America's National Parks
| America's National Parks | ||||
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| Studio album by Wadada Leo Smith | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Cuneiform Records | |||
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Format (s) |
2 CD |
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Title (number) |
6th |
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running time |
98: |
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Studio (s) |
Firehouse 12 Studios, New Haven, CT |
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America's National Parks is a jazz album by Wadada Leo Smith , recorded on May 5, 2016 at Firehouse 12 Studio in New Haven, CT and released on October 14, 2016 on Cuneiform Records .
background
According to Thom Jurek, the album joins the ranks of long forms by Wadada Leo Smith recorded in the first half of the 2010s, which were "rightly" acclaimed by critics. From Ten Freedom Summers (2010) to Occupy the World (2013) and G reat Lakes Suites (2015), his albums "evocative and provocative" have involved a skillful musical language that is both explored and illustrated. The six thematically and musically interrelated compositions of the "National Parks of America" were born from Smith's own research into the passage of the Congressional Law by the US Congress in 1916 to establish the National Park Service . Unlike documentary filmmaker Ken Burns ( The National Parks: America's Best Idea ), Smith doesn't celebrate the grandeur of nature here. His peg was the idea of parks as "... a collective notion of common property ... what every American in history can see emerged in possession ...". While Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Sequoia / Kings Canyon National Parks are all represented by individual compositions, Smith goes on to delve into cultural, spiritual, historical, and symbolic sources: New Orleans, the Mississippi River, and the life of the African-American musicologist, writer, and founder of the magazine The Black Perspective in Music (which Smith contributed to), Eileen Jackson Southern. In the subtitle he calls it "A Literary National Park".
Smith recorded the double album with his jazz quartet, which he had already used for Ten Freedom Summers ; it consisted of Anthony Davis (piano), John Lindberg (bass) and Pheeroan akLaff (drums), now supplemented by cellist Ashley Walters . While the size of the ensemble is smaller than that of the group that Summers recorded, this line-up has the same range of classical jazz plus instruments, wrote Seth Colter Walls. Regarding the conceptual direction of the album, Wadada Leo Smith wrote: “The idea of creating these national parks was hailed as the first idea to create common foundations for the general basis of a society. It is a collective notion of shared property, heredity, longevity, transformation, and sustainable beauty where every American in the course of history can see and own that shared property. ”Smith's selection includes national parks that are already in operation - like Yellowstone National Park - but also sacred cultural zones that have not yet been recognized by government resolution.
The title of the first piece, "New Orleans: The National Culture Park USA 1718" (the year La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded as a French colony), refers to the pre-American character of the city's foundation by the French Mississippi Company , says Seth Colter Walls. The quality of the opening titles shows that Smith recommends this location as a potential national park because of its relationship with jazz. The tempo is slow and sometimes clears the way for beat-free sound tracks . In "The Mississippi River: Dark and Deep Dreams Flow the River - a National Memorial Park c. 5000 BC "(Eng." Dark and deep dreams flow down the river - a national memorial park. ") Smith describes this" park "musically as" a memorial "which was used by enemy troops in Mississippi as a dumping ground for black bodies, so Walls.
Half of the six sections in this suite are inspired by officially funded parks, wrote Matt R. In “Yellowstone: The First National Park and the Spirit of America” one encounters Smith's blatant, age-old phrases that give way to the wavy rhythm of Davis and Lindberg, which is cleverly interwoven with fearful reactions from AkLaff. Smith is reminiscent of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and unleashes full-toned trill runs over rolling free-form drum figures and sharp-edged interpolations by Walters. On "Yosemite," Davis' heavy block chords join Smith's reverberant horn to evoke the desperation faced by settlers making their way west.
The other movements are devoted to natural, civic, and human phenomena that Smith felt deserved canonicalization; "New Orleans: The National Culture Park USA 1718" musically captures all facets of this most complex city, according to Matt R. Lohr. "Lindberg and akLaff develop a quite subtle groove, while Smith's muted sounds add both a touch of blues and a touch of mystique ." In Smith's tribute to Eileen Jackson Southern ("A Literary National Park"), Davis and Walters created "fiery fragments of abstraction before heading to Smith for a heartfelt finale."
