the reflective inner worlds of those present on the night, in a sonic exploration of what it is to grieve, collectively and in private.

Produced by Phil Smith
With original music and arrangements by Phil Smith and Joel Whitaker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

The programme won in the Radio/Audio category at the 2025 Sanford St Martin Awards.

Featured performances: 

This Window by Elena Stevanoska
Torch Song by Mark Campbell
Not Dead by Daisy Asquith
The Dangers Of Making Love To A Girl With A Broken Heart And A Bucket Fanny by Felix Orlo
Call When You Get Home by M. Butterfly
Half-Finished Sudokus by Bramble Wallace
My Love by Mark Campbell
Empty Chairs by Joe Bunn
Alleluia by Angus Rogers 
Sister by Elena Stevanoska

Staggering In The Dark [BBC Radio 3, 2024-02-18)

Phil Smith - Die Überzeugungskraft der Luft
The Dixie Nightingales - All I Need Is Some Sunshine In My Life
Alvin Lucier & Zeitkratzer - Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings
Joyce - Pelo Telefone
Ama-Bũruxa Daweb Cultural Group Namibia - Kaisets !nũse hâ
John Cage & Sun Ra - Side B [Extract]
Shai Maestro Trio - Elusive
Eden MacAdam-Somer - Rumi Songs - Transformed
Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (Live at Montreux, 1976)
Cheek - Venus (Sunshine People) [DJ Gregory Remix]
Joseph Russell - Drums from Lagos
Jazz Dis-junction - Keller Bounce
Byron Morris - Sunshower
John Coltrane - After The Rain
Neil Young - Since I Met You Baby

Jazz Dis-junction - After The Rain [NTS Radio, 2015-07-05]

The Slovenian language has a 'dual form', used by (or to refer to) two people alone together: 'we two are speaking.' 

Here's the full Short Cuts episode: https://soundcloud.com/fallingtreeproductions/s7-short-cuts-the-conversation-46

With The Caterpillar [BBC Radio 4, 2015-04-28]

"I could swim for the fun of it, or I could swim to get from here to there. I could swim to save or to survive. But I'm floating in the water, my face is in the water, still an otter in a stripy shirt." Well, you try presenting links with your mouth full of water.

Full episode of Short Cuts here:
https://soundcloud.com/fallingtreeproductions/s8-short-cuts-wild-water-66

Pool Party [BBC Radio 4, 2015-11-17]

In the spring
eyes open like piano lids.
Windows open.
Here is where the piano is:

entering the world
and being at home
​at the same time.

Hearts open like distances,
windows like to be open,
in the spring,
when the piano is.

///

THANKS TO:
@matthew-bourne for the words and the music
@marcschmolling for the words and the music
& Natascha Frioud - http://www.k-fehin.net/ - for where we are living.

NEWSLETTER:
http://tinyletter.com/jazz-dis-junction/letters/jazz-dis-junction-8-home-is-where-the-piano-is-on-music-overheard

PLAYLIST:
Marc Schmolling - Haiku
Danielle Darrieux - There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie
Matthew Bourne - Nils
Matthew Bourne - Daniziel
Marc Schmolling - Untitled [kitchen Improvisation]
Thelonious Monk - There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie (Take 1)
Marc Schmolling - Odpoldeni pyžamo (Afternoon pyjamas)
Matthew Bourne - Montauk Variations V. Étude psychotique (For John Zorn)
Matthew Bourne - Isotach
Pietro Fornara - Untitled [improvisation on a letter from the neighbours for voice and prepared piano]
Phil Smith - Die Fischwalz (for Natascha)
[Fernarndo Pessoa - Passerby]
Marc Schmolling - Season's Prelude
Blossom Dearie - A Fine Spring Morning
Marc Schmolling - Bells
[E. E. Cummings - Somewhere I Have Never Travelled]
Matthew Bourne - Somewhere I Have Never Travelled (For Coral Evans)
Phil Smith - Prelude for the Hinterhof
Willie 'The Lion' Smith - Music On My Mind

Jazz Dis-junction - Home Is Where The Piano Is (On Music Overheard) [NTS Radio, 2016-04-24]

Bren from @customs_ldn drives us down disco jazz jazz disco roads less travelled!

Keith Jarrett - Vision
Lonnie Smith - It's Changed
Johnny Hammond - A Child's Love (Slow)
Gene Lawrence - Feel Like Making Love
George Benson - What's On Your Mind
Donald Byrd - (Falling Like) Dominoes
Herbie Hancock - Stars In Your Eyes
Quincy Jones Ft Patti Austen - Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me
Eumir Deodato - Space Dust, Sherlock 
Twennynine With Lenny White - Fancy Dancer
Rodney Franklin - Stay On In The Groove
Players Association - Turn The Music Up
Herbie Mann - Hijack
Ray Barretto - Can You Feel It (Let It Groove You)
Charles Earland - Let The Music Play
Side Effect - Always There
Dorsey Brockington - Stormy Weather

Jazz Dis-junction - Discojazzjazzdisco w/ Customs [NTS Radio, 2016-06-19]

We enter a figdom with The Fig Man of New Mexico...

