SML
(Artist Booking and Management)
BANDCAMP / TIDAL / APPLE MUSIC / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE
Responsible Agent:
Chris Weller
chris@bigfishbookingco.com
Territories:
Worldwide (excluding Asia)
WEBSITE
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK
PROMO PHOTOS
download bio
LINEUP:
SML
Anna Butterss - electric bass; Jeremiah Chiu - synthesizers, live-sampling, aux percussion; Gregory Uhlmann - guitar, effects; Josh Johnson - saxophone, electronics; Booker Stardrum - drums, percussion.
TOUR:
2026 - Available upon request
2027 - Available upon request
NEW ALBUM:
SPONTANEOUS LIVE MUSIC - OUT JUNE 26TH ON INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM.
RECENT ALBUM:
HOW YOU BEEN - RELEASED NOVEMBER 2025 ON INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM.
“In three years, SML has become a dazzling studio jazz band that’s never actually been in a studio, using live recordings as the raw material for radical postproduction.”
NY Times
“SML rattles and clatters, following slap-dash, stutter-and-roll rhythms through rave-glowing forests of incandescent synths...grooves that move and provoke and challenge."
Aquarium Drunkard
“The musicians build into an ecstatic fervor and take things to the next level…SML have mastered their own musical language.”
AllMusic
“A headphone record of the highest order, the album plunges the listener into turbulent textures that grind the ego into a fine paste.”
Raven Sings The Blues
“Brings new meaning to the idea of a “collective.” Everything they do is in lockstep with each other, even when it sounds like every member is doing something impossibly different.”
Paste
“Intricate and wonderful…an inspirational triumph, a synthesis of opposing styles that only the finest musicians could pull off.”
Everything Is Noise
“While the final product is meticulously and mindfully constructed, it also captures the kinetic and collaborative energy of the group's freewheeling performances.”
Qobuz
“This is an album worth raving about for anyone even the least bit interested in adventurous music…bracingly noisy and utterly enthralling.”
A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
“It’s clear SML have created another special album, one that forges bright new pathways in American jazz.”
KLOF
"Trailblazing...Herbie Hancock-esque electronics are grounded by punk funk basslines."
Record Collector
“Intensely demanding and at the same time even danceable in places, it's hard to compare it to anything else.”
Jazz Thing
LIVE VIDEOS:
BIO:
SML is a quintet composed of luminaries from Los Angeles’s thriving jazz, improvised, and indie music scenes: bassist Anna Butterss (Jeff Parker, Jason Isbell, Phoebe Bridgers, Makaya McCraven), synthesist Jeremiah Chiu (Ariel Kalma, Marta Sofia Honer), saxophonist Josh Johnson (Meshell Ndegeocello, Flea, Leon Bridges, Carlos Niño), percussionist Booker Stardrum (Wendy Eisenberg, Horse Lords, Nels Cline) and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann (Sam Wilkes, Meg Duffy, Perfume Genius).
Their debut album Small Medium Large was recorded at the band’s first gigs at Highland Park venue ETA in late 2022 and early 2023, post-produced in the following year, and released in Summer 2024 to wide critical acclaim, landing on ‘Best of 2024’ lists by Tone Glow, Passion of the Weiss, Bandcamp Daily, Hearing Things, and others. Following the release of Small Medium Large, the band quickly expanded beyond Los Angeles, performing at various festivals and venues and sharpening their sound. Recordings from these shows were then used as the basis for their sophomore album HOW YOU BEEN. This second release showcases a road-tested band pushing razor sharp confidence in the form of trance-inducing rhythm focused improvisation, but it also delves even deeper into the possibilities of post-production.
Upon its late-2025 release, HOW YOU BEEN was thoroughly praised by critics and fans alike, landing on numerous best of the year lists and even catching the attention of the New York Times, who published an in-depth feature on the band. The live shows that followed the album release had a similarly wide appeal, and support from well-credentialed outlets like NPR’s World Cafe have bolstered the fervent energy which has seen SML’s name recognition grow so quickly.
In March of 2026 SML held a residency at the Big Ears Festival, where the band played 6 sets over 3 nights to hundreds of fans, many of whom attended every show. The full, unedited SML experience is clearly of interest. In that spirit, Spontaneous Music Live—an album of two unedited sidelong improvisations recorded at Zebulon in LA—will be released in summer 2026, offering the first official recorded glimpse into the psychedelic realism and linear, hypnotic expansion of SML’s live sound.
PAST PRESS:
"One of the most anticipated albums of Summer 2024" — Pitchfork
“Nothing short of mesmerizing." — Cultural Attache
“...an exuberant album…” — Los Angeles Times
“Blends elements of jazz with funk, electronic music with avant garde fusion, and it grooves like hell…it’s awesome." — Treble
“SML’s debut album is a delightful and awe-inspiring experience…” — Glide Magazine
“Within the milieu of creative, atmospheric, tradition-defying music termed alternative jazz by default, this is important work.” — SPIN
"...dentro la macchina c’è ancora un cuore che pulsa." — Blow Up
Small Medium Large debuts at #15 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Chart
