Jazz
Wadada Leo Smith releases “Constellations And Hemispheres” on 25 September through Burning Ambulance Music. It’s five pieces recorded between 2017 and 2022 with four different line-ups, assembled and recontextualised afterwards in the studio.
The thread running through them is light and its movement through the universe. “Light is a revealer,” says the trumpeter, born in 1941. “People talk about it as something that exposes the truth. It shows what is hidden and concealed.”
“Dark Energy” and “Dark Matter, Particles Of Light, Mirror Of The Unseen” he plays as a trio with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and drummer Marcus Gilmore. The rest bring in vibraphonist Bobby Naughton, electric guitarist Lamar Smith, his grandson, bassists Melvin Gibbs and Bill Laswell, percussionists Mauro Refosco and Brian Jawara Gray, and drummer Pheeroan akLaff. The other three pieces are “Lake Tanganyika”, “Deep Canyons On Mars” and “Meditation On Love”.
It’s the same four-line-up method he already used on “Fire Illuminations”, from 2023, released on his own label, Kabell. Of the new album, only the CD edition has been announced so far.
Text by Aina Torrents