John Bischoff

Wadada Leo Smith: Luminous Axis

by Farrell Lowe
March 12, 2003

Wadada Leo Smith has been a leading proponent of the creation of a new world music since the late '60s, in confluence with Chicago's AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). Much like Don Cherry, Smith draws from a broad palate of world musics, and he's a musical pioneer of the highest order.Luminous Axis features music for trumpet with electronics, flugelhorn, computer-driven electronics, and percussion. The music presented here is spacious, thoughtful, and imbued with an overall ...