Results for "Wadada Leo Smith"

Günter Baby Sommer & the Lucaciu 3: Karawane

by Troy Dostert
August 4, 2022

Long recognized as one of the most important exponents of European free jazz, drummer Günter Baby Sommer has refused to rest on his laurels, as he continues to do his part to maintain the legacy of free improvisation and creative jazz in a host of contexts, defying the aging process rather insouciantly while doing so. His ...

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 ...

Vision Festival 2022

by Luciano Rossetti
July 28, 2022

Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets

by Karl Ackermann
July 11, 2022

The pioneering British photographer/author Val Wilmer said of Wadada Leo Smith, “he no longer relates to the restrictions of scales and chords. To him, music is about two things only: sound and rhythm." Her assessment, from the essential book As Serious As Your Life (Allison & Busby Ltd, 1977), was published in 1977. But in the ...

Wadada Leo Smith: Inspiration Incarnate

by Doug Collette
July 11, 2022

Wadada Leo Smith's The String Quartets Nos. 1-12 and The Emerald Duets are right in line with his well-established, iconoclastic means of creativity. Material composed and arranged with consummate care and attention to detail is also fodder for improvisation replete with a dignified abandon. And much like the trumpeter/composer/bandleader himself, Tum Records bestows a supreme reverence ...

Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets

by Dan McClenaghan
July 10, 2022

Wadada Leo Smith's music is often celestial, but the man himself is of this Earth—of America, in particular, the progeny of people brought to the Western Hemisphere involuntarily. People who have historically been treated as less than human, for the “sin" of having dark skin. This goes on. The true sin, the flames of racism, are ...

New Wadada Leo Smith And More

by Bob Osborne
June 30, 2022

On this week's show two massive new releases from Wadada Leo Smith, a seven CD box set of String Quartets, and a five CD box set of duets with drummers. In addition, a variety of new releases and dip into the archive for some early music from William Parker.Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Juanma Trujillo ...

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 ...

Anthony Coleman and Brian Chase: Arcades

by Troy Dostert
May 21, 2022

An interesting cross-generational pairing, Arcades features veteran pianist Anthony Coleman alongside relative upstart, drummer Brian Chase. A key exponent of the jazz avant-garde, Coleman's body of work extends back to the 1980s with John Zorn, plus a host of recordings since then with folks like Wadada Leo Smith and Marc Ribot, not to mention a substantial ...

Ron Miles and Other Trumpeters plus Others

by Jerome Wilson
April 8, 2022

This show features several trumpet players with an emphasis on the late Ron Miles. There are also other musicians heard on the program such as Mark Turner, Jason Moran and Gordon Grdina. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & ...