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Wadada Leo Smith's Ten Freedom Summers


Stefan Wood

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This looks very interesting!

From Amazon:

Lauded as one of the most vital musicians on the planet by Coda, and "one of the most imaginative and explorative composers in creative music." by John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith is one of the most visionary, boldly original and artistically important figures in contemporary American Jazz and free music, and one of the most distinctive trumpet players of our time.

Spread out over four discs, Ten Freedom Summers is based on the Civil Rights Movement in the USA and Wadada Leo Smith has been working on it on and off for over 30 years. It features performances by his Golden Quartet/Quintet and a small chamber ensemble, including Anthony Davis, John Lindberg, Pheeroan AkLaaf, Susie Ibarra and others. Wadada's previous albums on Cuneiform have been extremely strong sellers and have received huge critical acclaim and strong radio play and Ten Freedom Summers is not only a truly remarkable recording, it is Wadada s piece de resistance of his musical accomplishments. Having recently turned 70 and more active now than anytime in his career, with Ten Freedom Summers , Wadada Leo Smith continues to point forward in his work.

Edited by Stefan Wood
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sample on Cuneiform site now. Sounds marvellous, just how I'd imagined WLS would marshall such resources - with precision, lightness and great soul. Here's hoping it's representative of the whole

Amazon.com gives 5/22 release date with pre=order at $24 which for a four disc set has got to be worth it

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Wadada was interviewed last night on BBC Jazz on 3 - not managed to listen yet but should be interesting, Ken Vandermark is the interviewer.

thanks very much for highlighting that. I seem to have completely forgotten about Jon3's existence since it's move to such a convenient time....never even look at the schedule, my loss.

Off to 'listen again' soon

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I have listened to Wadada on and off over the years. Always liked the tone of his trumpet and the overall vibe.

I recently bought the Ten Freedom Summers set. With four CDs, there is certainly much to absorb.

While I enjoy reading what others have to say about music, I don't like to write about it much myself. So no long write-up here, other than to say that I find this music to be outstanding!! I think this is one that I will continue to dig into and come back to over time. Words that come to mind to describe it: strong, sparse, beautiful, substantive, interesting. Parts of it actually remind me of one of my favorite Miles Davis lps, My Funny Valentine.

Just very happy to have discovered this :tup

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