by Tom Benton

When saxophonist Carl Smith takes to the bandstand he not so much plays as he channels, summoning intense, sometimes blistering torrents of sound that, on a good night, threaten to blow the listener out of his chair. The 25-year-old Smith, a Houston native who came to the saxophone late age 17 and spent his formative musical years with Austin's seminal East Babylon Symphony, has been leading his own projects under the name ECFA (Emanation Creation Formation Action) for several years now, playing his inspired music anywhere in the city that he can.

Though he admits he wouldn't be playing if it weren't for jazz, citing influences such as Marion Brown, Giuseppi Logan, and Charles Gayle, Smith, explains that, "I like to think of it as creative improvised music, mostly. It definitely comes out of that free jazz, avant-garde, black music tradition." Just as '60s iconoclast Archie Shepp created music that was an angry response to the social injustices he saw around him, Smith explains that: "I relate to this music because a lot of it comes from the American experience. The way people treat each other, so often it's racist or negative or ignorant. I relate to the bad stuff a lot. The music is a reflection and a reply, a way of dealing with and expressing it."

Smith has encountered numerous obstacles presenting his music in Austin, from trouble pulling in crowds, to club managers who simply don't like the music. He cites performing in front of people as an integral part of his creative cycle, but admits his options are running thin. "Even in New York there's lofts, there's all kinds of spaces. There's nothing like that here, nowhere to play but venues. I mean, I couldn't do shows here," he says, motioning to his East Austin duplex. "There's nowhere to do shows unless I'm paying to rent a space."

But even after a summer sojourn in New York City, where opportunities to play were more plentiful, he plans to stick around. "Fewer people are into the music, but it's important for me to be here because I like being here. I've made a decision to stay here even though it's harder. If I'd had a better time growing up, I might be able to deal with New York, but I'd rather have a stable environment now since I didn't have one before."

Smith's recently released self-produced CD, culled from volumes of live recordings, includes many regular collaborators such as drummer Matt Armistead and violist James Alexander as well as the German maestro of modern improvised bass, Peter Kowald, who performed with ECFA during a stopover in Austin on a cross-country road trip. It's a rough but engaging document of Smith's determined musical vision, and available at fine independent record stores all around Austin. But the music, nevertheless, deserves to be heard live, where its power and conviction are nothing short of tangible; Smith will keep playing, let's only hope that it is somewhere that we'll be able to hear it.

Carl appears at Room 710 on Saturday, March 24th. Keep up with him on the web at europeanechoes.homestead.com.