Inspired by Don Cherry's 1966 Symphony For Improvisers and intended to illustrate the profound cultural contributions Chicagoans & Midwesterners have made, trumpeter Leo Smith's presents four expansive symphonies, three performed with Henry Threadgill (sax & flute), John Lindberg (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums), the fourth with Jonathon Haffner (sax) plus Smith, Lindberg and DeJohnette.
Label: Tum Catalog ID: TUM 1004 Squidco Product Code: 31013
Format: 4 CDs Condition: New Released: 2021 Country: Finland Packaging: Box Set / 4 CDS + Booklet Discs 1 - 3 recorded at Avatar Studios, in New York City, New York, on March 29th and 30th, 2015, recorded by Robert Musso and Thom Beemer.
Disc 4 recorded at NPR Studios in Catskills, New York, on June 1st, 2018, by Scott Petito.
1. Movement 1. (Light Fields And Circles: Amina Claudine Myers; Voices) 9:34
2. Movement 2. (Joyful, Sound And The Numbers; People: The Art Ensemble Of Chicago) 9:27
3. Movement 3. (Pastoral: Joseph Jarman; As If It Were The Seasons Of Seasons; Sherry Scott, Voice; Thurman Barker, Charles Clark And Christopher Gaddy)
4. Movement 4. (Creative Music; West End Blues And The Sonic Weather Bird: Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Lil Hardin And Baby Dodds) 7:17
5. Movement 5. (Star-Fields: The Secretary, John S. Jackson) 2:44
CD2
1. Movement 1. (The RareAir Songs In Sonic Forms And Metrical Folding: Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall And Fred Hopkins) 12:13
2. Movement 2. (Chicago: Culture, Creativity And The Artistic Passion; A Profile Of The Next Generations) 6:51
3. Movement 3. (Muhal Richard Abrams: Levels And Degrees Of The Light Spectrums; A New Culture: The Association For The Advancement Of Creative Musicians) 10:26
4. Movement 4. (Jack DeJohnette: A Special Edition, New Directions And The Sonic Rhythm Units) 7:08
CD3
1. Movement 1. (For Alto; In The Orchestra: N-M488; Anthony Braxton: Operas)
10:48
2. Movement 2. (Leroy Jenkins Mixed Quintet Sonics: Dance Opera)
3:05
3. Movement 3. (Heliocentric SunRa's Energy And Particles Of Light)
7:00
4. Movement 4. (Jupiter Skies: Kelan Phil Cohran And The Chicago Kulture)
11:07
5. Movement 5. Scented Yellow And Red Chrysanthemums; Wadada Leo Smith: The Bell In Silence And Ten Freedom Summers) 6:45
CD4
1. Movement 1. (Araham Lincoln, The 16th President Of The United States Of America) 6:02
2. Movement 2. (Abraham Lincoln At Gettysburg: Two Seven Two, 1863) 11:18
3. Movement 3. (The Visionaries, Abraham Lincoln And Barack Hussein Obama) 10:44
4. Movement 4. (Barack Hussein Obama At Selma: The Bridge Of Transformation) 15:06
sample the album:
descriptions, reviews, &c.
"The Chicago Symphonies is a magnificent four-disc collection of extended compositions by Wadada Leo Smith´s Great Lakes Quartet in a celebration of Chicago and the Midwestern culture. The first three symphonies, "Gold," "Diamond" and "Pearl" are performed by Smith with three masters of creative music, saxophonist/flutist Henry Threadgill, bassist John Lindberg and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The fourth, "Sapphire Symphony - The Presidents and Their Vision for America," features saxophonist Jonathon Haffner with Smith, Lindberg and DeJohnette."-Tum
"The idea of a symphony composed for a sextet was first presented by composer/ performer Don Cherry in his classic recording Symphony For Improvisers in 1966," says Smith. "I have broadened this idea to include the social, political and psychological dynamic into the creative space. My Chicago Symphonies are intended to illustrate and preserve the powerfully unique cultural contribution that the Midwesterners made in helping to shape the American society."
Don Cherry's classic recording Symphony For Improvisers on Blue Note Records featured Cherry on the cornet with saxophonists Gato Barbieri and Pharoah Sanders, vibraphonist Karl Berger, bassists Henry Grimes and Jean-François Jenny-Clark, and drummer Ed Blackwell. In The Chicago Symphonies, Wadada Leo Smith has expanded his idea of using symphonic form to showcase some of the Midwest's creative composers/performers, poets, thinkers and political visionaries inside that symphonic form. In particular, The Chicago Symphonies celebrate the historical contributions of creative music in Chicago culture starting with Louis Armstrong and his contemporaries through Sun Ra and others onto the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) as well as, in the case of "Sapphire Symphony," two great presidents hailing from Chicago, Abraham Lincoln and Barack Hussein Obama.
The Chicago Symphonies follows the release by the Great Lakes Quartet of The Great Lakes Suites (TUM CD 041-2, a double-CD with Smith, Threadgill, Lindberg and DeJohnette) that featured six extended compositions dedicated by Smith to Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, Laker Huron, Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. In 2014, The Great Lakes Suites was broadly hailed as one of the top albums of the year."-grzech, Gpoint-Audio