An exciting and belated birthday for talented and fascinating Wadada Leo Smith ( https://wadadaleosmith.com/ on the World Poetry Café Radio Show with co-host poet, writer, and World Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Addena Sumter Freitag.
Host and producer Ariadne Sawyer, MA, and tech Victor Schwartzman, resident poet, Kelley Montgomery, and the Big Bessie short stories by Sharon Rowe. We were honoured to welcome Wadada back once again.
Also featured in our Loving Memory Series was the wonderful Mr. Bibb.
A wonderful singer who performed at one of our Black History Month Celebrations and spoke about his involvement with the civil rights movement.
About Wadada Leo Smith:
Latest news: The Los Angeles Philharmonic presents the world premiere of new work by iconic composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist and composer Wadada Leo Smith is one of the most boldly original and influential artists of his time.
Transcending the bounds of genre or idiom, he distinctly defines his music, tirelessly inventive in both sound and approach, as “Creative Music.”
For the last five decades, Smith has been a member of the legendary AACM collective, pivotal in its wide-open perspectives on music and art in general. He has carried those all-embracing concepts into his
own work, expanding upon them in myriad ways.
Throughout his career, Smith was recognized for his groundbreaking work. A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, he received the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award and earned an honorary doctorate from
CalArts, where he was also celebrated as Faculty Emeritus. In addition, he received the Hammer Museum’s 2016 Mohn Award for Career Achievement “honoring brilliance and resilience.” In 2018 he received the Religion and The Arts Award from the American Academy of Religion.
Smith has released more than 50 albums as a leader on labels including ECM, Moers, Black Saint, Tzadik, Pi Recordings, TUM, Leo and Cuneiform. His diverse discography reveals a recorded history centered
around important issues that have impacted his world, exploring the social, natural and political environment of his times with passion and fierce intelligence.” His most recent recordings include
2021’s Sacred Ceremonies, a 3 CD set featuring Smith, Bill Laswell & Milford Graves; Trumpet, a 3 CD solo trumpet set; The Chicago Symphonies a 4-album set celebrating the Midwest with his Great Lakes
Quartet; and A Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday. In March 2022 TUM will release two major box sets of Smith’s work.
Born December 18, 1941 in Leland, Mississippi, Smith’s early musical life began at age thirteen when he became involved with the Delta blues and jazz traditions performing with his stepfather, bluesman Alex Wallace. He received his formal musical education from the U.S. Military band program (1963), the Sherwood School of Music (1967-69), and Wesleyan University (1975-76). Smith has released more than 50 albums as a leader on labels including ECM, Moers, Black Saint, Tzadik, Pi Recordings, TUM, Leo and Cuneiform.
His diverse discography reveals a recorded history centered on the important issues that have impacted his world, exploring the social, natural and political environment of his times with passion and fierce intelligence.” His most recent recordings include 2021’s Sacred Ceremonies, a 3 CD set featuring Smith, Bill Laswell & Milford Graves; Trumpet, a 3 CD solo trumpet set; The Chicago Symphonies a 4-album set celebrating the Midwest with his Great Lakes Quartet; and A Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday.
In March 2022 TUM will release two major box sets of Smith’s work. This included Wadada Leo Smith: String Quartets No. 1 – 12, a 7-CD box set featuring RedKoral Quartet plus many featured soloists.
Parts of this article is from Braithwaite & Katz.
All rights reserved.