In themselves, the six sets of America's National Parks Suite are mini-suites in themselves, said Kevin Whitehead. “Smith's written subjects can be deceptively simple, like a sketch of a melody that is later filled in. Players can run with these themes or use them to set a mood. Smith's greeting to Yellowstone National Park contains this geyser of a line. ”To shape the music of the quintet, composer Wadada Leo Smith uses direct notation , collective and solo improvisation, and visual scores that players can interpret in a variety of ways.
Track list
- Wadada Leo Smith - America's National Parks (Cuneiform Records - RUNE 430/431)
- Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks
- CD 1
- New Orleans: The National Culture Park USA 1718 - 20:59
- Eileen Jackson Southern, 1920–2002: A Literary National Park - 9:40 ----
- Yellowstone: The First National Park and the Spirit of America - The Mountains, Super-Volcano Caldera and Its Ecosystem 1872 - 12:34
- CD 2
- The Mississippi River: Dark and Deep Dreams Flow the River - a National Memorial Park c. 5000 BC - 31:09
- Sequoia / Kings Canyon National Parks: The Giant Forest, Great Canyon, Cliffs, Peaks, Waterfalls and Cave Systems 1890 - 6:48
- Yosemite: The Glaciers, the Falls, the Wells and the Valley of Goodwill 1890 - 3:23 pm
- All compositions are by Wadada Leo Smith.
reception
2017 won America's national parks the critics poll of Down Beat as a jazz album of the year ; The magazine wrote that Smith's album continued the conceptual and political direction of Ten Freedom Summers and reaffirmed Smith's commitment to commemorating important moments and ideas in American history .
Euan Andrews of The Quietus said, “ America's National Parks draw inspiration from the past and present and transform them into possible future forms. It is both an act of redemption and a sound of justification through sheer willpower and undeniable existence, a recultivation of the civic space as an embodiment of cultural meaning far removed from damaging and misunderstood political discourse or ethos - it is the sound of America as it should and should be could and a defining moment for modern American jazz. "
Seth Colter Walls wrote in Pitchfork, “Musical dedications are now part of Smith's process, as is the experimental nature of his fiery improvisations. These historical incantations, however, are not just creative prompts with which he gets his writing hand going. Smith's memorials often develop into clever editorials. If the composer extends his civil rights meditations to events of the 21st century, he can see how prejudices are long-standing. ” America's National Parks clearly fits the trends in Smith's recent production.
“Initially, the mood between celebrations and observation is somewhere in the middle. Smith's trumpet shifts from light lines of heraldry to more subtle elements that harmonize with Walters' cello lines. A few minutes later comes a faster beat. Smith responds with a muted trumpet solo full of immaculate, bluesy demeanor. Finally, the pianist (and excellent composer) Anthony Davis receives a long passage that ends with an impressionistic, dreamy cadenza . At this point, the opening track is barely halfway over - and it has already given the listener a trio from different, memorable worlds, ”wrote Walls on the opening title.
"As with other ambitious Smith projects, America's National Parks required the listener 's attention and time," Walls continued. “But the rewards it offers can make these extensive requirements turn out to be legitimate. The most dramatic mix of styles occurs during the half-hour piece 'The Mississippi River: Dark and Deep Dreams Flow the River - a National Memorial Park c. '5000 BC' you hear 'grim piano chords and ominously crooked strings' that hinted at a potential for violence, before the most powerful sections of the album, freely improvising, seem to overcome the threat. "
Elsewhere, the stark, sometimes violent majesty of the natural world is evoked by imposing blocks of atonal modernism in The Giant Forest, Great Canyon, Cliffs, Peaks, Waterfalls and Cave Systems, which is dedicated to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Parks 1890 “(Eng. The giant forest, the Great Canyon , cliffs, peaks, waterfalls and cave systems 1890 ). “And a delicate beauty is fostered in the chamber music composition of Smith's most abstract conceptual idea in this series:“ Eileen Jackson Southern, 1920-2002: A National Park of Literature ”. Eileen Southern (1920–2002) was a Harvard musicologist who u. a. the work of The Music of Black Americans wrote.
