For those not in the know, since 2015 — four years after its opening — Toronto bookstore Sellers and Newell has become a destination for curious listeners. With numerous venues closing that year, owner Peter Sellers decided he would try hosting a single one-off concert to see what would happen. Almost 500 shows later, the Little Italy shop is now one of the city’s most beloved performance spaces, known for its intimate sonics and quiet, attentive audiences.

The store’s new imprint Lit Soc Records is an extension of this impulse. Over time, musicians had started asking to use the shop for video and audio recordings. For them it seemed the only logical thing to do was to create an independent record label.

Fitting that Lit Soc’s 001 catalogue number is assigned to a trio record by a musician that has become a central figure within Toronto’s young jazz and improvised music circles, Patrick Smith. Words Underlined features the saxophonist alongside guitarist Dan Pitt and drummer Lowell Whitty and was recorded live off the floor at Sellers and Newell. It interleaves original Smith-penned compositions with improvisations (both solo and collective), traversing various expressions of jazz.

1. Hazel [05:53]
2. Banff (Intro) [01:12]
3. Banff [04:25]
4. Poseidon Rising [03:20]
5. I’ve Found A New Nemesis (Intro) [00:56]
6. I’ve Found A New Nemesis [04:35]
7. As Years Go By (Intro) [01:51]
8. As Years Go By [04:07]
9. End of the Road [02:57]
10. Strength [04:26]
11. Grass In Summer [05:40]

Given Smith’s literacy in different musical forms, it is no surprise that his incredibly affecting new recording opens on the sumptuously smooth Hazel and then breaks into a sharp guitar break entitled Banff (Intro) which leads seamlessly into the frenetically charged Banff and the alluringly glistening Poseidon Rising.

Along next is the drum-fed intro to I’ve Found A New Nemesis before the main version is hip-swingingly brought forth, and they are in turn backed by the intro to As Years Go By, the impassioned full-length version, and then we get the symphonious As Years Go By, the almost ethereal in tone End of the Road, the set rounding out on the languishing beauty of Strength, coming to a close on the resplendent, sheer organic elegance of Grass In Summer.

Musicians:
Patrick Smith, sax
Dan Pitt, guitar
Lowell Whitty, drums

www.patricksmithmusic.com

Official Purchase Link