Luminous Axis | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | tracks 1–12: August 18, 2002 tracks 13–15: August 8, 2002 | |||
Studio | tracks 1–12: Mills College, Oakland, California tracks 13–15: Frank Booth, Brooklyn | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 54:45 | |||
Label | Tzadik | |||
Producer | Wadada Leo Smith | |||
Wadada Leo Smith chronology | ||||
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Luminous Axis (subtitled The Caravans of Winter and Summer) is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 2002 and released on the Tzadik Records' Composer Series. [1] The album includes an extended suite for four laptops and trumpet, two duets with Ikue Mori and a composition featuring the percussionist William Winant. [2]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [4] |
In his review for AllMusic, arwulf arwulf notes, "Wadada Leo Smith is a master of improvisation who balances sound and silence with a combination of theatrical freedom and ritualistic discipline that can be breathtaking." [3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz says, "A suite of miniatures and longer improvisations, with the trumpet keening out across spare, almost subliminal electronics background." [4]
The All About Jazz review by Farrell Lowe states, "Luminous Axis should draw emphatic interest from listeners curious about the exploration of modern compositional style and performance. It's simply brilliant." [5]
All compositions by Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the field of creative music. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Ten Freedom Summers, released on May 22, 2012.
Susie Ibarra is a contemporary composer and percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical, world, and indigenous musicians. One of SPIN's "100 Greatest Drummers of Alternative Music," she is known for her work as a performer in avant-garde, jazz, world, and new music. As a composer, Ibarra incorporates diverse styles and the influences of Philippine Kulintang, jazz, classical, poetry, musical theater, opera, and electronic music. Ibarra remains active as a composer, performer, educator, and documentary filmmaker in the U.S., Philippines, and internationally. She is interested and involved in works that blend folkloric and indigenous tradition with avant-garde. In 2004, Ibarra began field recording indigenous Philippine music, and in 2009 she co-founded Song of the Bird King, an organization focusing on the preservation of Indigenous music and ecology.
Tim Perkis is an experimental musician and writer who works with live electronic and computer sound.
Sylvie Courvoisier is a composer, pianist, improviser and bandleader. She was born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has been a resident of New York City since 1998. She won Germany’s International Jazz Piano Prize in 2022 and was named Pianist of the Year for 2023 in the international critics poll of Spanish jazz publication El Intruso. NPR’s Kevin Whitehead has encapsulated the distinctive character of Courvoisier’s art this way: “Some pianists approach the instrument like it’s a cathedral. Sylvie Courvoisier treats it like a playground.”
Masada Anniversary Edition Volume 3: The Unknown Masada is the third album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project. It features twelve previously unreleased Masada compositions performed by Erik Friedlander's Quake (1), Rashanim (2), Dave Douglas (3), Tatsuya Yoshida (4), Naftule's Dream (5), Jamie Saft (6), Zahava Seewald (7), Koby Israelite (8), Julian Kytasty (9); Fantômas (10), Wadada Leo Smith and Ikue Mori (11), and Eyvind Kang (12).
Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, improvisation, installations, and compositions for chamber ensembles. His work has been noted for its use of re-engineered consumer products and cultural artifacts as interfaces for electronic music performances and networked media installations.
Tzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-profit, cooperative record label.
Sonic Rivers is a collaborative studio album by trombonist George Lewis, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, and saxophonist John Zorn. It was released in June 2014 by Tzadik Records.
Reflectativity is the second album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and the debut with the ensemble New Dalta Ahkri, which was recorded live at The Educational Center for the Arts, New Haven, and released in 1975 on his own Kabell label.
Lake Biwa is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith released on John Zorn's Tzadik label in 2004. The album contains four pieces composed between 2000 and 2004.
Okkyung Lee is a South Korean cellist, improviser, and composer.
Organic Resonance is a live album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and reedist Anthony Braxton, which was recorded live at New York's Tonic club in 2003 and released on Pi Recordings. It was their first full duo recording.
Tabligh is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded live at the CalArts Creative Music Festival in 2005 and released on Cuneiform. It was the third recording by his Golden Quartet with a new electro-acoustic lineup featuring pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist John Lindberg and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson.
Spiritual Dimensions is a double album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith released on Cuneiform. The first disc is the fourth release by his Golden Ensemble, which began as a quartet but here expands into a quintet with two drummers, and was recorded live at the 2008 Vision Festival in New York. The second disc is the first-ever release by Organic, an electric nine-piece band with four guitarists, and was recorded live in 2009 at the jazz club Firehouse 12 in New Haven, Connecticut.
Tao-Njia is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 1995 and released on the Tzadik Records' Composer Series.
Golden Quartet is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 2000 and released on Tzadik Records. It was the debut recording by the eponymous ensemble featuring pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Malachi Favors and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
Reflectativity is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 2000 and released by Tzadik Records. The album is an extended remake of a recording Smith released on his own label in 1975. This new version features a trio with pianist Anthony Davis and bassist Malachi Favors.
Red Sulphur Sky is a solo album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 2001 and released on Tzadik Records.
Light Upon Light is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was released in 1999 on the Tzadik Records' Composer Series. The album includes a composition for chamber ensemble and gamelan quartet, a solo piece for viola, a bass concerto written for Bert Turetzky and two electronic pieces.
Kabell Years: 1971–1979 is a four-CD box set released on Tzadik Records compiling American jazz trumpeter/composer/inmproviser Wadada Leo Smith's earliest albums which were originally released on his own, privately pressed label Kabell along with additional previously unissued material from the same era. The set includes the previously released material from Creative Music - 1, Reflectativity, Song of Humanity and Solo Music: Ahkreanvention.