| The Blue Mountain's Sun Drummer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 2010 | |||
| Recorded | October 23, 1986 | |||
| Venue | Brandeis University, Massachusetts | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 51:43 | |||
| Label | Kabell | |||
| Wadada Leo Smith chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Blue Mountain's Sun Drummer is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith with drummer Ed Blackwell, a radio broadcast at WBRS recorded live in 1986 at Brandeis University but not issued until 2010 on Smith's own Kabell label.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Down Beat |   [1] |
| Tom Hull | A− [2] |
In a review for Down Beat , John Corbett points the BYG LPs that Blackwell recorded with Don Cherry as the main reference and states "Smith is much too strong an individualist to play anyone else's role, and while he has a definite multicultural orientation and clearly loves the raw sonic potential of the trumpet, you've never mistake him for Cherry. On The Blue Mountain's Sun Drummer his radiant core sound, warm and projective, floats over Blackwell's impossibly relaxed drumming." [1]
The All About Jazz review by Clifford Allen notes that "Smith's sense of orchestration has always seemed entirely different from Cherry's, whether in a solo or group context. The phrasing of both sound and silence, ever natural, has always appeared utterly poised, pinched and cutting front-porch paeans to downriver ancestry wrapped into a massive, fluffed whole. But it would be difficult to look at this set of duos without thinking of Mu, even when conscious of the contrast between the pairings." [3]
The JazzTimes review by Mike Shanley states "Wadada Leo Smith and Ed Blackwell play with passion and cohesion that makes any additional instruments unnecessary" and notes that "Smith and Blackwell were not regular collaborators, but by the way they sounded on this night, they clearly shared the same mindset." [4]
The Point of Departure review by John Litweiler says "There are strong flavors of African drum patterns in Blackwell's irresistibly swinging rhythms, plus in the many passages when trumpet and drums momentums coincide, Blackwell's interplay kicks hard. His drum kit has dark resonances because he prefers skin-and-wood sounds over metal sounds, and the complexity and energy of his lines adds to the emotional darkness." [5]
Donald Eugene Cherry was an American jazz trumpeter. Beginning in the late 1950s, he had a long tenure performing in the bands of saxophonist Ornette Coleman, including on the pioneering free jazz albums The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) and Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (1960). Cherry also collaborated separately with musicians such as John Coltrane, Charlie Haden, Sun Ra, Ed Blackwell, the New York Contemporary Five, and Albert Ayler.
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.
Dark Lady of the Sonnets is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, which was recorded in Finland and released in 2011 on the Finnish TUM label.
Ancestors is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, which was released in 2012 on the Finnish TUM label. The album features his first recording with South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, after having explored the trumpet/drums duos on The Blue Mountain's Sun Drummer with Ed Blackwell, Compassion with Adam Rudolph, Wisdom in Time with Günter Sommer and America with Jack DeJohnette.
Spirit Catcher is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, recorded in 1979 and released on Nessa Records.
The Evening of the Blue Men is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc with Muntu, which was recorded live in 1979 at NYC's St. Mark's Church and released on his own Muntu label. The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the three-CD box Muntu Recordings on the Lithuanian NoBusiness label. This second Muntu unit, a pianoless quartet consisting of Moondoc, trumpeter Roy Campbell, bassist William Parker and drummer Rashid Bakr, made its first performance in December 1978 at Ali's Alley.
The Year of the Elephant is the twenty-fifth studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 2002 and released on Pi Recordings. It was the second recording by his Golden Quartet featuring pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Malachi Favors and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
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.
America is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Jack DeJohnette which was recorded in 2008 and released on Tzadik Records. It was their first duo recording, a collaboration originally proposed to ECM in 1979 and rejected.
Sun Rooms is the first album by Sun Rooms, a trio led by the American jazz vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz with the double bass player Nate McBride and drummer Mike Reed. It was recorded in 2008 and released by Delmark Records. The band played five Adasiewicz compositions and three cover versions: "Off My Back Jack" by Hasaan Ibn Ali, from his only album, The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan, "Overtones of China" by Sun Ra and "Warm Valley" by Duke Ellington.
America's National Parks is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.
Red Hill is an album by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, keyboardist Jamie Saft, bassist Joe Morris and drummer Balázs Pándi which was released on the RareNoise label in 2014.
Touch the Earth is an album by a free jazz trio consisting of American trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, German bassist Peter Kowald and German drummer Günter Sommer, which was recorded live in 1979 and released on the German FMP label. It was reissued on CD in a compilation titled Touch the Earth—Break the Shells, with some tracks from If You Want the Kernels You Have to Break the Shells, another album by the same trio.
If You Want the Kernels You Have to Break the Shells is an album by a free jazz trio consisting of German bassist Peter Kowald, American trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, and German drummer Günter Sommer, which was recorded live in 1981 and released on the German FMP label. The two tracks from the side A of the album were combined on the CD reissue with Touch the Earth, another album by the same trio.
Celestial Weather is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and bassist John Lindberg, which was recorded in 2012 and released on the Finnish TUM label. Although they have played together as a duo over the years, this album is their first duo recording.
Heart's Reflections is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album was released on May 16, 2011 via Cuneiform Records label.
Lebroba is an album by drummer Andrew Cyrille recorded in July 2017 and released on ECM November the following year. The trio features guitarist Bill Frisell and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. "Lebroba" is an abbreviation of Leland/Brooklyn/Baltimore, the trio's respective hometowns.
Sacred Ceremonies is a three-CD box set album by trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith on which he is joined by drummer Milford Graves and electric bassist Bill Laswell. Disc one was recorded on May 27, 2016, and features Smith and Graves in duo format. Disc two was recorded on May 26, 2016, and features Smith and Laswell. The entire trio is heard on disc three, which was recorded on December 11 and 12, 2015. All three discs were recorded at Orange Music Sound Studios in West Orange, New Jersey. The album was released by TUM Records in 2021.
