Wadada Leo Smith
Defiant Life
Anchored in the idea that, despite all obstacles, the human experience casts a net of possibilities, Defiant Life – Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith second duo recording for ECM – proves a profound meditation on the human condition and both the suffering and resilience it entails. An ethereal iridescence glistens between Leo Smith’s unmistakable trumpet wail and Vijay’s textural key strokes on piano and Fender Rhodes, conjuring multi-dimensional spaces of thoughtful musical conversation. “We work…
Lebroba
Andrew Cyrille’s title Lebroba is a contraction of Leland, Brooklyn and Baltimore, birthplaces of the protagonists of an album bringing together three of creative music’s independent thinkers. Each of them made his first ECM appearance long ago: drummer Andrew Cyrille on Marion Brown’s Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (1970), trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith on his own classic Divine Love (1978), and guitarist Bill Frisell on Eberhard Weber’s Fluid Rustle (1979); these are, of course, players of enduring …
String Quartets Nos. 1-12
As part of the conclusion of its celebration of the 80th Anniversary of Wadada Leo Smith, TUM Records brings out the most extensive release of Smith´s recorded output to date, String Quartets Nos. 1-12. It is a seven-CD boxed set recorded by RedKoral Quartet and special guests comprising the first 12 of Smith´s string quartets.
String Quartets Nos. 1-12focuses on Wadada Leo Smith as a composer for strings. Smith began work on his first string quartet in 1965 and has composed additional string qu…
The Emerald Duets
Part of his 80th Anniversary celebration and subtitled "The Art Of The Trumpeter And Drummers", this 5-CD box set brings legendary improviser Wadada Leo Smith together with four long-time collaborators and masterful drummers--Andrew Cyrille, Jack DeJohnette, Pheeroan akLaff and Han Bennink--with Smith performing on both piano and trumpet. 5-CD BOX SET. Includes 60 pages booklet. The Emerald Duets is a crowning achievement among Wadada Leo Smith's many recorded duo collaborations with drummers/p…
Rosa Parks: Pure Love.
Acclaimed trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator Wadada Leo Smith has released an oratorio of seven songs inspired by the iconic civil rights leader Rosa Parks. In his own words, Rosa Parks: Pure Love. An Oratorio of Seven Songs is "concerned with ideas of freedom, liberty and justice, a meditation centered around the civil rights movement." Looking at Smith's more than 50 years of creative and artistic vision, this release is yet another inspired organic musical direction that…
Ancestors
Despite the fact that they've shared several stages over the past 40 years, Ancestors marks the first occasion that trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo have ever recorded together. Smith, one of the true progenitors of creative improvised music, has made numerous duo recordings with drummers, among them Ed Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Adam Rudolph. Moholo-Moholo, a founding member of South Africa's Blue Notes, has also made duo recordings, usually with pia…
Trumpet
*Including a 44 p. booklet.* Trumpet is a unique extended collection of solo trumpet music. Fourteen new compositions by Wadada Leo Smith are included on this recording and spread over three CDs. The Album was recorded during a beautiful summer week in July 2016 at St. Mary's Church in the town of Pohja on the southern coast of Finland. it is a culmination of Smith's solo trumpet work to date, which totaled six albums prior to Trumpet. That legacy begins with his very first album as a leader, 19…
Nessuno
“In 2011 Pauline Oliveros, Roscoe Mitchell, John Tilbury and Wadada Leo Smith opened the AngelicA Festival with 3 days of concerts… they performed solos and duets (Pauline and Roscoe; John and Wadada), and finally, for the first time ever, these 4 distinct musical voices performed together, as a quartet…Over time AngelicA (which is 26 years old) has always tried to bring together different worlds, even ones that were very far apart from each other (although distance is nothing but an illusion if…
Hackney Road
2019 Small Repress Electronic duo Spring Heel Jack return with a collaboration with the legendary American trumpeter and Pulitzer Prize nominee Wadada Leo Smith. Wadada was born in the Mississippi Delta and became immersed in the music of the great blues masters as a young musician. He then moved to Chicago and became an early member of the AACM alongside the likes of Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Malachi Favors and Roscoe Mitchell.Recorded last year in London, this LP sees Smith’s auth…
Red Chrysanthemums: Solos 1977
2015 release. On the occasion of improviser and composer Wadada Leo Smith's exhibition Ankhrasmation: The Language Scores, 1967-2015 at Chicago's Renaissance Society, Corbett Vs. Dempsey present Red Chrysanthemums, a previously unreleased live recording of solo performances by Smith, documented in Los Angeles in December of 1977. Three adventurous, spacious tracks that feature Smith's unique and innovative trumpet, as well as percussion, tuned percussion, and flute, all captured as Smith was in …