A composer, improviser, visual artist and teacher, Smith plays viola and violin as well as vocalizes. She has worked with many leading figures in improvisation and new composition. Active in the international surrealist movement, she heads the record label TransMuseq and is a contributing editor to the journal, The Improvisor. She also composes and performs from interdisciplinary areas of discovery, especially dance and visual art.
This 1991 cassette release from Trans museq was recorded both in studio and in concert. It features bluesy extended electric guitar with viola and a variety of electronics and vocalizations.
Solo improvisations by LaDonna Smith which represent spontaneous consciousness in concert and the free and extreme boundaries of the instruments used: viola, violin and voice. Recording pulled from live concerts during 1991 and 1992 in Europe and America.
Features Annie Gosfield, sampling keyboards; LaDonna Smith, violin, viola, vocals; Davey Williams and Roger Kleier on guitars, in forty-six minutes of free improvisation recorded live on KPFK FM. This performance is a highlight from a quartet that takes you on a tonal ride through some very atonal atmospheres. Gosfield and Kleier provide transportation with ample groove capabilities, while the incidental flora and fauna from Smith and Williams complete the surreal scenery. "When it comes to good improvisational music, this tape hits dead center." The Improvisor
Davey Williams and LaDonna Smith in cuts from their 1992 duo concerts in St. Louis and Santa Fe. Features Smith on viola and Williams on electric guitar. "The tightest improvisation I've ever heard..." Rich O'Donnell, New Music Circle