FEW ARTISTS ARE ABLE TO WALK THE MUSICAL TIGHTROPE OF ADVENTURE AND ACCESSIBILITY LIKE WADADA LEO SMITH. WHILE BEING LABELED IN THE “AVANT-GARDE’ CATEGORY, SMITH DEFIANTLY IGNORES SUCH MONIKERS, EVEN USING HIS OWN PHRASE, ‘ANKHRASMATION’ TO DESCRIBE NOT ONLY HIS MUSIC, BUT HIS WORLD VIEW.
HIS ALBUMS OF LATE, USUALLY GRAMMY NOMINATED, HAVE TOUCHED ON TOPICS NOT USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH JAZZ. NATURAL TREASURES SUCH AS THE NILE RIVER, THE GREAT LAKES, AND MOST RECENTLY, AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS, ARE A PERFECT MIXTURE OF FREE THOUGHT AND COHESION, WHILE HIS CONCERTS EVEN INCLUDE VISUAL STIMULI TO FURTHER ENHANCE THE SONIC EXPERIENCE.
WE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH THE MASTER TRUMPET PLAYER, COMPOSER AND ARRANGER, WHO WAS VERY GENEROUS WITH HIS THOUGHTS ON MUSIC, LIFE AND OUR ROLE ON EARTH.
YOUR RECENT ALBUM, AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS, IS DONE WITH A SMALLER ENSEMBLE, WHEREAS OTHER ALBUMS, LIKE THE TEN FREEDOM SUMMERS YOU PERFORMED IN LOS ANGELES AWHILE AGO, HAVE QUITE LARGE ENSEMBLES.
DO YOU APPROACH THE PIECES DIFFERENTLY DEPENDING ON THE SIZE?
As a composer, you compose the music the same, it just depends on what instrumentation you have in it. With the Ten Freedom Summers there was a quartet with piano, bass and trumpet. Then there was a quartet with strings…and there was an ensemble with a flute, clarinet, harp, percussion and bass. So it was actually twelve pieces.
With the America’s National Parks ensemble, it looks like a smaller ensemble, but the orchestration is similar. There’s no real difference because, ultimately, you have make the instruments make sense and you have to give them some kind of balance.
The instruments in the National Parks, the cello, the piano, the bass and the trumpet make four “lead” instruments. So, I composed for them with the same idea; there are no background instruments, so to speak.
WHAT IS FASCINATING ABOUT YOUR BRAND OF MUSIC, AS WELL AS FREER OR AVANT-GARDE MUSIC IN GENERAL, IS THE MIX BETWEEN WHAT’S PLANNED DURING REHEARSALS AND WHAT IS IMPROVISED. ON THIS RECENT ALBUM, YOU HAVE ESSENTIALLY TEN PIECES THAT ARE WELL COMPOSED, SO HOW MUCH DO YOU REHEARSE WITH A BAND LIKE THIS TO GET THE ARRANGEMENTS DOWN, AND HOW MUCH DO YOU TELL THE MUSICIANS “NOW YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN”?
For one thing, I never tell them “you’re on your own” because my music requires that you have to learn what in the score, and you also have to learn how to use the music in the score. The music in the score is not fixed metrical music where you have to count the beat and stuff like that.
But let me back up a little bit. First of all, I’ve never ever identified myself as “avant-garde”. I never did that. I’ve always identified my music as Creative Music, similar to the way the AACM people did with their Creative Music. So, when it comes to Creative Music, it means that every person in the ensemble has to have the ability to perform the score and to create from the score. And I’m not talking about creating from the chords; I’m talking about that you make the score itself a creative process.
Then, when there are spaces or elements for improvisation, you have to create something entirely new. So a creative music ensemble must be able to do everything.
YOUR WEB SITE GOES INTO DETAIL ABOUT YOUR MUSICAL PHILOSOPHY. HOW DID YOU ARRIVE AT IT?
I’ve been playing music since I was 12 years old; I’m now 72, so that’s a long, long time. When I was twelve I started reflecting about what music is and what it could be for me. I learned how to compose when I was twelve; my first piece was written when I was twelve.
So, an idea or philosophy about what you are doing is really not that difficult to come up with. You don’t make it up; you use what you’re practicing in music and make it responsible for what you’re doing.
So, when I think about Music Philosophy for example, it expresses the core of what it is that I’m trying to do and what it is that I expect from my ensemble to achieve.
YOU’VE GIVEN THE PHILOSOPHY A TITLE, ANKHRASMATION.
That’s a musical language. “Ankh” comes from the Egyptian cross, with the loops on it. It’s a symbol of the life force. “Ras” means “head” or “father” and “Ma” means “mother.” So, if you put those all together, you get a clearer meaning of it. It means the vital life force of father and mother, which produces the third entity, a child, which can be male or female.
DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS INDEPENDENTLY, FROM THE AACM, OR THROUGH YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
I came through it from reflection and meditation. Everything that I do comes through my own self-center, and it’s tempered by my environment. That means that I can take an influence and still maintain an authenticity of what I’m doing.
