die beiden neuen Wadada Leo Smith Boxen sollen dann im Mai endlich herauskommen… inzwischen gibt es immerhin Artwork und Tracklists… die wesentliche Neuigkeit im Vergleich zu den frueheren Ankuendigungen, ist, dass die erste Box doch fuenf CDs hat und nicht vier, weil man sich entschieden hat, doch zwei Duoalben mit Jack DeJohnette zu praesentieren statt nur eins… das werden dann also beides ziemliche Brecher… gerade mal geschaut wie sich die Gaeste auf die Streichquartette verteilen, das 4., 6., 7. und 8. Quartett haben erweiterte Besetzungen, mal mit Smith selber, mal mit Anthony Davis (p) usw – das betrifft drei der CDs. Somit sind vier CDs rein Streichquartett… sie sehen auf jeden Fall beide wieder sehr schmuck aus…
(5-CD set) The Emerald Duets is a crowning achievement among Wadada Leo Smith’s many recorded duo collaborations with drummers/percussionists that have previously featured such creative giants as Ed Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, Milford Graves (TUM BOX 003), Louis Moholo-Moholo (TUM CD 029) and Guenter Sommer, among others. The Emerald Duets features four master drummers who have each, in their own unique fashion, contributed to the way modern drumming has developed in the past six decades and how it is now perceived. Pheeroan akLaff, Andrew Cyrille and Han Bennink are each featured on one disc and Jack DeJohnette on two discs, including Smith’s five-part composition ‚Paradise: The Gardens and Fountains‘ that fills the fifth disc of this boxed set in its entirety. The sessions with akLaff, Cyrille and DeJohnette mostly feature compositions by Wadada Leo Smith, including three very different versions of Smith’s powerful statement for the protection of freedom and democracy, ‚The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy. ‚ The session with Bennink includes a combination of Smith’s compositions and collectively created tracks.
Disc 1: Wadada Leo Smith & Pheeroan akLaff: Litanies, Prayers and Meditations 1. The Prayer (for Keith Jarrett) 2. First Meditation from the Heart: the Beauty, the Beloved 3. The Uyghur in Xinjiang, China 4. Rumi’s Masnavi: A Sonic Expression (Wadada Leo Smith) – Part 1, 5. Rumi’s Masnavi: A Sonic Expression (Wadada Leo Smith) – Part 2, 6. Rumi’s Masnavi: A Sonic Expression (Wadada Leo Smith) – Part 3, 7. Rumi’s Masnavi: A Sonic Expression (Wadada Leo Smith) – Part 4, 8. A Sonic Litany on Peace 9. The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy 10. A Sonic Litany on Justice 11. Second Meditation from the Heart: the Beloved, the Beauty
Disc 2: Wadada Leo Smith & Andrew Cyrille: Havana, Cuba 1. The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy2. Havana, the Maghrib Prayer and Reflections 3. Ilhan Omar 4. Mongezi Feza 5. Jeanne Lee: In a Jupiter Mood 6. Donald Ayler: The Master of the Sound and Energy Forms 7. A Rainbow Sonic Ark for Tomasz Ludwik Stanko (1942-2018) 8. Haiti, an Independent Nation in 1804 but not Recognized by Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Others: A Designed Tragedy!
Disc 3: Wadada Leo Smith & Han Bennink: Mysterious Sonic Fields 1. Chrysanthemum Flowers on a Mountaintop (for Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson) 2. Largo: A Mysterious Love Sonic (for Shana Redmond and her family) 3. Louis Armstrong in New York City and Accra, Ghana 4. Albert Einstein: Particles of Light, a Study in Perception 5. Ornette Coleman at the World’s Fair of Science and Art in Fort Worth, Texas 6. The Call – A Duet between Joseph „King“ Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton 7. Light Garden in a Dream-Space, a Remembrance of Shaba of Ethiopia 8. Han Bennink on Fifth Avenue, NYC 9. Johnny Dyani, the Artist Who Imagined a New South Africa. A Celebration
Disc 4: Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette: Freedom Summer, the Legacy 1. Sandalwood and Sage 2. Freedom Summer 3. Meditation: A Sonic Circle of Double Piano Resonances 4. The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy 5. Silence, Quietness and Very Still
Disc 5: Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette: Paradise: The Gardens and Fountains 1. Part I – The River of Abundance 2. Part II – The Fountain of Tasnim 3. Part III – The Supreme Fountain 4. Part IV – Exaltation and Musk 5. Part V – Pomegranates and Herbal Teas
(7-CD set) String Quartets Nos. 1-12 focus on Wadada Leo Smith as a composer for strings. Smith began work on his first string quartet in 1965 and has composed string quartets and other works for strings throughout his career. Smith has also featured strings on a number of his other major works, including Ten Freedom Summers in 2011, Occupy The World in 2012 (TUM CD 037-2) and Rosa Parks: Pure Love in 2016/17 (TUM CD 057). String Quartets Nos. 1-12 represent a magnificent addition not only to Smith’s own recorded output but also to the literature for modern string quartet music in general. Compositions vary from relatively brief, one-part quartets of highly evocative and at times meditative soundscapes to the groundbreaking ‚String Quartet No. 11‘ that fills two discs with its nine movements.
