Wadada Leo Smith
Kabell Years 1971-1979
Tzadik TZ7610-4 (4 CD set)

SUMMER 1975: One evening we went to visit Leo Smith's family in Connecticut, and of course there was another surprise. It seemed that wherever we arrived there was music happening. And this time a rare occasion. A Leo Smith solo concert in New Haven. Upstairs in a small building called The Space, on Orange Street, every Wednesday evening, Leo had arranged a series of solo concerts of his own music. A music that was structured around his very special talents as a brass player and percussionist. Improvised music for sure, but structured by his attitude pertaining to his instruments and the virtuoso technique he has developed. The structures must hold together by their own power. Leo achieves this with a system that deals with the music in a continuous and dramatic way, utilizing quite liberally many elements of theatre, theatre that comes about by certain location placements of the multitudes of instruments that he plays. (Imagine The Sound No. 5 • The Book - Photographs And Writings By Bill Smith, 1985)

Leo Smith, alongside Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and the Revolutionary Ensemble were to form most of the nucleus of a music that was to change our attitude to what we were hearing and make us even more aware of the possibilities of the music we had previously listened to. Bird, Dolphy, Taylor, Coleman and Coltrane took on new dimensions and it showed us a perfectly clear path to what had arrived. Leo Smith, like many of the Chicago school (?) is a virtuoso musician, and a composer and arranger of startling magnitude. In many respects he represents the traditions that preceded him, his knowledge of music, historically, is broad, his attitudes toward Ellington, whom he calls the master musician, Armstrong with Joe Oliver, Bechet and New Orleans and his own heritage of Mississippi create for him a knowledge of immense proportions, an experience that allows him to create the music he plays with such authority. (Coda Magazine - November 1975) *

All this is happening in the time frame that these four CDs are recorded, and represent an extremely high point in American improvised music. Being there, being a part of this period is one of those portentous moments that rarely occur in one's personal life. Of such significance that it was to influence an as yet undetermined future. Over the ensuing years we were able to participate on numerous levels with Leo Smith; to present him in concert at the influential A Space series in Toronto, to record him for Sackville Recordings with Anthony Braxton (Trio & Duet - Sackville SKCD2-3007), with our own collective (now available as Rastafari - Boxholder BXH 035), and to discover a whole new world of creative music.

The challenge, once again, of verbalizing the aural, presents itself especially in the description of the two solo CDs (#1 - "Creative Music-1" and #4 - "Ahkreanvention"), in which he is not exclusively a brass player, but where he incorporates other instruments ranging through various drums, cymbals, gongs, bells, and home made percussion. The 17 pieces — which roughly bracket this 4CD set — illustrate his keen imagination and reference the history he has so much knowledge of. It is clear that his Mississippi origins are intact, as the music, for all its newness, is steeped in the blues, his sound and approach recognizable in the first note of every piece, his character and concept so strong that there can be no mistaking him. This is material that every "student" of trumpet, or indeed improvisation, should be procuring, for it contains all the elements of greatness; tone, technique, beauty, creativity, variety, and perhaps most importantly - originality. The pieces range in length from 2:57 - 20:04.

CD2 - "Reflectativity", introduces the first recorded evidence of New Delta Ahkri with Anthony Davis (piano) and Wes Brown (bass) and represents Leo's compositional concepts clearly. The first two of the five pieces constitute the original lp release with dedications to "Edward Kennedy Ellington" and the "fishermen of the world". The drama that exists in his solo music is logically extended into trio form with each piece containing organized movements directed with spatial logic. Again, Leo's powerful bell-like tone soaring, but now nourished by the piano and bass. The strength of this group music is accomplished by the interchanged information indicated in the scores, the various tempos and dynamics, and the abilities of the trio to interpret the intentions through close listening. Ultimately this unique music could be described as through composed music for improvisers. As for Anthony Davis, he was at this time, an extraordinary new pianist whose heritage had much to do with Duke Ellington in that he was influenced, perhaps unconsciously, in much the same way as Monk, Randy Weston, Andrew Hill, Dollar Brand and Cecil Taylor are. All approaching the piano as a self-contained percussion instrument.

Five years have passed since the first solo recording and CD3 - "Song of Humanity" presents New Delta Ahkri in full force with the addition of saxophonist Oliver Lake and drummer Pheeroan Ak Laff, who obviously create a forward action, with the "rhythm units" being more readily apparent. Although unmistakably from the same mind, the compositions take on a new, slightly denser character, with Oliver's St. Louis bluesy squall and the finely tuned percussion of Pheeroan. The title track, with a tight harmon mute in place — remembering Miles — sets a gentleness that pervades throughout. Perhaps reflecting their state of mind in those wonderfully creative times. The music contains a more orchestral feel with the intermittent use of flutes, marimba and even an electric piano and organ. This CD also introduces compositions by Anthony Davis, including his now well known "Of Blues and Dreams". One of the seven tracks is previously unreleased and is sans drums.

It's not surprising, I suppose, that the so-called "jazz historians" have failed to recognize the natural lineage that Leo Smith's music is part of. Failed to comprehend that he comes from Armstrong, Eldridge, Dizzy and Miles, and have instead chosen warmed-over college boys as their choice of champion. And there has been plenty of time to be aware of this, after all these recordings are from thirty years ago. For me, this has been a personal and joyful journey, invigorating memories from a time of great adventures and creative discovery, a time that fortunately was captured and has been reissued, with a dozen previously unreleased tracks, for all to hear.

* The complete interview of Leo Smith from 1975 can be found here.

Leo Smith's website is at: http://music.calarts.edu/~wls