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P
r e s s R e v i e w s
Wadada
Leo Smith
Reflectativity
TZADIK 7060 CD
Golden
Quartet TZADIK 7604 CD
Reflectativity is a
remake of an album Leo Smith released on his own label in 1975.
For many cushily established panjandrums, such revision would be
a recipe for disaster Not so here.
| Brought up on the blues,
from the start Smith refused to be patronised by being relegated
to a style. He embraced a wide open, modernist aesthetic, allowing
his trumpet licks maximum freedom to engage in interplay with
his colleagues. |
 |
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Ambitious
goals -- global musicality, event/structure dialectic, performative
immediacy - meant a lifetime in academia (New Haven, Woodstock,
CalArts) hasn't erased the plangency that is the test of an improvisor's
willingness to stake everything on this note being played here and
now.
Recorded with Anthony Davis (piano) and Malachi Favors (bass) in
a NYC studio in January 2000, this new Reflectativity is so chill,
pure and pared down it will probably only reach listeners who can
tolerate free improvisation or the works of Morton Feldman. This
is a pity, because at its core is a singing, dancing, groovacious
trumpet voice. Smith doesn't so much sum up the history of his instrument
as provide an independent understanding of field holler and hokum
break as critical modern art Harmonic surprise and acute use of
silence leaves no listener secure Reflectativity dices everything
you think you know about blues and jazz, then hangs the motifs out
on a line The brightness and definition dazzle.
Just to show Reflectativity isn't all our man can do, Golden
Quartet adds drummer Jack DeJohnette to the trio. The group
becomes something else entirely a fleet, state of the art jazz quartet.
The current scene is suffering from a surfeit of blustering, Ayler-fixated
saxophonists this is the antidote, being hairraisingly fine in the
beat department, but also speculative and crammed with ideas. DeJohnette
has been involved with much fusion stodge, but here he's utterly
at home and sounding vibrant. Golden Quartet isn't as sublime as
Reflectativity, but the balance between groove thrust and internal
dialogue is brilliant. Smith's silvery trumpet cuts through with
unbelievable power and finesse, and everyone sounds alert. These
musicians are still surprising each other - the deal is real.
Ben
Watson
The Wire Magazine [UK]
© 1997-2007 Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith
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