Wadada Leo Smith
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Biography
A multi-instrumentalist, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is best known as a trumpeter. Born in Leland, Mississippi, on December 18, 1941, he began by playing the drums, then learned the French horn and trumpet during his musical studies. He played in various rhythm'n'blues groups and moved to Chicago, where he met Roscoe Mitchell, who introduced him to the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), of which he became a member alongside Muhal Richard Abrams and Anthony Braxton, with whom he began a regular collaboration, forming the Creative Construction Company trio in 1968, completed by Leroy Jenkins, Richard Davis and Steve McCall. In 1970, Wadada Leo Smith teamed up with Henry Threadgill to form Integral, then New Dalta Ahkri, with Anthony Davis and Oliver Lake. In 1971, he set up his own label, Kabell Records, and studied ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, without interrupting his prolific career as a musician since his first solo album, Creative Music 1 (1971). Leo Smith's many collaborations and recordings include Song of Humanity (1977), Ahkreanvention (1979), Divine Love for the ECM label (1979), Spirit Chaser (1979), Touch the Earth (1980), Go in Numbers (1982) and Human Rights (1982). Always on the lookout for new sonic adventures, he worked with avant-garde guitarist Derek Bailey in the group Company, among other short-lived formations. In the 1980s, Leo Smith became a follower of the Rastafari spiritual movement, giving the name to an album released in 1983, before the releases of Procession of the Great Ancestry (1989) and Kulture Jazz (1993). In 1993, he began teaching at the California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts), while continuing to record and experiment with new instruments such as the koto, kalimba and atenteben, a Ghanaian bamboo flute. In 1998, he paid tribute to Miles Davis in Yo, Miles! with Henry Kaiser, and in 2000 founded the Golden Quartet with Jack DeJohnette, Anthony Davis and Malachi Favors. At the same time, he began a regular collaboration with John Zorn and his label Tzadik Records on several recordings. His politically committed activity remains prolific, with albums such as America (2009), Occupy the World (2013), Sonic Rivers (2014), The Great Lakes Suite (2014), Celestial Weather (2015), Najwa (2017), Trumpet (2021), The Chicago Symphonies (2021) and the release of his twelve string quartets in 2022. He continues with Andrew Cyrille on The Emerald Duets and Two Centuries in 2022 and Vijay Iyer on Defiant Life in 2024.
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Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- Emmeya (For Alex Wallace)
- Wili (For Dave) by Wadada Leo Smith
- Themes From Jack Johnson by Wadada Leo Smith
- Agharta Prelude by Wadada Leo Smith
- Miles Dewey III - Great Ancestor by Wadada Leo Smith
- Big Fun/Hollywuud by Wadada Leo Smith
- Calypso Frelimo by Wadada Leo Smith
- Buffalo People - A Blues Ritual Dance by Ed Blackwell
- Sellassie-I by Ed Blackwell
- Moja - Nne by Wadada Leo Smith
- Black Satin by Wadada Leo Smith
- Maiysha by Wadada Leo Smith
- Ife by Wadada Leo Smith
- Kite (for Refaat Alareer) by Wadada Leo Smith
- Elegy: The Pilgrimage by Wadada Leo Smith
- Floating River Requiem by Wadada Leo Smith
- Spiritual Is 150 featuring Andrew Cyrille
- The Curve featuring Andrew Cyrille
- Prelude: Survival by Wadada Leo Smith
- Sumud by Wadada Leo Smith
- Seeds of a Forgotten Flower by Ed Blackwell
- A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke: Uncut Emeralds by Wadada Leo Smith
- A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke: A Cold Fire by Wadada Leo Smith
- A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke: Notes on Water by Wadada Leo Smith
