Smith, Chas
Smith, Chas
Smith, Chas , American composer and performer; b. West Brookfield, Mass., March 15, 1948. He began playing piano at the age of 8. He played guitar in rock bands (1964–69), and attended N.Y.’s Utica Coll. (1967) and studied jazz composition and arranging at the Berklee School of Music in Boston (1969–70). He studied composition with Powell, Subotnick, Budd, Brown, and Tenney at the Calif. Inst. of the Arts in Valencia (B.F.A., 1975; M.F.A., 1977), where he performed with Michael Le Donne-Bhennet, Michael Jon Fink, and William Hawley at galleries and performance spaces under such ensembles as Ronin, C33, 100 Miles of Sheep Jokes, and Stilllife (1975–80). The Chas Smith Ensemble, formed in 1985, made appearances in various Los Angeles venues. His recordings include Stilllife (1981), Santa Fe (1982), and Nakadai (1987); also played on records by Harold Budd, Jim Fox, and Carole Caroompas and appeared in several rock videos that feature his extensive tattoos, of which he is justly proud; also performed in a number of film soundtracks, including The Lost Boys and Less than Zero. Smith performs chiefly on the pedal steel guitar, but also plays other stringed instruments, keyboards, and electronics; his music consists of austere meditations on very slowly evolving chords in the Lydian mode. He is a certified welder.
Works
Ontolosis for Electronics (1974); Triactus for Electronics (1975); Mirage for Voices, Bells, and Mallet Instruments (1977); Santa Fe, October 68, and After, all for Pedal Steel Guitar (1979–82); Scicura for 2 Pianos, 3 Vibraphones, Marimba, and Wind Instruments (1975; also arranged for Dobro and Pedal Steel Guitar, 1982); Beatrix for Pedal Steel Guitar (1983); James Tenney for Pedal Steel Guitar (1984); Nakadai for Multitrack Pedal Steel Guitar (1985); A ]udas Within: Seduction and Betrayal for Vibraphone, Marimba, Hammer Dulcimer, Pedal Steel Guitar, Microtonal Chimes, Bowed Rods, and Small Metal Objects (1985–86); Hollister for Pedal Steel Guitar (1986).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire