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Results for "Pheeroan AkLaff"
Victoriaville 2012
by Kurt Gottschalk
Festival International Musique Actuelle VictoriavilleVictoriaville, CanadaMay 17-20, 2012There are many ways to weigh a music festival, but one method that sets a fairly reasonable standard for excellence is whether or not there was at least one point that elicited feelings of good fortune. Not just if it was enjoyable or if highly respected ...
Wadada Leo Smith's Mbira: Dark Lady of the Sonnets
by Dave Wayne
Trumpet and drums--a truly primal combination--are joined by the delicately trilling, archaic and arcane sounds of the Chinese lute or pipa on Dark Lady of the Sonnets, Wadada Leo Smith's musical venture with a new trio, Mbira. At age 70, Smith's torrid creative pace is matched only by the forged-steel strength of his trumpet playing. Percussionist ...
Wadada Leo Smith's Mbira: Dark Lady of the Sonnets
by Raul d'Gama Rose
In the epic narratives and gorgeous elegies of trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith lies a heart immersed in the spirituality of the blues. His music drinks from an ancient well that predates organized worship and actually resides in one that celebrates the Creator in his awesome glory. This is why Smith is able to make ...
Wadada Leo Smith's Mbira: Dark Lady of the Sonnets
by Eyal Hareuveni
Every few years master composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith surprises with a new outfit that fits wonderfully in his rich and complex musical universe. The Mbira trio is no exception: a timeless, multidimensional trio, inspired by revered ancestors but with its course set for a possible future. In this trio, Smith contextualizes the spiritual veins ...
Marty Ehrlich's Rites Quartet: Frog Leg Logic
by Troy Collins
The premier of Marty Ehrlich's Rites Quartet, Things Have Got To Change (Clean Feed, 2009), featured the venerable multi-instrumentalist's engaging originals bolstered by a handful of previously unrecorded pieces by his mentor, the late Julius Hemphill (1938-1995). Drawing on Hemphill's seminal work in the St Louis-based Black Artists' Group (BAG), and his innovative writing for the ...
Dave Douglas, Wadada Leo Smith & Taylor Ho Bynum
by Martin Longley
The Dave Douglas/Donny McCaslin Key Motion Quintet Jazz Standard December 8, 2011 This was the first of four Dave Douglas nights at the Jazz Standard, each of them highlighting a different performance perspective. The unexpected has become the expected where this high-wire trumpeter is concerned. Douglas is perpetually scouting ...
Cuneiform Records: Growing Progressive Music for 27 Years
by Mark Redlefsen
Twenty seven years is a long time for a niche progressive music label such as Cuneiform Records not just to survive, but to remain inventive and, in the best sense, ambitious. Steve Feigenbaum founded Cuneiform back in 1984, and with his wife, Joyce, runs it from Silver Springs, Maryland. Hosting bands such as Universe Zero, digging ...
Wadada Leo Smith's Organic: Heart's Reflections
by Raul d'Gama Rose
To assess Wadada Leo Smith's contribution to the literature of his chosen instrument--the trumpet--as his sole claim to fame would be touching just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of his importance in the scheme of contemporary music. Firstly, there is a bottomless depth to him that rivals that of musicians such as Yusef Lateef and ...



