Phill Smith is a drummer, improviser, and software engineer living in Omaha, NE. His musical approach utilizes open improvisation, extended techniques, and real time software systems to generate spontaneous sound worlds, all filtered through the influence of the new music, free improvisation, and avant-rock traditions.

Phill's drumming has been described as "restrained but propulsive" (Byron Coley, The Wire) and his compositions have been described as "high velocity, quasi-grindcore feedback music" (Jon Fielder, KLANG). He makes up half of the working free-improv duo Smith & Jessen (with saxophonist Kyle Jessen) and has performed with improvisers such as Oscar Escalante, Damon Smith, Robbie Lynn Hunsinger, Jack Wright, Stacey Barelos, Bob Bucko Jr, Seth Andrew Davis, and Kevin Cheli. Phill has appeared at festivals such as Omaha Under the Radar, Some Things From Nothing, and ex-nihilo in Guanajuato, Mexico, and has collaborated with Ezra Masch during Masch’s 2026 exhibition VOLUMES at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.