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Editorial Reviews
Review
Play any one of these 19 songs and you're confronted or seduced by gorgeous sound combinations. Ensembles break apart and re-form into audacious musical shapes that you'll remember like landmarks, even when the music's off. Smith's trumpet savors meditative dissonance along with strings and harp; his Golden Quartet or Quintet, sometimes featuring two drummers, races through passages of wild improvisation. The whole thing is impressive, yes, but also spellbinding, like the book you read for school that alters how you think about everything. --PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2012 : The 75 Best Albums of 2012
Product Description
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.
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By TSK
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
A monumental achievement. Very gratifying to see Wadada methodically delineate in his titles the direct revolutionary connection--a connection that always exists but is rarely made explicit--between the jazz avant-garde and the history of the (ongoing) struggle for social justice in America. It would be nice if this set included, say, a 60-page booklet that filled in this history in detail for those with little background in this area, but at under $24 for a four-disc set--which is even cheaper than the download, for some reason--this is not even a quibble. Hats off to Cuneiform, Wadada, and all the musicians for making this an eleventh freedom summer.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Ten Freedom Summers is a collection of compositions mixing chamber orchestration provided by the ten-member Southwest Chamber Music ensemble and the cerebral avant-garde jazz we normally associate with WL Smith, provided by the familiar Golden Quartet. The tracks average about twelve minutes in length and range from five to over twenty minutes, spanning four discs. They were composed over a period of decades and are not simply appendices to his more well-known works; the nineteen compositions here might be some of the most patiently and intricately-crafted of his career (or anybody's career), and I don't say 'patient' or 'intricate' lightly. In fact, in the few months I've been listening, I've yet to come close to wrapping my head around it because there's just so much happening within every track. The way it blends the now-well-known avant-garde jazz traditions with what is considered 'classical music' (in no small way), distances the album considerably from any familiar genre, although the jazzier sections owe a lot to Miles Davis's atmospheric style (In A Silent Way, Bitch's Brew). Unlike these MD albums, however, or jazz in general, the compositions here are more theatrical; enjoying them almost requires that you sit still and listen. Which is not to say its like listening to a symphony, either... at times it's actually fun and spirited. It's therefore not easy to put it on a 'best-of-2012' list alongside names like Vijay Iyer or Dave Douglas or others. Despite its low-key release (like most of WL Smith's) and the fact that it was recorded in less time than the average lo-fi punk album (live, in 3 sessions), this should someday qualify as one of the most important recordings in modern music. If you're on the ropes about buying this, let me assure you there's no way you'll be disappointed.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Wadada Leo Smith has been very active in recording recently and this is the realization of a long-term project. He goes back and forth between performing with a small group (Golden Quartet/Quintet) and a contemporary classical group (and both). This reasonably priced four disc set is full of challenging music for the listener that probably should be enjoyed one disc at a time rather than a marathon listening session. Despite the quality of the set, anybody unfamiliar with Smith should probably investigate his earlier small group recordings to determine if this would be to their liking.
