Smith, Wadada Leo / Organic / Heart's Reflections
| Album: | Heart's Reflections | Collection: | Jazz | |
| Artist: | Smith, Wadada Leo / Organic | Added: | Aug 2011 | |
| Label: | Cuneiform Records | |||
A-File Activity
| Add Date: | 2011-08-21 | Pull Date: | 2011-10-23 | Charts: | Jazz |
|---|
| Week Ending: | Oct 23 | Oct 16 | Oct 9 | Oct 2 | Sep 25 | Sep 18 | Sep 4 | Aug 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airplays: | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Recent Airplay
| 1. | Oct 22, 2011: | Music Casserole
Leroy Jenkins's Air Steps |
4. | Oct 07, 2011: | No Cover, No Minimum
Don Cherry's Electric Sonic Garden |
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| 2. | Oct 18, 2011: | Rebop
Heart's Reflections: Certainty |
5. | Oct 04, 2011: | Rebop
Heart's Reflections: Spiritual Wayfarers |
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| 3. | Oct 13, 2011: | The Songsmith Show
Heart's Reflections: Certainty |
6. | Sep 30, 2011: | No Cover, No Minimum
Heart's Reflections: The Majestic Way |
Album Review
Fo
Reviewed 2011-08-21
Reviewed 2011-08-21
WADADA LEO SMITH’S ORGANIC: Heart’s Reflections
Cuneiform, 2011
AVANT-FUSION – Improvising trumpet hero Wadada Leo Smith leads a 14-piece electric group (including four(!) guitarists, two bassists, two laptop artists) into his sprawling universe of spaced-out free-funk jams. It’s a direct descendant of 1970s Miles Davis, but no retread: this stuff is vital and deep, deep, deep. And despite the group’s size, this never feels overblown – most tracks actually use much smaller subgroups with Smith as the only distinguishable horn.
The “Heart’s Reflections” suite has 11 diverse movements, dominating Disc 1 and spilling over onto Disc 2 as it roams from meditative silences to thumping blasts. Three lengthy musical portraits – of trumpeter Don Cherry, writer Toni Morrison and violinist Leroy Jenkins – act as bookends for the set.
Fo’s Picks: Disc 1 – 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 Disc 2 – 1, 2, 5
DISC ONE
1. 20:50 – heavy trudging groove sets up shredding trumpet solo, stinging guitars, scribbling keyboard; a brief fall into zero-g at the midpoint
2. 2:33 – sparse duet: exotic drum march and a trumpet declaration
3. 6:27 – very slow: solo keyboard, ethereal ensemble, inscrutable bass solo
4. 9:13 – hard groove, driving drums: trumpet points, but guitars diverge
5. 7:29 – continues from #4; ensemble improv rides a steady beat, gets wild
6. 6:11 – slow trumpet over a quietly bubbling backdrop that gradually rises up
7. 5:24 – rock beat: percolating groove with punchy trumpet/keyboard/guitar
8. 3:35 – very slow guitar, open soundscape of strange, quiet samples & tones
9. 2:32 – brisk mutant jazz: cool drums & twin electric basses with effects
DISC TWO
1. 5:35 – great tumbling drums, supported by a slow, minimalist melody
2. 6:13 – rolling trio: echoing trumpet stabs the air, bass & drums push
3. 5:02 – slow and abstract with flaring trumpet, breathing backdrop
4. 10:35 – slow abstraction: laptops & violin squeak madly, piano expands
5. 22:29 – spiky intro becomes a dense psychedelic free-for-all; cool strutting groove emerges with mad solos and screeching interplay, but this trades off every few minutes with slow, solemn trumpet reflections
[ Fo ] - August 2011
Cuneiform, 2011
AVANT-FUSION – Improvising trumpet hero Wadada Leo Smith leads a 14-piece electric group (including four(!) guitarists, two bassists, two laptop artists) into his sprawling universe of spaced-out free-funk jams. It’s a direct descendant of 1970s Miles Davis, but no retread: this stuff is vital and deep, deep, deep. And despite the group’s size, this never feels overblown – most tracks actually use much smaller subgroups with Smith as the only distinguishable horn.
The “Heart’s Reflections” suite has 11 diverse movements, dominating Disc 1 and spilling over onto Disc 2 as it roams from meditative silences to thumping blasts. Three lengthy musical portraits – of trumpeter Don Cherry, writer Toni Morrison and violinist Leroy Jenkins – act as bookends for the set.
Fo’s Picks: Disc 1 – 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 Disc 2 – 1, 2, 5
DISC ONE
1. 20:50 – heavy trudging groove sets up shredding trumpet solo, stinging guitars, scribbling keyboard; a brief fall into zero-g at the midpoint
2. 2:33 – sparse duet: exotic drum march and a trumpet declaration
3. 6:27 – very slow: solo keyboard, ethereal ensemble, inscrutable bass solo
4. 9:13 – hard groove, driving drums: trumpet points, but guitars diverge
5. 7:29 – continues from #4; ensemble improv rides a steady beat, gets wild
6. 6:11 – slow trumpet over a quietly bubbling backdrop that gradually rises up
7. 5:24 – rock beat: percolating groove with punchy trumpet/keyboard/guitar
8. 3:35 – very slow guitar, open soundscape of strange, quiet samples & tones
9. 2:32 – brisk mutant jazz: cool drums & twin electric basses with effects
DISC TWO
1. 5:35 – great tumbling drums, supported by a slow, minimalist melody
2. 6:13 – rolling trio: echoing trumpet stabs the air, bass & drums push
3. 5:02 – slow and abstract with flaring trumpet, breathing backdrop
4. 10:35 – slow abstraction: laptops & violin squeak madly, piano expands
5. 22:29 – spiky intro becomes a dense psychedelic free-for-all; cool strutting groove emerges with mad solos and screeching interplay, but this trades off every few minutes with slow, solemn trumpet reflections
[ Fo ] - August 2011
Track Listing