| When: |
Saturday, November 4, 2006
8 pm |
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| Where: |
Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex
2201 Preston St., Houston, TX, 77003
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| Tickets: |
$13 General Admission / $10 Students
Everyone under 18 gets in for free |
Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet:
Wadada Leo Smith (Los Angeles, CA) — Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Famoudou Don Moye (Chicago, IL) — Drums, Percussion
Woody Aplanalp (Los Angeles, CA) — Guitar
John Lindberg (New York, NY) — Bass
A highly original and extremely influential artist, Wadada Leo Smith has made a profound and distinct impression in the areas of performance, composition, education, and musical philosophy.
As a trumpet player, Smith is in a category of his own. His clear, powerful tone is beautiful and immediately recognizable. The patience with which he executes his ideas opens up a warm expression of humanity. His phrases are shaped with clarity, intention, and a keen sense of musical space.
In the 1960s Smith was an early member of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), Chicago’s pioneering, musician-run
community organization. Like his AACM colleagues, Smith is the creator of a distinct, personal, and highly developed musical notation system. This compositional language, called “Ankhrasmation," takes into account Smith’s roots in musical tradition, his understanding of global musical forms, his mastery of composition, and his commitment to creative improvisation. Smith’s Ankhrasmation is an expression of his universal outlook. It is a system that creates space for individual creativity and diverse musical languages.
Smith was born in Leland, Mississippi, where he was raised in the heart of African American musical cultures, including the Delta blues and the African American concert and marching band traditions. As an emerging artist, Smith was at the forefront of the avant-garde in jazz along with AACM colleagues like Anthony Braxton and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Smith’s study of contemporary European concert music is balanced by his immersion in world music forms, including African, Japanese, and Indonesian traditions. Wadada Leo Smith is currently the Director of the MFA program in African American Improvisation at the California Institute for the Arts.
Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet will feature another legend of creative music, percussionist Famadou Don Moye, most famous as a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Veteran bass virtuoso John Lindberg and up-and-coming guitarist Woody Aplanalp round out the ensemble
Artist Links:
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith Website |
