The first release from new jazz label Lit Soc showcases Toronto saxophonist Patrick Smith.
~ Courtesy Riparian Media
 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. This fact, coupled with their policy of giving 100% of proceeds to the artist means their calendar books up months in advance, attracting artists from across the country and abroad. The store has hosted the likes of cellist Peggy Lee, Lori Freedman, Lina Allemano, John Oswald, Rob Clutton, Nick Fraser, Grammy-nominated bassist Stephan Crump, Canadian jazz legend Don Thompson, acclaimed French bassist Théo Girard, and Kepler Trio.
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.
Given Smith’s literacy in different musical forms, this comes as no surprise. He has worked alongside local experimental jazz and improv mainstays like Mark Hundevad, Mike Gennaro, and Andrew Furlong in the Archives of Eternity, yet he also leads fusion outft Pangaea, an energetic band featuring Jon Catanus (Erez Zobary, Diskarte), on drums and Kae Murphy (collaborator to BADBADNOTGOOD), Darryl Joseph-Denie (Ahi, Listening Room) that orbits the intersection where Coltrane, the current wave of UK Jazz, and Neo-Soul meet. There’s also 3-Oh, his “chordless” foray where he’s flanked by Toronto bassist Chris Banks and Whitty on drums. Together, they reimagine a repertoire that includes everyone from Pharoah Sanders to Billie Eilish, while also playing original tunes. Smith has also been heard alongside Order of Canada Recipient Dave Young, Juini Booth (bassist for McCoy Tyner and Tony Williams), Yemen Blues, Heavyweights Brass Band, Eighth Street Orchestra, and as a member of the Dan Pitt Quintet.
Words Underlined is in many ways an exceptionally varied affair. Where a cut like “I’ve Found A New Nemesis” shows a deep fondness for the vigour of bebop and early Ornette Coleman—the three of them engage in joyous, swinging banter, at the end of the fnal track “Grass In Summer” Smith’s playing recalls Arve Henriksen’s gorgeous whispery delivery, but translated from trumpet to saxophone. Pitt even provides sumptuous processed guitar pads with Whitty fluttering dreamily.
Yet this impression of eclecticism is superseded by the through-lines that permeate the disc. The connections between Smith and company’s ostensible assortment of guises are generously illuminated over its course.