Listen to the whole episode here:
https://soundcloud.com/fallingtreeproductions/s9-short-cuts-field-guides-66

Of Figs And Men [BBC Radio 4, 2016-07-26]

" ... we sit in a glad circle,
each unaware of our own
nose but alert to the others,
making the most of it, for
how soon we must re-enter,
when lenient days are done,
the world of the work and money
and minding our p’s and q’s ... "

||| TRACKLIST |||

Coleman Hawkins - Lost In A Fog
Gigi Gryce -(You'll Always Be) The One I Love
Martha Tilton - That's My Desire
Elisabeth Welch - When Lights Are Low
Carmen McRae - Give Me The Simple Life
Lee Wiley - Soft Lights And Sweet Music
Ólafur Arnalds & Alice Sara Ott - Letters Of A Traveller
Will Holshouer Trio - Singing To A Bee
The Family Trio (Nick Drake) - Kegelstatt Trio for Clarinet, Viola And Piano
Isabel Lippitz - Gustav Mahler: "Bei Mir Bist Du Traut"
Charles Holland / Jacqueline Bonneau - Sister Mary Had-A But One Child (trad.)
Charles Rouse / Julius Watkins - When The Blues Comes On
Tom Waits - Fawn
Lucky Thompson / Kenny Clarke - Warm Inside
Whispering Jack Smith - The Best Things In Life Are Free
Ambrose & His Orchestra - Lost In A Fog (feat. Sam Browne)
W.H. Auden - Thank You, Fog
Sun Ra - I Fall Asleep Counting My Blessings

NTS: Phil's Jazz Dis-junction [2017]

Jazz Dis-junction - Thank You, Fog [NTS Radio, 2017-02-03]

She bid me take life easy as the grass grows on the weirs.
"I enjoy seeing you", would be: "Ich freue mich, Sie zu sehen."
And humming birds do fly.

|||

Phil Smith - Outtake From 26
Moons - Exhausted Clock
Aretha Franklin - Pledging My Love / The Clock
Dastan Ensemble w/ Sharam Nazeri - Del Meeravad Ze Dastam (My Heart Is Slipping From My Grasp)
Ed Thigpen Rhythm Features - Cosmic Voyage
The Van der Grinten / Herman Quartet - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Pietro Tonolo - Ndaje Niaar
Zev Feldman / Andy Statman - Gypsy Hora & Sirba
Oumou Sangaré - Donso
Randy Crawford - Everything Must Change
Benjamin Britten / Peter Pears - Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 1, "British Isles": No. 1 The Salley Gardens

|||

Jazz Dis-junction - Everything Must Change [NTS Radio, 2017-03-26]

'"One might protest, “My dear Dr. Vonnegut, we can’t all be paediatricians.'"

Listen to the whole episode here:
https://soundcloud.com/fallingtreeproductions/s11-short-cuts-so-it-goes-66

Short Cuts

"We Are Here To Help Each Other Get Through This Thing, Whatever It Is" [BBC Radio 4, 2017-03-28]

"It is our sorrow. Shall it melt?"

A setting of W.H. Auden's Paysage Moralisé.

A Very Different Time [BBC Radio 4, 2017-05-16]

The sleeper train is a magic thing.
Here a bunk, there a bunk,
everywhere a folding table...

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|
|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|

Sounds from a trip to Ukraine...

/// TRACKLIST \\\

Phil Smith - Overnight Train, Odessa to Lviv (2017-06-26)
Zac Gvi - The Aftermath (reprise)
Phil Smith - Distant Train Station, Morning, Lviv (2017-06-24)
Mare Nostrum - Monteverdi: Si Dolce È Il Tormento (live bootleg)
Phil Smith - Thunder, Morning, Ivano Frankivsky (2017-06-23)
Phil Smith - Overnight Train, Snoring, Lviv to Odessa (2017-06-25)
Christina Pluhar / Philippe Jaroussky - Monteverdi: Si Dolce È Il Tormento
Phil Smith - Train, Lviv to Ivano Frankivsk (2017-06-21)
Troyka - Rest
Phil Smith - Train, Lviv to Ivano Frankivsk (2017-06-21)
José James - Bird of Space
Phil Smith - Rain on the Windscreen, Ivano Frankivsk To Lviv (2017-06-23)
Phil Smith - Brücke
Phil Smith - Train Station, Odessa (2017-06-26)
Naftule's Dream - Sitting in Some Train Watching the Tuscan Landscape Go Speeding Backward
Phil Smith - Overnight Train, Odessa to Lviv (2017-06-26)

Jazz Dis-junction - Sleeper Train [NTS Radio, 2017-07-16]

Love in a time of climate change,
Love under sponsored umbrellas,
Love in a time of Eisenstein films
uploaded to Youtube,
and that famous scene
of the baby's pram rolling down the steps,
to the waterfront in Odessa...

