Jazz Articles about Wadada Leo Smith

About Wadada Leo Smith

Album Review

Trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith is one of the few musicians remaining from the original, founding generation of Chicago's legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. But he has hardly rested since; Smith's Ten Freedom Summers (2012, Cuneiform) was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music; in 2017, Smith swept the Downbeat Critics' Poll for Trumpeter, Artist, and Album (America's National Parks, [Cuneiform]) of the Year, and he was named Musician of the Year by the Jazz ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk

Read "Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
May 14, 2018

Omaggiare la figura e la musica di Thelonious Monk è sempre una sfida ardua da superare per qualsiasi musicista. Se poi la si affronta in solitaria e nemmeno al pianoforte bensì alla tromba, ardua lo diventa ancora di più. Ma è lo stesso Wadada Leo Smith che ci rassicura. “La maggior parte delle persone -afferma nelle ricche note di copertina --non si rende conto che sono vicino a Monk più di qualsiasi altro artista. Ci accomunano, tra le altre cose, ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa

Read "Najwa" reviewed by Maurizio Comandini

by Maurizio Comandini
May 14, 2018

Il trombettista Wadada Leo Smith chiama a raccolta i suoi fedelissimi per una nuova scorribanda nei territori dell'emozione, con la sua tromba spiritata che guida il cammino con saggezza e ferma determinazione, tracciando le linee guida attraverso le quali poi tutti i musicisti saranno chiamati a dare il proprio ampio contributo nella tessitura narrativa dei cinque brani originali che compongono questo ottimo Najwa. Composizioni tutte firmate dal settantaseienne trombettista di Leland, Mississippi. Ritroviamo con piacere al fianco di Wadada i ...

Year in Review

Il meglio del 2017 secondo Nicola Negri

by Nicola Negri
January 6, 2018

Un altro anno di musica straordinaria: dodici dischi (e una manciata di concerti memorabili) per riflettere sul 2017 appena concluso. Maestri come Wadada Leo Smith e Roscoe Mitchell continuano a stupire per coraggio e coerenza; Nicole Mitchell e Satoko Fujii si confermano musiciste e compositrici di valore assoluto; si delineano nuove prospettive grazie a Irreversible Entanglements, Hear in Now, Lisa Mezzacappa, Miles Okazaki; The Necks e Sexmob ripropongono formule consolidate eppure sempre appassionanti; la libera improvvisazione supera ogni confine con ...

Multiple Reviews

Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk & Najwa

by Doug Collette
December 23, 2017

Wadada Leo Smith's most recently recorded albums reaffirm this trumpeter/composer/bandleader's deep, abiding loyalty to his muse. Equally so on stage or in the studio, Smith's devotion to the creative impulse is absolutely unwavering, and, as a result, his works are pure, direct expressions of his concepts, undiluted by compromise. Such is the uniformity of his execution that Smith can take diverse approaches as represented by these two TUM records, one of which is a solo album in homage to Thelonious ...

Year in Review

Karl Ackermann's Best Releases of 2017

by Karl Ackermann
December 8, 2017

2017 was an exceptional year for artists who elude convention; veterans such as Wadada Leo Smith and relative newcomers like Abdul Moimême gave us unique musical insights. It was an outstanding year for solo recordings. Along with Smith and Moimême, Rob Mazurek, Matthew Shipp, Irish multi-instrumentalist Aine O'Dwyer, Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz, Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia, and Satoko Fujii were just a few of the creative artists that gave life to singular global perspectives. (Selections are not ranked.)

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk

Read "Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 29, 2017

The most fitting tribute to Thelonious Monk on the 100th anniversary of his birth was not by a pianist, but by a trumpeter, and not any ordinary trumpeter. Wadada Leo Smith, like Monk, is a musician's musician. While his peers have seemingly always investigated his music, it took the listening audience (and, ahem, critics) awhile to catch up on his music. After his Pulitzer Prize nomination in 2013, for Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012), the proverbial flood gates opened on ...