Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Wadada Leo Smith & Adam Rudolph: Compassion

Wadada Leo Smith & Adam Rudolph: Compassion

By Florence Wetzel
November 5, 2006
View read count

Wadada Leo Smith & Adam Rudolph: Compassion

Compassion, a beautiful duet recording by Wadada Leo Smith and Adam Rudolph, provides a welcome addition to jazz' long tradition of spiritual expression. Recorded live in 2002 at a concert in Venice, California, the disc features Smith on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Rudolph on handrumset, dusu'ngoni, sibsi, vocal, kalimbas, gongs, cymbals and percussion.

The song titles give a sense of the musicians' intentions—for example, "Sun Ray Colors and Rainbow Images," "Fragrance of Light," and "Silver Drum Circle." Like colored light, there's something intriguingly ephemeral about this music; it's as if you could put your hand through it. But although the music is often quite ethereal, with long and pure notes from Smith and Rudolph chiming like a temple bell, Smith also gets gritty, and at one point Rudolph sounds like a frog. There's an amazing variety of feelings and tones and rhythms, yet they're all encased in an elegant spaciousness. This space allows the listener to hear all the sounds and really experience their shapes and colors.

What makes this an apt form of spiritual expression is the duo's pervading sense of modesty. They are both strong players, but following in the footsteps of Coltrane, Bird and so many others, they are playing in service to something larger than themselves. Smith and Rudolph aim for the heart of sound, the place where it intersects with something all-encompassing. And on Compassion they generously take the listener along for the journey.

Track Listing

Beauty: Aquamarine Night; Sun Ray Colors and Rainbow Images; Fragrance of Light; Love Rhythms, Heart Songs; Song of Humanity; Silver Dream Circle; The Caller and the Called.

Personnel

Wadada Leo Smith

trumpet

Adam Rudolph: handrumset, dusu

Album information

Title: Compassion | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Meta Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Holly
< Previous

The Intensity Galactic
Next >

Wadada Leo Smith Concerts

Oct 17 Fri

Vilnius Jazz 2025: Wadada Leo Smith - Sylvie Courvoisier...

Vilnius Old Theatre
Vilnius, Lithuania

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.