Sweet Smoke

Sweet Smoke was created in 1967 at Brooklyn New York where all members lived.

The original members were

Andrew Dershin, Mike Paris, Victor Sacco, Jay Dorfman and Marvin Kaminovitz.

The complete name of the band was :

"Our first gigs were in St Thomas in the Virgin Islands, with the name "Ice Company", because the club thought "Sweet Smoke" was too contrivercial.

I always felt that the band was influenced by Cream, John Coltrain, the Greatfull Dead, and Chicago."

Andrew Dershin

"Sweet Smoke was an American music group living and playing in Europe from 1970 till 1974. Originally from N.Y. the group moved to Germany where they lived as a family commune.

Within a year of their arrival they recorded their first L.P.

"Just a Poke" which almost immediately turned them into a sort of cult icon of the underground scene which was beginning to emerge as europe's response to the american hippy scene.

An extremely resourceful and creative group, they took the art of spontaneous improvising to new heights, very often involving their audiences in their music.

Words like rock jazz, acid rock, raga rock, hard rock, experimental music are only some of the words used to describe their music.

Looking back one can see the early roots of fusion and new age music beginning to manifest through them.

Though the basic group consisted of 5 musicians, they came to most of their concerts with their communal family (10-15 of their friends) who helped them on and off stage to create an atmosphere of a musical happening."

Mike Paris

"To Sweet Smoke music was not simply a collection of songs that the audience would sit back and listen to, but rather it was a living vehicle through which they could share with everyone their vision and joy of life.

To sweet smoke music was magic, their concerts were an interaction between them and their audiences, and their group was like a Cosmic Space Ship forever exploring the unknown regions of our musical universe."

Mike Paris

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