String Quartets Nos. 1-12 were recorded by the RedKoral Quartet. The group was brought together by Smith during his tenure at CalArts and was featured on the recording of Ten Freedom Summers more than a decade ago and again on Rosa Parks: Pure Love as well as on numerous live performances of Smith’s string quartets and other works over the past decade. In addition, featured soloists on the recording include harpist Alison Bjorkedal (‚String Quartet No. 4‘), pianist Anthony Davis (‚String Quartet No. 6‘), percussionist Lynn Vartan (‚String Quartet No. 6‘), guitarist Stuart Fox (‚String Quartet No. 7‘) and voice artist Thomas Buckner (‚String Quartet No. 8‘) as well as Wadada Leo Smith himself on trumpet (‚String Quartet No. 6‘ and ‚String Quartet No. 8‘).
Disc 1: 1. String Quartet No. 1 (1965-1982) – Movement 1, ‚Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917-1995)‘ 2. String Quartet No. 1 (1965-1982) – Movement 2 ‚Thomas Jefferson Anderson, Jr. (1928- )‘ 3. String Quartet No. 1 (1965-1982) – Movement 3 ‚Hale Smith (1925-2009)‘ 4. String Quartet No. 1 (1965-1982) – Movement 4 ‚George Theophilus Walker (1922-2018)‘ 5. String Quartet No. 2 (1969-1980)
Disc 2: 1. String Quartet No. 3 ‚Black Church: A First World Gathering of the Spirit‘ (1995) – Movement 1, 2. String Quartet No. 3 ‚Black Church: A First World Gathering of the Spirit‘ (1995) – Movement 2, 3. String Quartet No. 4 (1987-2001) – Movement 1, 4. String Quartet No. 4 (1987-2001) – Movement 2, 5. String Quartet No. 4 (1987-2001) – Movement 3, 6. String Quartet No. 4 (1987-2001) – Movement 4, 7. String Quartet No. 4 (1987-2001) – Movement 5
Disc 3: 1. String Quartet No. 5 ‚In the Diaspora – Earthquakes and Sunrise Missions‘ (2005) 2. String Quartet No. 6 ‚Taif: Prayer in the Garden of the Hijaz‘ (2007) 3. String Quartet No. 7 ‚Ten Thousand Ceveus Peruvianus Amemevical‘ (2011)
Disc 4: 1. String Quartet No. 8 ‚Opuntia Humifusa‘ (2011) 2. String Quartet No. 9 (2001-2015) – Movement 1 – Ma Rainey 3. String Quartet No. 9 (2001-2015) – Movement 2 – Marian Anderson 4. String Quartet No. 10 ‚Angela Davis: Into the Morning Sunlight‘ (2007-2016)
Disc 5: 1. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 1 ‚Shaikh Cerno Boka‘ 2. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 2 ‚Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)‘ 3. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 3 ‚Sarah Bell Brown-Smith (1920-1994)‘ 4. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 4 ‚Kashala Kiom Smith‘ 5. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 5 ‚At the Heart’s Core, Knowledge (For UCLA Music Library)‘
Disc 6: 1. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 6 ‚Sarhanna Kabell Smith‘ 2. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 7 ‚Bessie Smith (1894-1937)‘ 3. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 8 ‚Alvin Singleton‘ 4. String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) – Movement 9 ‚Red Autumn’s Gold (For Lucius G. Smith)‘
Disc 7: 1. String Quartet No. 12 (2016-2018) – Movement 1 ‚Billie Holiday (1915-1959)‘ 2. String Quartet No. 12 (2016-2018) – Movement 2 ‚Pacifica‘
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