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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 ...
Wadada Leo Smith's Organic: Heart's Reflections

by Jerry D'Souza
The creative arc of Wadada Leo Smith describes a man of many talents. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) before forming the Creative Construction Company with Anthony Braxton and Leroy Jenkins. He has organized music into rhythm units and added a form of notation he called Akhreanvention. He ...
Burlington Discover Jazz Festival: Burlington, Vermont, June 3-12, 2011

by Doug Collette
Burlington Discover Jazz FestivalBurlington, VTJune 3-12, 2011 The mix of anticipation and apprehension at the outset of each year's Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is no doubt something akin to stage fright in the mind of any stage performer, musician or otherwise. Will the string of high-profile events meet audience expectations and generate ...
Wadada Leo Smith's Organic: Heart's Reflections

by Mark Corroto
For Mies van der Rohe, the saying less is more" might be true. But for trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, more is always more. Heart's Reflections is his fifth release for Cuneiform Records and, like his three prior efforts, a double CD.Organic, one of Smith's numerous working bands, is a continuation of his Yo Miiles! ...