Wadada Leo Smith joins host Michael Schell to talk about his 80th birthday, a lifetime of creative music, and two new triple-CD albums featuring him playing trumpet solo, and with Bill Laswell and the late Milford Graves. We also honor Irène Schweizer (another improviser turning 80), and sample new albums from Anthony Braxton, Peter Garland, Param Vir and Anna Webber, plus a collaboration between the Master Musicians of Jajouka and Arrington de Dionyso, the new Unexplained Sounds anthology of experimental music from Peru, and Passepartout performing on one of the oldest still-functional synthesizers in the world. A remote jam from Steve Layton and the Sound-In crew, an isolation-era piece for solo viola by Federico Gardella, and a nostalgic toy piano discourse by Alvin Curran round out the playlist. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world.
Annotated playlist and photo credits in Comments.
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Flotation Device 2021-05-30: annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Wadada Leo Smith at 80 [0:00]
1. [1:42] Alvin Curran: Inner Cities No. 3. From From Inner Cities (WDR, 2021) with Dorrit Bauerecker (toy piano), Katharina Kiefer (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1999
2. [9:16] Master Musicians of Jajouka, Arrington de Dionyso: Many Years with the Secrets. From Jajouka Baraka: A Benefit Album for the Master Musicians of Jajouka (Bandcamp, 2020) with Arrington de Dionyso (bass clarinet), The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Bachir Attar (leader), Jacopo Andreini (additional percussion, recording engineer)
3. [17:38] Wadada Leo Smith: Nine (9) Stones on a Mountain. From Creative Music (Kabell, 1972, reissued 2004 by Tzadik on Kabell Years: 1971–1979) with Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet, flugelhorn, seal horn, recorder, atenteben, Indian wooden flute, harmonica, autoharp, hand zithers, bells, parade drum, hand drum, tin drum, aluminum pot drums, cymbals, mobile sounds-gong, metal-plates, steel-o-phone, gongs, Indian bell). NOTE: Recorded December 18–19, 1971
4. [23:04] Wadada Leo Smith: Family, A Contemplation of Love - Part 1: Agape - Unselfish Love. From Trumpet (TUM, 2021) with Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), Miikka Huttunen (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 2016
5. [25:20] Wadada Leo Smith, Bill Laswell, Milford Graves: Social Justice - A Fire for Reimagining the World. From Sacred Ceremonies (TUM, 2021) with Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), Bill Laswell (basses), Milford Graves (drums, percussion), James Dellatacoma (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 2015–16 in Bill Laswell's studio, West Orange, NJ⠀
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Voice break and SET 2: Wadada Leo Smith interviewed [31:52]
1. [35:05] Wadada Leo Smith in conversation with Michael Schell
2. [45:35] Wadada Leo Smith, Milford Graves: Celebration Rhythms. From Sacred Ceremonies (as above) with Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), Milford Graves (drums, percussion), James Dellatacoma (recording engineer)
3. [52:15] Irène Schweizer: A Former Dialogue. From Celebration (Intakt, 2021) with Irène Schweizer (piano), Hamid Drake (drums), Gerhard Wald (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded June 26, 2019 at Jazzgallery Nickelsdorf, Austria⠀
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Voice break with Anthony Braxton: Composition No. 58 [58:36]⠀
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SET 3: International tour [1:01:09]
1. [1:02:03] Anna Webber: Idiom I. From Idiom (Pi, 2021) with Anna Webber Simple Trio: Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute), Matt Mitchell (piano), John Hollenbeck (drums)
2. [1:13:16] Steve Layton and Sound-In: Satellite Oh So Bright. From Devils and Angels (NiwoSound, 2021) with Bruce Hamilton, Kavin Allenson, Chris Vaisvil
3. [1:15:46] Thelonious Monk: Evidence. From Quartet (Standards) 2020 (New Braxton House, 2021) with Anthony Braxton (saxophones), Alexander Hawkins (piano), Neil Charles (bass), Stephen Davis (drums), Jon Rosenberg (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded January 2020 in Europe
4. [1:20:31] Param Vir: Hayagriva. From Wheeling Past the Stars (NMC, 2021) with Schönberg Ensemble, Micha Hamel (conductor), Dick Lucas (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2015 for 15 string players⠀
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SET 4: Music on original (electronic) instruments [1:29:04]
1. [1:32:10] Passepartout Duo: Epigrams (excerpts). From Epigrams (Bandcamp, 2021) with Nicoletta Favari, Christopher Salvito (piano and Buchla 100 Series synthesizer). NOTE: Recorded at the Ernst Krenek Institut in Krems, Austria. A video is available at https://youtu.be/EaPTW3F849o
2. [1:36:09] Federico Gardella: Consolation. From Songs of Solitude (BIS, 2021) with Hiyoli Togawa (viola), Martin Nagorni (recording engineer)
3. [1:41:39] Peter Garland: Bush Radio Calling - 3. Visions of El Niño Cieguito. From Three Dawns and Bush Radio Calling (Cold Blue, 2021) with Ron Squibbs (piano), Joseph C. Chilorio (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1992
4. [1:44:18] Árbol: Región perpleja. From Anthology of Experimental Music from Peru (Unexplained Sounds, 2021) with Diego Faucheux AKA Árbol⠀
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Outro with Ernst Krenek: Doppelt beflügeltes Band [1:56:15]
Photo credits: Irène Schweizer via the artist, Wadada Leo Smith by Jimmy Katz, Peter Garland via New Music USA, Anthony Braxton by Edu Hawkins, The Master Musicians of Jajouka via the artists, Hiyoli Togawa by Anne Hornemann, Bill Laswell/Wadada Leo Smith/Milford Graves by R.I. Sutherland-Cohen, Param Vir via the artist, Passepartout Duo via the artists, Anna Webber Simple Trio by Liz Kosack.