Album Notes

Afterthought --funny name for a CD, considering the work that goes into making one. Well, it is the name of one of the tunes and that's how it arrived. On further reflection, it seems most appropriate. After a longer-than-average musical life spent in the shadows of free-lancing, these tunes and any idea of doing something with them had become somewhat forgotten dreams --what I might have done; could have done --afterthoughts.

That said, this CD is not about Keith Smith. It is about the singular chemistry that happens when this trio performs. Smith's relationship with Robin Tufts has become a long one. Since their first gig in Calgary about 11years ago, Robin has been the one amongst quite a few very fine drummers with whom Smith is always precisely 'on the same page'. Tufts brings a playful and uninhibited sense of discovery to every performance and has Smith's proclivities well mapped. The result is a common language that shares nouns and verbs but can be full of grammatical surprises.

Simon Fisk brings a unique and youthful voice to the bass. His sense of interplay often over-rides the traditional role of bass-as-timekeeper . This allows him to take a far more melodic and syncopated approach -to be a more free and independent voice than traditional bassists have been. While Smith's relationship with Fisk is still young, they came to instant agreement on the first gig that the intention of a melodic line should sometimes outweigh the insistence of time. Whenever a tune begins it is an adventure as Fisk is almost guaranteed to present a new avenue; a new possibility they haven't explored before.

The tunes are mellow and introspective, for the most part. They are informed by the vast spaces in the landscape of the Rockies, just to the West, in a yearning to evoke that sense of majesty and quietude that envelopes one when standing for hours in the corner of a foothills field with a camera, whilst waiting for a cloud to lift and reveal the peaks of Mount Rae. Ah, John Rae. Someone worth reading about..