|
CD Reviews
|
|
Jason Bivins for Dusted Magazine, published March 5, 2009
An important and long-overdue reissue, this one features the trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith at the peak of his 1980s work. At the time of this 1983 recording, he was crafting his theories later captured by the term Ankhrasmation, but was still very much a product of the ethos (or should we say ethoi) of the AACM, whose motto "Great Black Music - Ancient to the Future" facilitated precisely the kind of syncretic playing heard throughout this Chicago date. With longtime companions Bobby Naughton (whose vibraphone is central to so much of Smith's work from this period), bassist Joe Fonda, and percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, Smith takes in everything from wafting polytonal essays in texture (the title track, dedicated to Miles Davis) to amalgams of reggae and blues (the opening "Jah Jah is the Perfect Love," one of several places where Smith sings as well).
Over the course of these pieces - many of which make up a series of dedications to trumpeters who have inspired Smith - the leader displays his incredible instrumental range. He takes in most of the trumpet's idiomatic associations - a tightly polished mute phrase, a lower register strawberry, a quick clarion post-bop lick - and blends them in a very distinct fashion, tracing a bold line amidst the billowing vibe chords, cymbals and solemn bass heard throughout. His distinctly colorful style is abetted by a truly sympathetic group of improvisers. El'Zabar adds a fantastic bestiary of percussive sound to these pieces; his range and imagination are absolutely crucial to the blend of the ominous and the puckish heard here. A young Fonda is riveting in his bass playing on this track, punctuating certain statements and throwing wrenches into others (he switches to electric on the opener and on "Who Killed David Walker," both of which add second bassist Mchaka Uba and guitarist Louis Myers).
The pieces run together seamlessly, their gauzy edges blending even if the whole doesn't sound soft. Indeed, the music is at times rumbling, halting and percussive, as on the Booker Little dedication "The Flower That Seeds the Earth," whose dark hues and melancholy open the way for the staccato patterns of "The Third World, Grainery of Pure Earth" (with a gruff, swinging disposition dedicated to Roy Eldridge). But while things are often flinty and emphatic, the heart of this music is reflective and abstract, heard nowhere more effectively than in the stirring hymn for MLK (where Smith's trumpet is joined by John Powell's tenor sax) that concludes the disc. Praises to Nessa for bringing this gem back.
Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Dusted Magazine and Jason Bivins
CD Reviews
All reviews written by Jason Bivins → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes
|
|
Clifford Allen for Bagatellen, published March 2, 2009
Trumpeter-composer Wadada Leo Smith's second of two dates for Nessa Records is a true embodiment of the AACM Great Black Music aesthetic. Procession of the Great Ancestry is a very mature record, Smith's concept of rhythm-units clearly defined, ripening aesthetically yet tied to a sense of history. By the early 1980s, Smith was resident in New Haven, far from his Mississippi and Chicago roots. His working group at the time featured vibraphonist Bobby Naughton and bassist Joe Fonda, culled from the Creative Musicians' Improvisers Forum, a musicians' collective that self-produced concerts, taught workshops, and issued recordings on a number of artist-run labels. The Chicago axis is filled out by percussionist Khalil El'Zabar, and on two tracks bassist Mchaka Uba and guitarist Louis Myers (of blues band The Aces) make appearancs. Tenor saxophonist John Powell also appears on one cut.
The title track is a dedication to Miles, like four of the seven compositions here in homage to a departed trumpeter. The dedications are not necessarily related on the surface to their namesakes; sure, the pinched Harmon mute might recall Davis' terse, wispy sketches, especially as they trace direct lines of projection across and around an electrified carpet. Smith's comrades employ vibraphone, fuzzy arco bass and occasional bright accents to a steadily-shifting and overlapping measure of short phrases. Smith's runs and stabs do contain echoes of blistering agitation, but separated from traditional notions of hardbop propulsion to an entirely separate set of activities. Physicality and phrase are isolated rhythmically and in interstitial relation to similar actions in time. Booker Little's sharp cries and minor-key calls receive homage in "The Flower that Seeds the Earth," the trio setting up a wobbly-rail groove behind the trumpeter as he carves stained Moorish epics into stately walks and suspended-time cooking.
It's the inclusion of bluesman Louis Myers that really sets this record in a different light; both of the tunes he appears on are brief and feature Smith's vocals. "Who Killed David Walker" rides a jagged, amped-up swing with dual basses and vibes setting the head in motion as Myers' slick elisions and gobs of hollow-body impasto give an extraordinary weight to the group. This quartet is cutting yet ephemeral, a unique quality that Myers' incomparable fretwork fleshes out. Procession of the Great Ancestry is easily one of Wadada Leo Smith's strongest recordings and its reemergence on disc is already setting the 2009 reissue bar very, very high.
Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Bagatellen and Clifford Allen
CD Reviews
All reviews written by Clifford Allen → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes
|
|
Thom Jurek for All Music Guide
Recorded in 1983 in Nessa's Acme studio in Chicago, Procession of the Great Ancestry is among Wadada Leo Smith's most obscure, but ultimately most satisfying, recordings. Featuring Kahil El'Zabar, Louis Myers, Joe Fonda, John Powell, Mchaka Uba, and Bobby Naughton, this was the first album to showcase Smith's expansive vision, which included all forms of black music — from the myriad languages of jazz to gutbucket blues, reggae, and various African folk musics as well as a little R&B groove for measure. It was also the first to feature his wonderful vocals as a mainstay on his projects. Fans can think of this disc as Kulture Jazz, Vol. 1, with a band. The disc opens with "Blues: Jah Jah Is the Perfect Love," a deeply moving blues that is equal parts funky backbeat and Nigerian rhythm with a reggae groove. Smith sings with soul as the band weaves a magic spell around him. This is immediately followed by the title track, a gentle but very abstract piece written for Miles Davis that incorporates Davis' modal science and Smith's sense of space and dynamic. This is the first of four pieces for trumpeters; the next work, "The Flower That Seeds the Earth," is for Booker Little, and "The Third World, Grainery of Pure Earth" is for Roy Eldridge. Track six, "Celestial Sparks in the Sanctuary of Redemption," is for Dizzy Gillespie. All of these works are in the free jazz mode, but their gentleness is their attraction. Smith here is playing a poetic balladry for these men, while musically elucidating his cosmology — the rhythm section is so attuned, so finely restrained and tasteful, Smith could sing it out if he wanted to, but instead he creates long melody lines that whisper to completion. The set closes with "Nuru Light: The Prince of Peace," a short processional in minor mode that has Naughton's vibraharp playing fills under the horn lines and through El'Zabar's brushed drums. After its deeply moving, sonorous theme, a pair of kalimbas and the vibraharp play a lullaby to balance the weight, taking it out with enough grace and elegance to make the listener nod in wonder before playing it again.
Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All Media Guide, LLC and Thom Jurek.
Source: Z95-3
CD Reviews
All reviews written by Thom Jurek → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes
|
|
Bill Shoemaker for Point of Departure
Two tracks on this 1983 Chicago session - the opener, "Blues: Jah Jah is the Perfect Love" and "Who Killed David Walker?," embedded deeper in the album - tend to place Procession of the Great Ancestry on a sideways dotted line on the flow chart of Wadada Leo Smith's discography. Featuring the trumpeter's vocals, Louis Myers' electric guitar, and the two-bass hit of Joe Fonda's electric instrument and Mchaka Uba's double bass, these blues-infused pieces draw upon Smith's early exposure to Delta blues and work in R&B bands. However, Myers' clean sound, Bobby Naughton's vibes and Kahil El' Zabar's hand drumming on "Blues" give the music a distinct African feel. The remaining five pieces are very much in the vein of Smith's Rhythm Unit compositions of that period, fitting hand in glove with his compositions on another '83 recording, Rastafari (a collaboration with the Bill Smith Ensemble, it was first issued on Sackville and now available as a Boxholder CD). Significantly, the Toronto date also featured a vibraharpist, an indication of how central New Dalta Ahkri stalwart Naughton was to Smith's conceptions. Naughton's understanding of Rhythm Units as an activator of interaction – rather than a measurement – is particularly well conveyed on longer performances like the title tune, "The Third World, Grainery of Pure Earth" and "Celestial Sparks in the Sanctuary of Redemption," where he, Fonda (playing double bass) and El' Zabar (who shuttles between traps and miscellaneous percussion) dovetail Smith and each other one moment, and then pull strenuously on the music the next. This is music that largely moves in fits and starts, one whose generative principles are hard if not impossible to pin down at any moment, yet there is an ear-grabbing, organic feel to it. Much of this is traceable to Smith, a magnetic presence even whether he is squeezing out muted long notes, stretching textures or generating riveting runs in the album's more abstract moments. He is awe-inspiring playing a humble, mournful unison theme with tenor saxophonist John Powell on "Nuru Light: The Prince of Peace;" utilizing a taped excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last speech, this short piece is among the most profound statements Smith has ever recorded.
Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2009 Point of Departure and Bill Shoemaker.
CD Reviews
All reviews written by Bill Shoemaker → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes
|
