★TUM Records
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…
Around Again
*2022 stock* Around Again - The Music of Carla Bley presents a collection of composer and pianist Carla Bley´s compositions in new interpretations by pianist Iro Haarla, bassist Ulf Krokfors and drummer Barry Altschul. While the recording continues the longstanding collaborations of Iro Haarla and Ulf Krokfors, it also introduces in the mix Barry Altschul, who originally recorded many of the featured compositions with pianist Paul Bley´s trio more than 50 years ago.
Ode To O
Ode To O is the second release by the OGJB Quartet that features four leaders in their own right, saxophonist Oliver Lake, cornetist Graham Haynes, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Barry Altschul. As with their first release, Bamako, each member has contributed compositions to the new recording which also features two collective improvisations.
The album combines tracks based on gutbucket rhythms with others full of exploratory abstractions. The album title, Ode To O, refers to Ornette Coleman and …
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…
A Love Sonnet For Billie Holiday
A Love Sonnet For Billie Holiday brings Wadada Leo Smith, Jack DeJohnette and Vijay Iyer together for the first time in this meeting of creative giants. Smith first met and played with DeJohnette in the late 1960s and the two have collaborated with increasing frequency since DeJohnette participated in the first recording of Smith´s Golden Quartet more than two decades ago. Smith´s and Iyer´s first collaboration also goes back almost two decades. This recording marks the first time these three un…
Solo: Reflections And Meditations On Monk
Wadada Leo Smith comes to the music of Thelonious Monk from a childhood admiration of the artist. As a pre-teen he was already playing trumpet and composing and instinctively knew that Monk's understanding of music and sound would influence his own creativity. Smith believes that the quintessence of Monk can best be found in his solo work. The same can be said for Smith who has produced two previous solo collections including Creative Music—1 (1972) and Solo Music: Ahkreanvention (1979), both on…
Bamako
OGJB — Oliver Lake, Graham Haynes, Joe Fonda, and Barry Altschul — characterize themselves as a “leaderless” quartet. In that spirit, the compositions featured here serve as sketches to be built and elaborated on (and often entirely reconfigured), not as templates or structural frameworks. Unison passages are tightly executed, yet with just enough raggedness to their edge that the individualism of each man’s expression remains paramount, reflecting the overarching theme of this project: the kind…
Najwa
Wadada Leo Smith´s new album Najwa features four compositions in tribute to past masters of creative music, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Billie Holiday, as well as the title composition "Najwa" in remembrance of a love lost. Compared to Smith´s prior recordings, the presence of four guitarists and Bill Laswell´s electric bass create a unique sound world and fluidity for the music. Although Wadada Leo Smith has worked with electric guitars in the past, including in h…
Celestial Weather
With Celestial Weather, Wadada Leo Smith and John Lindberg employ a spare, conversational approach. Smith whispers on the mute and issues plaintive cries with the open horn. Lindberg bows and goes pizzicato. Smith searches for and finds very un-trumpet-like sounds-squawks and squeaks and whistles. Unlike Smith's large scale offerings, that often feature massive cacophonies, space is a major facet of the sound. It is music that is reflective and serene. The disc's centerpiece, the five part "Cele…
The Great Lakes Suites
Wadada Leo Smith, a trumpet player born in Mississippi in 1941, was an early member of the Chicago-based AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) but has remained somewhat lesser known than such collaborators as Abrams, Mitchell, and Braxton. He reached new audiences in the late 1990s and early 2000s when he joined guitarist Henry Kaiser in the Yo Miles! projects, reinterpreting music from the Miles Davis electric period. Smith’s 21st-century recordings with his Golden Quarte…
Occupy The World
Occupy the World features the legendary composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith together with Tumo, a new improvising orchestra that is assembled specifically for each project, in its first appearance. The 22-piece orchestra performs five extended compositions by Smith, including "Occupy The World For Life, Liberty and Justice," his most extensive recorded composition to date, that was originally inspired by the Occupy movement. The four other compositions included on this double-CD were also re…
Da Bang!
Da Bang! was recorded in February 2011, just two months before the master violinist Billy Bang (1947-2011) succumbed to cancer. In this final session, the Billy Bang Group featured one extended composition by Bang, "Daydreams," as well as compositions by some of Bang´s favorite musicians, including Barry Altschul, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. For Da Bang!, the Billy Bang Group featured legendary trombonist Dick Griffin as well as Bang´s regular accompanists in his …
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…
Prayer For Peace
Prayer for Peace is the first recording by violinist Billy Bang´s regular working quintet of the past five or so years. Featured with Bang are trumpeter James Zollar, pianist Andrew Bemkey, bassist Todd Nicholson and drummer Newman Taylor-Baker. Billy Bang has long been recognized as a true master on his chosen instrument and as one of the undisputed leaders of his generation of improvising musicians. This recording again demonstrates the reasons for this presenting Bang at his strongest both as…
The Sky Is Ruby
Raoul Björkenheim, who is one of the most adventurous guitarists on the contemporary scene, initially progressed from B.B. King to Frank Zappa and from John McLaughlin to John Coltrane in his search of a sound of his own. With his own groups, such as Krakatau, Björkenheim accomplished that goal more than two decades ago and has successfully brought this unique sound to his own compositions as well. For The Sky Is Ruby, Björkenheim penned eight inspired original compositions that make good use of…
Witch's Scream
*Includes 20 page booklet.* Each with five decades of musical knowledge and experience in free improvisation under their belts, the trio of saxophonist John Tchicai (also heard, for the first time on record, on vocals), bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille got together in New York in September 2004 to record Witch's Scream. Although they are all veterans of improvised music going back to the vital free jazz scene of New York City in the early 1960s and have often played together in …
Penguin Beguine
After their duo album Heart of a Bird, Iro Haarla and Ulf Krokfors wanted to make a recording with a different overall atmosphere and have some fun doing it with a larger ensemble. To achieve this, a group of friends was brought together to form the Iro Haarla-Ulf Krokfors Loco Motife. The music of Penguin Beguine is based on an electric sound especially in the form of Haarla´s different keyboards and Mikko Iivanainen´s electric guitar. Add strong compositions by Haarla and Krokfors, powerful pe…
Eclexistence
Delirium is a quartet made up of Finnish saxophonist Mikko Innanen and his three Danish compatriots, including Kasper Tranberg on cornet, Jonas Westergaard on bass and Stefan Pasborg on drums. Eclexistence, the second album of Delirium, is characterized by a sense of musical adventure. Combining the tradition of modern jazz with their own fresh attitude, there is a definite joy of freedom and will to experiment that guide the quartet´s approach. New elements, such as increased ethnic influences,…
Tara's Song
This is the first recording of Ahmed Abdullah´s Ebonic Tones, featuring trumpeter Abdullah, baritone saxophonist Alex Harding and violinist Billy Bang in an unusual, yet highly effective front line and bassist Alex Blake and drummer Andrei Strobert as the solid rhythm section. Tara´s Song is a musical journey through a wide array of styles helping us experience and appreciate what Abdullah himself calls "Jazz: The Music of the Spirit". In addition to Abdullah´s own compositions, the ensemble int…