Wadada

John Zorn - The Unknown Masada (2003) {Tzadik TZ 7181}
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© 2003 Tzadik | TZ 7181 | Radical Jewish Culture Series
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Klezmer / Post Bop

The third installment in this Tenth Year celebration is the most exciting yet. Fourteen tunes from Zorn’s legendary Masada songbook that have never been heard before. Performed and arranged by an incredible lineup of musicians, the music here touches upon hard rock, world beat, klezmer and jazz, often all in the same arrangement! Highlights include a lyrical ballad by Wadada Leo Smith, two explosive rock tracks by the powerful Japanese duo the Ruins and Mike Patton’s Fantomas, and a gorgeous solo performance by Ukrainian bandura virtuoso Julian Kytasty.

Cellist Ashley Walters' first solo album features performances of six contemporary works for cello by composers Luciano Berio, Nicholas Deyoe, Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Andrew McIntosh, and Wadada Leo Smith.

Pianist Satoko Fujii introduces a new trio with two younger and very active musicians on the Japanese jazz scene–bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura–recording in 2020 at Pit Inn in Tokyo for their 3rd live date together, performing five lyrical Fujii original compositions, including "Aspirations" from her album with Leo Smith & Ikue Mori.

Marion Brown - Geechee Recollections & Sweet Earth Flying (1973-74) {2011 Impulse! 2-on-1 Remaster}
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+.cue+log) - 468 MB | Scans JPG - 21 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps (LAME 3.98) - 190 MB
Genre: jazz | RAR 5% Rec. | Label: Impulse! / Verve | CAT # 06025 2780943 | 2011

Amazing work from Marion Brown – two albums we'd never be without! Geechee Recollections is quite possibly our favorite record ever from reedman Brown – and very different than both his seminal 60s recordings, and his European sides from later years! There's a really earthy feel to this record – one that really lives up to the title, and which comes from the use of lots of percussion, played by just about every group member, ala AACM – but handled in a style that's warmly spiritual, and very organic too – right in line with the best Impulse Records vibe of the time, yet completely its own thing too! Brown plays alto and soprano sax, and is working with players who include Leo Smith on trumpet, William Malone on mbira and autoharp, James Jefferson on bass, and Steve McCall, Jumma Santos, Bill Hasson, and A Kobena Adzenyah on percussion – in addition to percussion plays by other group members too.

Marion Brown - Geechee Recollections & Sweet Earth Flying (2011) {Impulse! 2-on-1 Remasters Series rec 1973-1974}
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© 1973-74, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / Universal | 06025 2780943
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Electric Jazz / Modal Music / Saxophone

This single-disc volume brings together the first two chapters in saxophonist and composer Marion Brown's stellar Impulse! trilogy. Geechee Recollections (1973) and Sweet Earth Flying (1974) are, along with their final chapter, Vista (1975), arguably the finest moments in his catalog. Thematically, these two titles and Vista examine and celebrate the legacy of poet Jean Toomer and also revisit Brown's childhood in Atlanta and around the Georgia countryside. They are grounded in Southern folk themes and blues with just a kiss of funk. The musicians on Geechee Recollections are vocalist Bill Hasson (who actually does a long-form accompanied sung/spoken recitation of Toomer's poem "Karintha"), percussionist Jumma Santos, trumpeter (pre-Wadada) Leo Smith, drummer Steve McCall, and bassist James Jefferson as well as others on percussion.

This cd is not for sale and has been licensed by ECM to be sold together with April 2016 issue of Musica Jazz magazine.

John Lindberg Ensemble - The Catbird Sings (2000) {Black Saint 120198-2 rec 1999}
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© 2000 Black Saint | 120198-2
Jazz / Modern Creative / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz / Bass

And here is another winner from John Lindberg, in an ensemble with Andrew Cyrille on drums, Larry Ochs on sax and Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet. Not all tracks are played by all four musicians. The first piece is a wonderful slow meditative duet between trumpet and bass. The second, "Waltz Four", starts with a strong two-minute long bass intro, after which the three other musicians join, with a staggeringly beautiful melody in the high tones by Ochs, with solid thematic counterpoint by Smith.

In these times of unprecedented change and impending uncertainty Suns of Arqa have been called to bring musical solace to the people with their CD release ‘Know Thyself?’ - a stunningly beautiful ambient album comprised of 4 rarely heard Indian ragas.
Produced by Michael Wadada, the mystical and enduring founder of Suns of Arqa, and featuring bansuri master Raghunath Seth, ‘Know Thyself?’ instantly transports the listener into a delicate liminal realm laying somewhere between ancient India and the western worlds…