The AACM veteran joins us to discuss 'Constellations and Hemispheres,' a record he built like a dub producer from four ensembles, and the color research he asks of every player, kept secret from the rest of the band.
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This week we're putting The Tonearm's needle on trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith. Since the 1960s, Wadada has scored much of his music in Ankhrasmation, a visual language he invented for improvisers.
His new album, Constellations and Hemispheres, is out now, built from four different groups he recorded over five years, with lots of post production.
We talk about why his players study light and color, using the studio as an instrument like dub producers, and choosing love in a world at war.
(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Wadada Leo Smith's Constellations and Hemispheres)
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00:00 Introduction
00:57 Light, Einstein, and Sound
02:19 Scores on the Bedroom Wall
05:02 Art, Science, and Spirit
06:12 Art Scores and Ankhrasmation
07:13 The Title: Sonic Constellations
09:58 When Two Players Meet Without Knowing
11:14 Researching Light and Color
13:50 Art Without Review
15:45 Keeping Your Research to Yourself
16:50 Playing From a Shared Theme
19:03 Solos Recorded in Isolation
20:18 Luminous Axis and Building Pieces Later
21:32 Ritual Before Playing
23:29 Building "Dark Matter, Particles of Light, Mirror of the Unseen"
27:29 Technology and a Distorted First Record
29:21 Assembling "Deep Canyons on Mars"
30:57 Bobby Naughton, Lamar Smith, Bill Laswell, and Melvin Gibbs
35:06 Alone at the Mixing Desk
36:21 Dub and the Studio as Instrument
39:14 Love and the Shape of the Record
40:49 "The Rest of It"
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Visit Wadada Leo Smith at → https://www.wadadaleosmith.com
Purchase 'Constellations and Hemispheres' from Bandcamp → https://wadadaleosmith-bam.bandcamp.com/album/constellations-and-hemispheres-2
or Qobuz → https://www.qobuz.com/nl-nl/album/constellations-and-hemispheres-wadada-leo-smith/a2a9dvjqgfbr7
and listen on your streaming platform of choice → https://album.link/i/6795883227
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