The Year of the Elephant

Last updated
The Year of the Elephant
The year of the elephant cover.jpeg
Studio album by
Released2002
RecordedApril 18 and 19, 2002
StudioMRS Recording Studio, New York City
Genre Jazz
Length60:30
Label Pi Recordings
Producer Wadada Leo Smith
Wadada Leo Smith chronology
Red Sulphur Sky
(2001)
The Year of the Elephant
(2002)
Luminous Axis
(2002)

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. [1] It was the second recording by his Golden Quartet featuring pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Malachi Favors and drummer Jack DeJohnette. [2]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Tom Hull B+ [5]

In his review for AllMusic, David R. Adler states "Both Davis and DeJohnette are credited on synthesizer, but the sounds they employ are remarkably close to the old-fashioned, analog Wurlitzer. Combined with Favors' resonant, grooving basslines and DeJohnette's loose straight-eighth rhythms the result is somewhat akin to Miles Davis in the In a Silent Way period." [3]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz describes the album as "A surprisingly straight-ahead jazz record, strongly influenced by electric-period Miles Davis." [4]

The All About Jazz review by Dan McClenaghan says "Smith's horn work is very Miles-like,the wounded, open horn cry, the plaintive and introspective mute work, the judicious use of silence." [6]

In his review for JazzTimes Duck Baker notes that "Even though '70s Miles is a frequent departure point for The Year of the Elephant, jazz-rock fans may not feel comfortable with the music while listeners who usually have trouble with rock-type rhythms may be amazed to hear them used in such a creative context." [7]

Track listing

All compositions by Wadada Leo Smith
  1. "Al-Madinah" - 10:01
  2. "Piru" - 10:51
  3. "The Zamzam Well a Stream of a Pure Light" - 8:56
  4. "Kangaroo's Hollow" - 7:06
  5. "The Year of the Elephant" - 9:19
  6. "Miles Star in 3 Parts: Star/Seed/Blue Fire" - 14:17

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadada Leo Smith</span> American trumpeter and composer

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.

<i>Divine Love</i> (album) 1979 studio album by Leo Smith

Divine Love is an album by American jazz trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith, recorded in September 1978 and released on ECM the following year. The trio features multi-instrumentalists Dwight Andrews and Bobby Naughton, with guest appearances from trumpeters Lester Bowie and Kenny Wheeler on one track and bassist Charlie Haden on another.

<i>Voice from the Past – Paradigm</i> 1982 studio album by Gary Peacock

Voice from the Past – PARADIGM is an album by American jazz bassist Gary Peacock, recorded in August 1981 and released on ECM the following year. The quartet features saxophonist Jan Garbarek, trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, and drummer Jack DeJohnette.

<i>L-R-G / The Maze / S II Examples</i> 1978 studio album by Roscoe Mitchell

L-R-G / The Maze / S II Examples is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, recorded in 1978 and released as a double LP on Nessa Records. It was reissued in 1989 as a single CD.

<i>Ancestors</i> (Wadada Leo Smith album) 2012 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>Reflectativity</i> 1975 live album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>Procession of the Great Ancestry</i> 1989 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

Procession of the Great Ancestry is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 1983, first released in 1989 on the English Chief label licensed by Nessa Records and reissued in 2009 on Nessa.

<i>Organic Resonance</i> 2003 live album by Wadada Leo Smith & Anthony Braxton

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.

<i>Saturn, Conjunct the Grand Canyon in a Sweet Embrace</i> 2004 live album by Wadada Leo Smith & Anthony Braxton

Saturn, Conjunct the Grand Canyon in a Sweet Embrace is the second album of a live duo performance by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and reedist Anthony Braxton, which was recorded in 2003 at New York's Tonic club and released on Pi Recordings. This album, along with Organic Resonance, is the first recording dedicated entirely to Wadada and Braxton's duo music.

<i>Tabligh</i> (album) 2008 live album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>Spiritual Dimensions</i> 2009 live album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>Golden Quartet</i> 2000 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>Reflectativity</i> (2000 album) 2000 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>America</i> (Wadada Leo Smith album) 2009 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>Kabell Years: 1971–1979</i> 2004 compilation album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke</i> 2016 studio album by Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith

A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke is an album by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist Vijay Iyer which was released in March 2016 on ECM Records.

<i>Celestial Weather</i> 2015 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

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.

<i>Snakish</i> 2005 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

Snakish is a studio album by jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith recorded with Walter Quintus, Katya Quintus, Miroslav Tadić, and Mark Nauseef. The record was released on August 23, 2005 via Leo label. The album contains 15 short compositions written by bandmembers. The official catalogue explains that this music can be a hint of what Miles Davis might have achieved in his later years had he been able to rise above the banalities of rock and jazz fusion.

<i>The Great Lakes Suites</i> 2014 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

The Great Lakes Suites is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album was released on September 16, 2014, via Finnish TUM Records label.

<i>Prataksis</i> 1997 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

Prataksis is a collaborative studio album by the jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, the multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia, and the double bass player Bertram Turetzky. The album was released in 1997 by Golia's Nine Winds Records.

References

  1. "Wadada Leo Smith discography". Jazz Lists. jazzlists.com. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  2. The Year of the Elephant at Pi Recordings
  3. 1 2 Adler, David R.. Wadada Leo Smith - The Year of the Elephant: Review at AllMusic . Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). London: Penguin. pp.  1211. ISBN   0141023279.
  5. "Tom Hull: Grade List: Wadada Leo Smith". Tom Hull . Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  6. McClenaghan, Dan. The Year of the Elephant review at All About Jazz
  7. Baker, Duck. The Year of the Elephant review at JazzTimes