Name: Wilson Tanner Smith
Nationality: American/Finnish
Occupation: Composer, improviser, performer, cellist
Current release: Wilson Tanner Smith's new album Perpetual Guest is out via Sawyer Editions.

If you enjoyed this Wilson Tanner Smith interview and would like to stay up to date with his music and upcoming live dates, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram.

For a deeper dive, read our earlier Wilson Tanner Smith interview.



Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

When I came across Alice Coltrane/Turiya’s Turiya Sings last year it really blew my mind – so rich and full, the electric organ sound is incredible.



Whenever something by Alabaster Deplume has come on, I’ve been a bit arrested.



[Read our Alabaster Deplume interview]

U. Srinivas, an Indian mandolin player who has a delightful album cover from when he looks maybe 12 years old – I love that mandolin sound!



I’ve played casually myself for many years, but that sound really captivates me …

Other nice ones, in the no order as they have come to mind:

“New Silent Days” (for instance) off of 2 Years / 2 Years in Silence by Kazufumi Kodama & Undefined – this spacey undefined spring reverb dub space.



Lia Kohl’s Too Small to be a Plain – I don’t know how anybody could not find her music gorgeous.



[Read our Lia Kohl interview]

I’m starting to have a hard time differentiating between the quality of the sound and the recording techniques vs. the “music itself” (and those categories are faulty for a lot of things).

Emerson Kitamura, Frankie Reyes, Asa-Chang & Junray

This Venezuelan organist, Tulio Enrique León’s Dentro del Ritmo always makes me happy; a lot by Polibio Mayorga in a similar vein.



Millie Jackson “I’m Through Trying to Prove my Love to You” – such nice space!

Graham Haynes’ “Griot’s Footsteps” and Eddie Harris’ “I don’t want nobody” had me really hooked for a year or two, both are so wonderfully paced, things landing at just the right moment in just the right way …



Super coloristic stuff like Tomita’s Debussy arrangements …



Albert Ayler’s massive joyful chorales and energy, ...



... Jerron Paxton and his sense of character—and gosh the sound of the fretless banjo …

I’m getting a bit carried away listening and writing and thinking of more names … Thanks for the little re-listening journey.