Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith: Angel Falls

Wadada Leo Smith describes his music not as "jazz" but as "creative music." He rejects the term "improvisation" in favor of "creation." These specific word choices reflect his unique approach, which is deeply rooted in his early experiences with blues and R&B.

Smith uses the full range of his instrument and plays at his own pace, with a profound understanding of the power of silence and space. For him, space is as important as the notes themselves, allowing the resonance of each sound to linger. His phrasing and melodic ideas carry the emotional and spiritual weight of the blues, a testament to his musical heritage. His style is a synthesis of diverse influences, including African-American, Native American, and global musical traditions, all of which contribute to his unique cultural and political consciousness.

Born in Switzerland, pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier studied both classical music at the Conservatory of Lausanne and jazz at the Conservatory of Montreux. This dual background is clearly reflected in her energetic and unique performance style, which has earned her prestigious awards, including the Swiss Grand Prix and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Award.

Courvoisier has moved seamlessly between the classical and avant-garde jazz worlds. Her collaboration with Cory Smythe on Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (Pyroclastic Records, 2023) was critically acclaimed. She often collaborates with musicians who share her artistic vision, such as guitarist Mary Halvorson and violinist Mark Feldman, creating projects that have been described as sounding like "edgy classical chamber-music as much as improv or jazz." Her complex compositions often feature shifting themes that re-emerge, balancing structure with unpredictability.

The collaboration between Smith and Courvoisier was almost inevitable, given Smith's history of working with a variety of pianists, including Vijay Iyer, John Tilbury, Angelica Sanchez and Amina Claudine Myers. Their musical partnership began in 2017 at a concert organized by John Zorn. Smith was so impressed that they recorded together just a couple of months later in New Haven, a session with drummer Marcus Gilmore that remains unreleased.

Since that initial encounter, they have collaborated regularly in various formats, including trios and a larger Smith ensemble with two pianos. The idea for their duet album came from Courvoisier, who suggested they avoid using charts. Their recording session was remarkably spontaneous. As Courvoisier recalls, they played through the entire album in sequence, with no edits, in about two hours, and the album was recorded and mixed the same day.

The titles for their music were decided after the recording was complete. For example, Courvoisier named the track "Angel Falls" after the world's highest continuous waterfall in Venezuela, explaining that the music reminded her of an angel falling. This highlights a common practice among artists to use titles to create a narrative or emotional connection for the listener.

However, the importance of titles in music has long been a point of debate. Composer Igor Stravinsky controversially believed that music is fundamentally incapable of expressing specific emotions or ideas. He saw titles as potentially misleading, as they might impose a specific interpretation on the listener that is not inherent to the music itself. With the exception of his ballets, Stravinsky preferred abstract or functional titles, arguing that giving music a specific name could diminish its true meaning.

The music on the album has its own power. Are titles necessary? It is rich music. Just listen listen to the thunder, the spontaneity, the fragments of Liszt, the steely sinews from inside the piano, who is dominant, the unconventional notes squeezed from the mouthpiece, the tintinnabulation, the tangling of the lines, the grooves, the influences, the musical courage, starkness, the reticence, the impositions, the clashing, the prompting, the poetry, the darkness, the fragments of blues, piano as drum, the prelude, the balance, piano as harp, the silence, the last word, who prompts, who responds, the hesitancy, the exuberance, the terror of mistakes, the arrogance, the suspense, the subtleties, lightness, the ringing high notes, the harmony, dissonance, impressionism, the reactions, the delicacy, the emotions, nostalgia, the positivity, dominance, subservience, fluency, minimalism, evocations, density, the punctuation, energy, urgency, the editing, the echoes from the past, aggression, complexity, predictability, the blending, the intricacy. the savagery, the otherworldliness, the movement, the dynamism, gentleness, angularity, fluidity, the sound decay, resonance, purity.

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