Wadada Leo Smith’s latest album features a series of miraculous performances that give a new meaning to freedom: the sometimes lengthy and airily open improvisations take us on journeys but never seem to wander.
Ten Freedom Summers
Jazz CD Review: “Occupy The World” — Creatively Complicated Orchestral Music
Over five extended compositions, composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith leads a new large ensemble, TUMO, creating a challenging but engaging world of sound that combines composed elements with strong soloists and group improvisation.
Jazz News: Thoughts on Wadada Leo Smith’s “Ten Freedom Summers” — Pulitzer Finalist in Composition
Ten Freedom Summers is a masterful, supple series of compositions that has the gravitas of a major work that also, from time to time, it swings dramatically.
Fuse Jazz CD Review: “Ten Freedom Summers” — Unconventional Swing
Wadada Leo Smith’s album contains avant-garde music with a human face, intimate and appealing and beautifully played by a band of virtuosos.