Usually when you think of avant garde sounds, you associate flailing and out of tune instruments, at least I do. Wadada Leo Smith, one of the free-est of the free, shows what a strong horn can do in just about any environment. Here, we have two 3-album sets released by the 80 year old vet, and he sounds fresher and stronger than ever.
The first is a collection of solo works that holds up amazingly well, as well as do his chops. On the first disc, there are crying gasps on “Albert Ayler”, and on the 24 minute opus “Rashomon”, he ranges from subtones to searing soliloquys. He can reach deep gravel on “Howard and Miles” and clip clop out a beat for “Sauna”. The second disc has long sighs during “Leroy Jenkins Violin Expressions” and high pitched long tones on the tightrope of “The Great Litany”. For the third disc, there’s a lovely rhapsodic “ Sonic Night” with muted brass, as well as a blue “Family” that has him jumping between registers like a track and field expert” with the closing “Trumpet” featuring experiments with his mouthpiece and valves. Quite an Olympian fete!
The second boxed set, Sacred Ceremonies, finds Smith mixing and matching with bassist Bill Laswell and drummer/percussionist Milford Graves in various permutations. The first disc with Smith and Graves has a 21 minute “Nyoto” that includes loose sticks and spacious brass along with rumbling undertones and Miles-ish mutings. Rich melancholia is produced on “The Poet” with splish splashings prayd for “Celebration of Rhythms”. Smith and Laswell team up for some deep magma gurgles and effects for a noirish “Prince” and tar pit thick textures during “Tony Williams”. Eerie formulations are palpable on “Earth” and reminiscences of “In A Silent Way” are created on the haunting “Minnie Riperton”. Magma and music.
The last disc has all three gents together creating a tribal jungle pulse for “Myths of Civilizations and Revolutions” with sinewy synth sounds following Smiths piercing solo intro on “An Epic Journey Inside the Center of Color”. The rhythm team rumbles under Smith’s fuzzy horn on “The Healer’s Direct Energy” and lurk around the galloping mutations of Smith on “Truth in Expansion”.
The most amazing fact of this ambitious collection is that it actually works, always keeping your attention. It must be taken in small doses, but each bite is quite filling.