music.wikisort.org - Composer

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941)[1] is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation.[2] He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Ten Freedom Summers, released on May 22, 2012.[3]

Wadada Leo Smith
Photo by Tom Beetz
Background information
Born	(1941-12-18) December 18, 1941 (age 80) Leland, Mississippi, U.S.
Genres	Avant-garde jazz free improvisation
Occupation(s)	Musician composer
Instrument(s)	Trumpet
Website	www.wadadaleosmith.com

Biography

Smith was born in Leland, Mississippi, United States.[1] He started out playing drums, mellophone, and French horn before he settled on the trumpet. He played in various R&B groups and, by 1967, became a member of the AACM and co-founded the Creative Construction Company, a trio with Leroy Jenkins and Anthony Braxton.[1] In 1971, Smith formed his own label, Kabell.[1] He also formed another band, the New Dalta Ahkri, with members including Henry Threadgill, Anthony Davis and Oliver Lake.[1]

In the 1970s, Smith studied ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. He played again with Anthony Braxton, as well as recording with Derek Bailey's Company.[1] In the mid-1980s, Smith became Rastafarian and began using the name Wadada.[1] In 1993, he began teaching at Cal Arts,[2] a position he held until 2014. In addition to trumpet and flugelhorn, Smith plays several world music instruments, including the koto, kalimba, and atenteben (Ghanaian bamboo flute). He has also taught courses in instrument making. His compositions often use a graphic notation system he calls "Ankhrasmation", which he developed in 1970.[1]

In 1998, Smith and guitarist Henry Kaiser released Yo, Miles!, a tribute to Miles Davis's then-lesser-known 1970s electric period.[2] On this album, Smith, Kaiser and a large cast of musicians recorded cover versions and original compositions inspired by Miles's electric music.[2] The follow-ups Sky Garden (released by Cuneiform in 2004) and Upriver (released in 2005) were recorded with a different cast of musicians.[2] Both line-ups featured Michael Manring on bass.

Smith's Golden Quartet (with which he has released several albums) originally featured Jack DeJohnette on drums, Anthony Davis on keyboards, and Malachi Favors on bass.[2] After several iterations, the Golden Quartet now features Pheeroan akLaff on drums, John Lindberg on bass, and Davis on piano.[2]

During the 2000s, Smith recorded albums for John Zorn's label Tzadik, as well as Pi Recordings. In 2008, he and his Golden Quartet released a DVD entitled Freedom Now.[2]

Smith has lived in New Haven, Connecticut for many years, a city where he helped create a prominent culture for creative music. [4]

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Compilations

• Kabell Years: 1971–1979 (Tzadik, 2004) – collects Creative Music – 1, Reflectativity, Song of Humanity, and Solo Music: Ahkreanvention along with additional material

As sideman

With Muhal Richard Abrams

• Young at Heart/Wise in Time (Delmark, 1974)

With Marion Brown

• Geechee Recollections (Impulse!, 1973)

With Anthony Braxton

• 3 Compositions of New Jazz (Delmark, 1968)
• Silence (Freedom, 1969 [1975]) with Leroy Jenkins
• Anthony Braxton (BYG Actuel, 1969)
• This Time... (BYG Actuel, 1970)
• Trio and Duet (Sackville, 1974)
• Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)
• Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978 (hatART, 1978 [1995])

With Creative Construction Company

• Creative Construction Company (Muse, 1970 [1975])
• Creative Construction Company Vol. II (Muse, 1970 [1976])

With Andrew Cyrille

• Lebroba (ECM, 2018)

With Leroy Jenkins

• For Players Only (JCOA Records, 1975)

With Henry Kaiser

• Yo, Miles![16] [17](Shanachie, 1998)
• Sky Garden (Cuneiform, 2004)
• Upriver (Cuneiform, 2004)

With Bill Laswell

• The stone[18] (2014)

With Frank Lowe

• The Flam (Black Saint, 1975)

With Maurice McIntyre

• Humility in the Light of the Creator (Delmark, 1969)

With Roscoe Mitchell

• Sketches from Bamboo (Moers Music, 1979)

With Matthew Shipp

• New Orbit (Thirsty Ear, 2001)

With Spring Heel Jack

• The Sweetness of the Water (Thirsty Ear, 2004)
• Hackney Road (Treader, 2018) with Pat Thomas and Steve Noble

With John Zorn

• 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 8 (Tzadik, 2003)
• The Unknown Masada (Tzadik, 2003)

References

External links

• Wadada Leo Smith at AllMusic Wadada Leo Smith on Bandcamp Wadada Leo Smith discography at Discogs Wadada Leo Smith discography at MusicBrainz
• Official website
• short film portrait on Wadada Leo Smith, his art and his work with ECM Records
• Wadada Leo Smith by John Corbett—BOMB Magazine
• A Fireside Chat With Wadada Leo Smith by Fred Jung Posted: 2003-11-29
• Henry Kaiser & Wadada Leo Smith – Sky Garden (Review) – Published in The Music Box, July 2004, Vol. 11, No. 7
• FMP releases
• Art of the States: Wadada Leo Smith Bardsdale (1997–1998)
• Tawaf Archived 2005-12-28 at the Wayback Machine from 2003's "Organic Resonance" on Pi Recordings
• Solo performance, July 2000 at SASSAS sound. concert archives
• "Wadada Leo Smith: The OFN Interview" by Matthew Sumera: April and June 2005
• "Ep. 99: Wadada Leo Smith, trumpeter and composer" by Tigran Arakelyan: May 20, 2020

На других языках

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[de] Wadada Leo Smith

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (* 18. Dezember 1941 in Leland, Mississippi) ist ein US-amerikanischer Trompeter, Komponist und Musikwissenschaftler, der hauptsächlich in den Bereichen des Creative Jazz und der Neuen Improvisationsmusik tätig ist. Nach Steve Lake verfügt er über eine der individuellsten Trompetenstimmen der amerikanischen Jazz-Avantgarde. Neben Lester Bowie – mit allerdings wärmerem, runderem Sound als dieser – „gilt er als wichtigster Trompeter der Chicago-Avantgarde und gewissermaßen als deren Poet.“[1] Nach Ansicht von Bert Noglik strebt er, eng verbunden mit Jazz-Avantgardisten wie Anthony Braxton und Leroy Jenkins, „nach musikalischer Erneuerung aus dem Geist der afroamerikanischen Tradition. Dabei arbeitet er kontinuierlich an der Verknüpfung musiktheoretischer Forschungen mit einer facettenreichen Spielpraxis.“[2]

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- [en] Wadada Leo Smith

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