Ches Smith and These Arches - Hammered (2013)

It’s possible that drummer Ches Smith’s name doesn’t trigger immediate recognition, but almost anyone following the outer edges of “jazz” (and particularly its intersections with tweaked, avant rock) has probably heard him play in Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, and combos led by Tim Berne, Darius Jones, or Mary Halvorson. A player who knows how to exude power and momentum without resorting to showy technique or bombast, Smith’s got knack for spare grooves and ace details. These Arches assembles some of his most clutch collaborators (Halvorson, Berne, tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby, and the resourceful Andrea Parkins on accordion and electronics) to play what Smith calls “rock reject tunes.”