Towards [BBC Radio 4, 2017-08-22]

Leonard Bernstein's remarks are used by permission of The Leonard Bernstein Office, all rights reserved.

This piece was made for the 2017 HearSay International Audio Arts Festival: @hearsayaudiofestival.

Four Resolutions Of A Diminished Chord

\ \ \

It's water to me
(all under)

/ / / 

[thank you to Hannah and Chris
for making the moment]

\ \ \

Brücke

In dark times, a celebration of the joys in life, and Brecht's poem that described them.

The Pleasures Of Brecht [BBC Radio 4, 2019-07-08]

When school was closed due to an arachnid infestation, the Year 7 students decided to take action... They decided to put on a show...

A feature made with @fallingtreeproductions for Short Cuts on BBC Radio 4.

Spider! The Musical [BBC Radio 4, 2019-09-03]

"Leave means leave", whatever that means - an hour of words, sounds, songs and music that bathe in an atmosphere of departure...

. . . so leben wir, und nehmen immer Abschied . . .  . . . so we live, forever in farewell . . .

I feel so grateful to have had the privilege to live in the city of Berlin, from 2013 to 2017. “The ways of my [...] life have led me elsewhere," to borrow a phrase from Christopher Isherwood; I've been saying a long goodbye ever since.

- - - PLAYLIST - - -

Aretha Franklin - Are You Leaving Me? (demo)
Willie Mason - Fear No Pain
Jess Shane - Pretty Saro
Lou Reed - Berlin
Fennesz - Transit (feat. David Sylvian)
Maria Rita - Despedida
Anne Briggs - Blackwater Side
Mable John - Your Good Thing (Is About to End)
Marlais - Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies
Hildegard Knef - Für Mich Soll's Rote Rosen Regnen
Marlais - Pretty Saro
Brian Eno - Three Variations on the Canon in D Major, I. Fulness Of Wind

NTS: Phil's Jazz Dis-junction [2020]

Jazz Dis-junction - Abschiedslieder, Part I. Goodbyes To Europe [NTS Radio, 2020-01-26]

To hear the full album, please visit: https://philsmith.bandcamp.com/album/bl-te-ger-st

Brighton Soon (from Blüte Gerüst)

Lullaby (feat. Colin Dexter) [Third Coast Festival, 2013-10-19]

with thanks to In The Dark
www.inthedarkradio.org

Bolo [In The Dark, 2012-May]

"Maybe it takes a bottom to write like Beckett."

My sister once fell asleep sitting on her phone, which decided to explore new poetic forms and voices before sending them to her mate, Laura.

An "essay" (from the French for "to try / attempt") on accident & invention.

Thanks to @fallingtreeproductions for the opportunity.

REGARDS TOP UP YOUR OWN ARTWORK FOR. [BBC Radio 4, 2020-08-11]

On the overnight ferry from Liverpool to Belfast, I walked around with my recorder, and sat with my laptop editing together an NTS show. Join me on the night voyage . . .

>>> MUSIC >>>

Garreth Broke - Bartók: Allegro Moderato
Lee Wiley - A Ship Without a Sail
The Ink Spots - Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat
Der lange Schatten - Serenata Maledetta 
TALsounds - Else
Jherek Bischoff - The Seas Son
multa nox - i have not whispered everything i can bear
Trini Lopez - Michael Row The Boat Ashore
Joshua Redman & Brooklyn Rider - Through Mist
James Taylor - The Water Is Wide
Chris Abrahams - Shoreline
Sara Serpa - Unity And Struggle

>>> WORDS >>>

Leah Good reads Beds from Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard.
Speech by Esther Stanford-Xose (Parliament Square, 1st September 2020)
Charlie Gerstrom reads The Empty Boat by Chuang Tzu.
Phil Smith reads from The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hahn.
Phil Smith reads from Science and Poetry by Mary Midgley.
Phil Smith reads his poem Aubade.

Jazz Dis-junction - Ship As Metaphor [NTS Radio, 2020-09-06]

Lamentation, testimony and chant come together in a call to confront the spiritual questions of our time.

Contributors (in order of appearance):
Stephen Jenkinson
Kofi Mawuli Klu
Andreas Weber
Esther Stanford-Xosei
Anita Barrows

Voice of the chorus:
Niamh O’Brien.

Cello improvisations:
Lucy Railton

Additional words and music:
Phil Smith

Produced by Phil Smith.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3.

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