Jazz Articles about Wadada Leo Smith

Wadada Leo Smith

by Marc Medwin
May 24, 2009

“Since 2007, I see America changing, becoming not a divided multi-cultural society, but a pluralistic cultural society where everybody has a chance. Creative music announced the change in the '60s, but the music had been democratic since New Orleans, with its collective improvisation., where the collective had value and every individual had equal value. This is a unique moment in this country's history, so now I call the music I make American music." It is a momentary shock ...

Wadada Leo Smith / Jack DeJohnette: America

by Troy Collins
May 10, 2009

Originally proposed to ECM Records in 1979, the collaboration of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Jack DeJohnette has finally found new life in America. Recorded last year in Bill Laswell's New Jersey studio (but without his heavy-handed production aesthetic), this unadorned acoustic session documents two of the world's most versatile and virtuosic improvisers working through a set of six new compositions written by Smith.

Legendary veterans whose seminal innovations can be traced to the late '60s, Smith ...

Wadada Leo Smith: Tabligh

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 20, 2008

Parlare dei numerosi punti di contatto fra la musica di questo ottimo album del trombettista Wadada Leo Smith e i capolavori elettrici di Miles Davis dei primi anni settanta potrebbe sembrare riduttivo per l’arte sopraffina di Smith, ma non è affatto così. Questo gruppo denominato 'Golden Quartet' ha infatti la competenza tecnica e la personalità per percorrere una strada propria che sa fare uso discreto delle suggestioni per poi avanzare con coerenza e passione lungo scenari che sono assolutamente originali ...

Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: Tabligh

by Nic Jones
August 25, 2008

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith has always carved out his own territory in the music and Tabligh is one of the best realizations of his work on record. Working with this trumpet/keyboards/bass/drums quartet format for some time now, this set captures in true splendor how constructively that time has been spent.

The band is alert to every inflection of Smith's music and the leader responds largely with lines that seem less fractious than the work he's perhaps noted for. Thus his ...

Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: Tabligh

by Troy Collins
August 21, 2008

From his seminal days in the late sixties as co-founder of the Creative Construction Company with fellow AACM members Leroy Jenkins and Anthony Braxton to his ethno-musical investigations with his Nda-Kulture ensemble, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith has explored a dizzying array of musical genres and styles. His most recent projects have paid tribute to the early fusion experiments of Miles Davis, the most notable is Yo Miles!, a heavily electrified collective co-led by guitarist Henry Kaiser.

Smith's current ...

Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: Tabligh

by Jerry D'Souza
August 18, 2008

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet is an evolving ensemble. The original line-up had Anthony Davis (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums) and Malachi Favors Magoustos (bass). Then came Woody Aplanalp (guitar), Famoudou Don Moye (drums) and John Lindberg (drums). Smith had changed the line-up to give shape to his music. The current edition of the quartet retains Lindberg, but has Vijay Iyer (piano, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer) and Shannon Jackson (drums). As with the earlier tandems, Tabligh's every member is a loquacious ...

Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: Tabligh

by Kurt Gottschalk
July 19, 2008

Wadada Leo Smith's first Golden Quartet record came as a happy surprise during a burst of activity. The five albums he released on Tzadik from 1999 to 2002 focused largely on his beautifully serene, long-form compositions. But 2000's Golden Quartet seemed to mark not just a new standing band for the trumpeter but an exciting new group within the first generation of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. With fellow AACM'ers Anthony Davis (piano) and Malachi Favors Magoustous ...