Results for "Anthony Davis"

Anthony Davis

Born: March 20, 1951

The music of pianist, improvisor and composer Anthony Davis eludes easy categorization. Active in a variety of media, including operatic, symphonic, choral, chamber, dance, theater, and improvised musics, Davis has focused upon the integration of improvised and notated expressive resources. His work embodies an intercultural approach, drawing not only upon traditional and current African-American sources, but upon the Javanese gamelan, American Minimalism, and the European and Euro-American avant-garde.

His fourth and most recent opera, AMISTAD, based on the slave ship uprising of 1839 and the subsequent trial, premiered at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in November of 1997, with libretto by Thulani Davis and direction by New York Public Theater artistic director George C. Wolfe. His first and best-known opera, X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X, with libretto by Thulani Davis, premiered at the New York City Opera in 1986.

Bobby Zankel: The Inside Story of 'A Change of Destiny'

by Victor L. Schermer
September 21, 2023

Saxophonist, bandleader, composer and arranger Bobby Zankel has been making jazz in many ways with diverse cohorts for over a half-century. He has found his own way to create music that is both advanced and very listenable at the same time. He is loved and revered by the many musicians who have performed with him and ...

X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X

By Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Label: BMOP/sound
Released: 2022
Track listing: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (1986)

String Quartets Nos. 1-12

By Wadada Leo Smith

Label: TUM Records
Released: 2022
Track listing: Disc 1: String Quartet No. 1 (1965-1982) Movements 1 - 4, String Quartet No. 2 (1969-1980) 16:52; Disc 2: String Quartet No. 3 "Black Church: A First World Gathering of the Spirit" (1995) Movements 1 & 2, String Quartet No. 4 (1987-2001) Movements 1 – 5; Disc 3: String Quartet No. 5 "In the Diaspora - Earthquakes and Sunrise Missions" (2005), String Quartet No. 6 "Taif: Prayer in the Garden of the Hijaz" (2007), String Quartet No. 7 "Ten Thousand Ceveus Peruvianus Amemevical" (2011); Disc 4: String Quartet No. 8 "Opuntia Humifusa" (2011), String Quartet No. 9 (2001-2015) Movements 1 & 2, String Quartet No. 10 "Angela Davis: Into the Morning Sunlight" (2007-2016); Disc 5: String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) Movements 1 – 5; Disc 6: String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) Movements 6 – 9; Disc 7: String Quartet No. 12 (2016-2018) Movements 1 & 2.

Now Available: Premiere Recording Of Anthony Davis's Malcolm X Opera Starring Davone Tines

October 19, 2022

“The work is gripping, and it is unlike any other opera... X is a work that deserves to enter the American repertory... not just a stirring and well-fashioned opera but one whose music adds a new, individual voice to those previously heard in our opera houses.” —The New Yorker “Poignant…forceful…resonant” —The Boston Globe “A riveting and ...

String Quartet Nov. 1, Movement 1

September 9, 2022

Album: String Quartets Nos. 1-12
By Wadada Leo Smith
Label: TUM Records
Released: 2022
Duration: 7:14

Wadada Leo Smith: String Quartets Nos. 1-12

by Mark Corroto
July 29, 2022

Wadada Leo Smith's seven CD boxset String Quartets Nos. 1-12 summons two words, epic and ineffable. The 5½ hours of music chronicle three of his four periods writing for string quartets from 1965 until 2019. The remaining work, “String Quartets Nos. 13, 14, and 15" inspired by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the US ...

Wadada Leo Smith: String Quartets Nos. 1-12

by Karl Ackermann
June 28, 2022

In the thirty-page booklet that accompanies Wadada Leo Smith's String Quartets Nos. 1-12, the trumpeter & composer devotes a few paragraphs to the subject of inspiration. He traces an irregular line whose points include Claude Debussy, Dmitri Shostakovich, Muddy Waters, Ornette Coleman, and others. But those diverse artists, who came and went before Smith, have no ...

Time Spiral: George Russell, Tyshawn Sorey, Yu Nishiyama, Daniel Carter

by David Brown
June 28, 2022

This week, extended works featuring George Russell's “Time Spiral," Anthony Davis “A Suite for Monk," David Murray and Randy Weston perform “Blue Moses." New releases from Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Yu Nishiyma, Tim Berne's Bloodcount, Daniel Carter, and much more. Playlist Thelonious Monk “Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club-Complete (Columbia) 00:30 Keefe Jackson, ...

Wadada Leo Smith: A Love Sonnet For Billie Holiday

by Mark Corroto
December 1, 2021

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith creates a new trio with Vijay Iyer and drummer Jack DeJohnette. While the pianist and drummer have never recorded together, like a Venn diagram, their orbits were destined to overlap. Both musicians have recorded duets with Smith and both were members of Smith's Golden Quartet, just not at the same time.