The album is not the overwhelming achievement of Ten Freedom Summers , the author sums up, "although the refined ensemble of Smith's new 'Golden Quintet' is overwhelming again and again." And with the duration of the set it gradually develops a unique charm. When you've come the long way to a memorial, “You don't just take a quick look at it and then leave. Similarly, these extended honors lead to a convincing argument regarding the attention that is still due to the history and cultural diversity of a country. "
Matt R. Lohr wrote in JazzTimes , Smith's long-form suite America's National Parks, “combines political commitment with an intimate connection to nature.” This work of indescribable grandeur, which his newly expanded quintet bundled, deals “with tensions in the heart the American experience. ”The longest section of the suite, which is dedicated to the Mississippi, is also the most passionate in the author's opinion; “The music brings the forgotten dead back to life when Walters' sawing tones run and akLaff throws drum volleys under furious, violently blowing floods. Like the entire suite, she honors her inspirations and confronts her with the compromises and pain that have made it possible. "
Kevin Whitehead said in a radio feature on National Public Radio : Wadada Leo Smith's new suite was inspired by the first hundred years of parking service, but the concept was a bit loose. In the final section, devoted to the Mississippi River, Smith doesn't always push his horn forward, but his trumpet is the heart of the group. Like Miles Davis, he often played with harmonic muting to get one of the most human tones a horn could get. In addition, Whitehead judges: "In almost all environments he loves the open space to give the music room to breathe". “What fascinates Wadada Leo Smith about our national parks,” continues Whitehead, “is the idea of the commons , the resources that are available to anyone with access to them. It looks similar to musical traditions. He can use jazz , classical and other available music styles for his own creation. On this common basis outside of the stylistic boundaries, he worked to tell his own story and revealed where he comes from and where he has traveled. And in America's National Parks , with the Golden Quintet , Wadada's sprawling music doesn't sound like glittering fragments, but rather like a big organic thing, a landscape from coast to coast. "
Thom Jurek gave the album four (out of five) stars in Allmusic and wrote that a seven-note riff , played by John Lindberg, introduces "New Orleans: The National Culture Park USA 1918". While the bassist's pattern uses the blues , this is not an up-tempo celebration of NOLA's musical heritage. Instead, it takes the myth of Buddy Bolden - an unknown but legendary jazz trumpeter - as its muse. After the bass vamp, piano, drums, violoncello and trumpet are collectively involved, fine solo corrections, African rhythms, jazz and blues emerge , which permeate each other while new music emerges from their sources. Where "Eileen Jackson Southern ..." moves to a ravishing articulation through tonal and timbral abstraction and color, "Yellowstone ..." changes from skeletal examination to pronounced form and dynamic interpolation of jazz, native American music and Western classical music Music in multivalent conversation. "Mississippi River ..." offers the ensemble the best opportunity for collective improvisation , but conversely it is also the best composition. "Every detailed idea, every fictional conflict and every felt emotion is explored and expressed." Jurek concludes that you don't have to experience all 90 minutes of America's National Parks at once, it might be better for some to soak it up slowly. In any case, solo and group improvisations, chamber music sounds, modern jazz and avant composition are masterfully balanced.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Review of the album Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks by Thom Jurek at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 29, 2019.
- ↑ a b c d Wadada Leo Smith Celebrates America's National Parks with Double Album. Down Beat, August 31, 2016, accessed March 29, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e Seth Colter Walls: Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks. October 17, 2016, accessed March 29, 2019 .
- ^ A b Matt R. Lohr: Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks. JazzTimes, December 23, 2016, accessed March 29, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Kevin Whitehead: Wadada Leo Smit Celebrates The Centennial Of: America's National Parks. NPR, October 17, 2016, accessed March 29, 2019 .
- ↑ Discographic information at Discogs
- ^ Wadada Leo Smith, Mary Halvorson Among Winners in DownBeat Critics Poll. Down Beat, June 26, 2017, accessed March 29, 2019 .
- ^ Ewan Andres: Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks. December 5, 2016, accessed March 29, 2019 .