Wadada Leo Smith

Wadada Leo Smith, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser is one of the most acclaimed creative artists of his times, both for his music and his writings. For the last five decades, Mr. Smith has been a member of the historical and legendary AACM collective. He distinctly defines his music as “Creative Music.” Mr. Smith’s diverse discography reveals a recorded history centered around important issues that have impacted his world.

For over two decades, Mr. Smith has been creating music for multiple ensembles. Some of these works take several days to perform: Ten Freedom Summers (2011, RedCat, Los Angeles); “Tabligh” for double-ensemble was performed by Golden Quartet and Classical Persian ensemble at Merkin Concert Hall (2006); Golden Quartet and Suleyman Erguner’s Classical Turkish ensemble at Akbank Music Festival in Istanbul (2007). His largest work “Odwira” for 12 multi-ensembles (52 instrumentalists) was performed at California Institute of the Arts (March 1995).

Today he joins The Jazz Podcast to discuss his two new albums, released on the TUM label.