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Jazz Articles about Wadada Leo Smith
Red Hook Records
by Hobart Taylor
Celebrating Red Hook Records artists Wadada Leo Smith, Amina Claudine Myers, Andrew Cyrille and others, plus new music from Samara Joy. Playlist Aymée Nuviola Kemuel Roig"Imágenes" from Havana Nocturne (Worldwide) 0:00 William Cepeda" Con El Corazón (Plena)" from The Sound of Puerto Rican Jazz (Casabe) 4:39 Sessa “Canção da Cura" from Estrela Acesa (Self Produced) 10:22 Tivon Pennicott" Con Alma" from Spirit Garden (New Phrase) 12:57 Paola Prestini & Magos Herrera" Con Alma" from Con Alma: An Operatic ...
Continue ReadingJoe Fonda: Eyes On The Horizon
by Mike Jurkovic
As we enter into the season of giving, what better gift can there be than Eyes on the Horizon, bassist/composer Joe Fonda's sonic tribute to his mentor, muse, and like-minded creator, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. As if welcoming one to a grand destination, Smith's clear and majestic timbre, supported by Fonda's pronounced bowing, proclaims “Inspiration Opus #1" into consciousness and Eyes on the Horizon sets out on a path all its own. More than just head-solo-head, Fonda employs ...
Continue ReadingJoe Fonda: Eyes On The Horizon
by Mark Corroto
When a musician who is a legend himself, herein bassist Joe Fonda, creates an album of tribute music to his mentor and teacher, it is rare that that person also performs on the recording. Fonda wrote the seven compositions heard here, with five dedicated to the master musician Wadada Leo Smith. On Eyes on The Horizon, Fonda is joined by pianist Satoko Fujii, drummer Tiziano Tononi and Smith himself. During his career, Fonda has been heard with such ...
Continue ReadingWadada Leo Smith, Amina Claudine Myers: Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
by Giuseppe Segala
Amina Claudine Myers e Wadada Leo Smith sono stati protagonisti fin dalle prime mosse del fermento artistico che ha preso il nome di Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a Chicago nel 1965 per iniziativa di Muhal Richard Abrams, Malachi Favors, Fred Anderson e altri artisti più giovani, che cercavano nuove strade, mescolando in modo inedito improvvisazione e scrittura, musica e spinta sociale. Ma non avevano mai registrato in duo, anche se proprio tale formula è stata alla base ...
Continue ReadingWadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers: Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
by Doug Collette
On Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens, trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith and keyboardist/composer Amina Claudine Myers evince as much curiosity as passion for their subject(s). This is the first recorded collaboration between the two, but they were both early members of AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). And besides Smith's familiarity with the duo format--The Emerald Duets (Tum Records, 2022)--he had composed a paean to the (now) newly-minted NEA Jazz Master keyboardist in 2015, titling ...
Continue ReadingWadada Leo Smith - Amina Claudine Myers: Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
by Mike Jurkovic
Sacred music for what many consider a very sacred place, Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths, and Gardens unites two natural forces- -the trumpeted truth of Wadada Leo Smith and the open air church of pianist & organist Amina Claudine Myers--for their first collaboration since their early years as active members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Founded in 1965, in the heat of Chicago, by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall ...
Continue ReadingWadada Leo Smith / Amina Claudine Myers: Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
by Karl Ackermann
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Wadada Leo Smith has produced a number of small masterpieces in the form of themed box sets. The prolific composer/trumpeter has aged into a creative period analogous to few of his contemporaries. His monumental Ten Freedom Summers (TUM, 2013)--a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize--America's National Parks (Cuneiform Records, 2016), and Trumpet (TUM, 2021), have each taken disparate roads in redefining creative music. The relative brevity and contemplative atmosphere of Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, ...
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