Jazz Articles about Wadada Leo Smith

About Wadada Leo Smith

Album Review

Harriet Tubman and Wadada Leo Smith: Araminta

Read "Araminta" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 17, 2017

Things are urgent now. Actually, they have been critical for some time, but you might have chosen to ignore them. Politics, racism, sexism, war, inequality, and xenophobia are now issues that you must confront at home, work, in social media, and even within your bowling league. Everyone must have an opinion, and maybe that is the good news. This consciousness of social justice has long been the well that artists and musicians draw from. Half a century ago ...

Album Review

Tania Chen, Henry Kaiser, Wadada Leo Smith, William Winant: Ocean of Storms

Read "Ocean of Storms" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 4, 2017

If, for no other reason than Wadada Leo Smith rears his predominant head, this recording should be considered. Within the electronic walls of All About Jazz, one can forgive me for having not paid proper tribute to Smith's exceptional America's National Parks (Cuneiform Records, 2016) since no less than five colleagues did. I am a late comer to Smith, whose pan-artistic approach is so enormous I have shied away from taking it on. We have lived in a post-John Cage ...

Year in Review

Il meglio del 2016 secondo Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
December 28, 2016

Dischi, e soprattutto concerti, sono elementi variabili, inevitabilmente legati al singolo: ascoltati da alcuni, scappati via ad altri. Come e più di tutte le liste di questo tipo, eccone dunque qui di seguito una delle tante possibili. Al di là di ciò, il 2016 è stato un anno veramente impietoso nei confronti di chi fa musica, con una vera e propria falcidia, specie nel mese di marzo. Verso fine anno, poi, se n'è andato probabilmente il più grande di tutti ...

Year in Review

John Sharpe's Best Releases Of 2016

by John Sharpe
December 25, 2016

Here are ten new releases, reviewed at All About Jazz, which stood out among those I heard this year. Wadada Leo Smith America's National Parks (Cuneiform Records) While the title might conjure up a string of luminous tone poems, the reality of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's magisterial collection goes far beyond that on his most outstanding release since the monumental Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012). Not coincidentally, it's also the product of his ...

Year in Review

Dan McClenaghan's Best Releases Of 2016

by Dan McClenaghan
December 10, 2016

The music keeps moving forward, evolving to higher levels. My search for the best jazz recordings of 2016 led me to these marvelous CDs. Wadada Leo SmithAmerica's National Parks Cuneiform Records Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith has attempted in, the new millennium, to create his magnum opus. He may have succeeded with America's National Parks, a sprawling, dark-hued masterpiece celebrating the Mississippi River, New Orleans, Yellowstone, Yosemite and more. Adam PieronczykMonte Alban

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks

Read "America's National Parks" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
November 11, 2016

While the title might conjure up a string of luminous tone poems, the reality of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's magisterial collection goes far beyond that. In fact Smith's notion of a national park encompasses not only the iconic landscapes, but also literary and cultural features. In any case as he explains, he draws his inspiration from the spiritual and psychological dimensions of a specific event or a place, rather than taking a straightforward programmatic approach. The result is Smith's most ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks

Read "America's National Parks" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
October 20, 2016

2016 marks the centennial anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service. In honor of this auspicious occasion, celebrated trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith composed a titular six-part suite for the Golden Quintet, an augmented version of his long-running flagship quartet. Rather than simply attempting to transpose scenic vistas and natural grandeur into pure sound, Smith explains in the liner notes that he is more interested in the parks as an idea--one with socio-political overtones--hence the inclusion of tributes to the city ...