Jazz Articles about Wadada Leo Smith

About Wadada Leo Smith

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Great Lakes Suites

Read "Great Lakes Suites" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 27, 2014

Two of the most enduring voices avant-garde jazz belong to trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and reedman Henry Threadgill. Smith's The Great Lakes Suites, six of his distinctive compositions on a two CD set, teams the two icons inside the equilateral quartet that includes drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist John Lindberg. It sounds like a dream team, and it is. DeJohnette has played on Smith's Golden Quartet, Lindberg has joined the trumpeter in a variety of contexts, groups large and small. ...

Interview

Wadada Leo Smith: I'm A Dreamer

by John Sharpe
January 29, 2014

As dreamers go trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith lies at the more serious end of the spectrum. Not for him dreams that fade with the daylight, as evidenced by the realization of his epic Civil Rights inspired Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012). Smith actually composed the first piece of what developed into a 21 piece magnum opus back in 1977, which demonstrates prodigious staying power to see it through to completion in 2012. Once released, the work generated remarkable acclaim for ...

Live Review

Wadada Leo Smith's Ten Freedom Summers at London Jazz Festival 2013

by John Sharpe
December 18, 2013

Wadada Leo Smith's Ten Freedom Summers: London, England, November 21-23, 2013 Wadada Leo Smith Café Oto London November 21-23, 2013 As part of the London Jazz Festival, over three consecutive evenings, Dalston's Cafe Oto presented the European premiere of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's Ten Freedom Summers magnum opus. Although such a groundbreaking production might be more expected in one of the large auditoriums on the capital's South Bank, the goodwill built up ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith & Tumo: Occupy The World

Read "Occupy The World" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 13, 2013

Dopo Ten Feedom Summer, evento concertistico e discografico tra i più memorabili degli ultimi anni, il trombettista e compositore Wadada Leo Smith torna ad incidere con una grande formazione realizzando un doppio album ancora una volta dalla grande valenza politica/civile e ancora una volta dallo straordinario impatto musicale. Questa volta Smith, insieme al collaboratore di lunga data John Lindberg, si avvale dei servigi della Tumo Orchestra , ensemble formato da ventun musicisti tra i più rappresentativi della scena nordica, provenienti ...

Extended Analysis

Wadada Leo Smith: Occupy the World

by Eyal Hareuveni
August 8, 2013

Great trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith's five epic extended compositions collected on the double album Occupy The World mark him as a major American composer with a musical language and artistic vision that transcends the boundaries of the Afro-American heritage of jazz. Smith wrote complex orchestral works before, most notably on the masterful, extensive 4-discs Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012), that addressed political and historical issues still, the expanded and rearranged works represent a new musical triumph within the ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith & TUMO: Occupy The World

Read "Occupy The World" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 14, 2013

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith continues to challenge preconceptions. With Occupy The World, he exposes another facet of his orchestral music; more expansive than his stunning Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012) and less earthy than Hearts Reflection (Cuneiform, 2011), it's still part of a long lineage of large group works stretching back to Budding Of A Rose (Moers Music, 1978) and Lake Biwa (Tzadik, 2004). Finland's TUM Records invited Smith to present five of his works in the capital of Helsinki, ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith and Tumo: Occupy the World

Read "Occupy the World" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
July 7, 2013

Trumpeter, composer and multi-instrumentalist Wadada Leo Smith's career has been one of relentless exploration and bold innovation. His timeless works have always eschewed narrow categorization and shattered musical boundaries. Now, in the eight decade of his life his creative vision has matured without losing any of its youthful energy. On the heels of his epic Pulitzer Prize finalist masterpiece, Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012,) and his intimate and expressive duet with South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, Ancestors (Tum, 2012), comes ...