MANY OF YOUR ALBUMS HAVE THEMES ABOUT NATURE AND CREATION. DO YOU FEEL FROM YOUR PHILOSOPHY OR RELIGION THAT CREATION HAS A SOUL, OR IS IT A CREATION THAT MAN NEEDS TO TAKE CARE AND STEWARD OF BECAUSE HE IS IN GOD’S IMAGE?
I think that basically nature is part of creation, and I wouldn’t say that nature has a soul as a person does, but there’s a life force in everything. So, in that sense everything has part of this life force in it.
But, religion serves for one purpose, but it’s not the only element in which human beings can informed by. One of the ways of receiving knowledge is through acquiring it by studying, doing research and things like that. This includes the whole realm of study.
The other way to acquire knowledge is through reflection. That kind of knowledge is not in conflict with acquiring information. It’s more through reflection and meditation. And that knowledge comes freely; it doesn’t come within a time zone where you have to “learn” what it means and practice how to “use” it. It comes out completely pure.
WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO EMBRACE THE RHASTAFARIAN BELIEF SYSTEM
That was a long time ago; in fact it was 25 years ago. That particular decision was based on culture and spirituality coming together. But since then I’ve embraced the spiritual philosophy of Islam.
HAVE YOU EVER GONE TO ETHIOPIA OR EGYPT? A LOT OF YOUR ALBUMS HAVE REFERENCES TO THAT PART OF THE WORLD.
Not in the physical form. (laughs)
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR INITIAL MEETINGS WITH ANTHONY BRAXTON AND HIS INFLUENCE ON YOU
Let’s start at the beginning; the AACM was a collective, just like any research team. Everybody is an influence on everybody. When I came to the AACM, Anthony, Roscoe (Mitchell), Lester (Bowie) Joseph (Jarman)…we all shared ideas and information continuously. There was no one person, not even Muhal (Richard Abrams) could you point the finger to and say that he influenced this guy or that guy or this woman.
It was a collective, a “collective” means where all the parts are equal in sum to the best advantage
IT’S IMPRESSIVE HOW INFLUENTIAL THAT GROUP HAS BEEN TO MODERN MUSIC
It is quite unusual. That’s one of the things that make the AACM so unique compared to other types of organizations. Our biggest success has been in the transformation of ideas and creative concepts and creative languages.
WHAT CAUSED YOU TO CREATE SO MANY ALBUMS ABOUT NATURE, SUCH AS RIVERS, THE NILE, WEATHER, THE GREAT LAKES AND NATIONAL PARKS?
I grew up in Mississippi in the Delta. The Delta is a flat land. If you wake up early in the morning like I have done all of these years, you can watch the sun rise out of the earth, which is under your feet. As the sun rises up it visually reaches your knees, your waist, your chest, your head and over you until eventually it’s completely out of reach.
That kind of observation of nature has to influence you, because your whole environment is surrounded by these kinds of events. Not only does the sun rise up out of the ground, but the rain comes down from the sky and pollutes the ground with marshes. Sun rays come from the sun and do the same thing, and actually re-vitalizes the elements.
We live in a splendor of nature, whether the city and the environment has become completely built over by cement and iron, it’s still all nature. There’s nothing on this planet that hasn’t been created or destroyed. The second law of thermodynamics states this quite clearly.
There’s nothing new or old. Everything is just energy, and those energies regenerate themselves into new forms.
SO, FOR YOUR NATIONAL PARKS ALBUM, YOU DIDN’T FEEL THE NEED TO NECESSARILY GO TO EACH NATIONAL PARK FOR INSPIRATION
I didn’t go to each one of them, because you don’t need to do that. What you do need to have is a good sense of center in yourself, and then through reflection, meditation, contemplation and research.
See, eating an apple pie may be important in understanding how sweet it is and how it tastes in a certain way. But if you eat any pear, or any pie, you have a general idea of what a pear or pie is.
I believe that every city, every cave, every river, every stethoscope and every thermometer is natural, even though we made some of them.
BECAUSE NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, IT STILL ORIGINALLY CAME FROM GOD’S GOOD GREEN EARTH
Exactly. You can’t make anything new on this planet.
WHAT WAS THE MESSAGE ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARKS YOU WERE TRYING TO DRAW ATTENTION ABOUT?
Well, God gave it to us, but the point I’m trying to make is that the parks are in constant danger because of the political apparatus that is Congress. They control the parks, and they need to be re-elected over and over. Therefore, they make deals by leasing out various portions of the parks to industry and commerce. That should never be allowed. They should never allow hotels, cafes, bars or any kind of structure that people sit and live in. They should not be allowed in the national parks. The parks should be pure nature for the human beings to walk through.
Another thing I’m trying to say is that by picking other national parks, like the Mississippi River Park or the Dr. Eileen (Jackson) Southern Literary Park, those kind of parks reflect a common heritage. Dr. Eileen Southern talked about African American music as a common heritage in this country.
If you look at the Mississippi River, it’s a memorial park. All of the bodies of water stop there. If you look at New Orleans, it’s a cultural park; the first and richest cultural city in America. They had the first concert halls and operas in America. The had the first renowned musicians and composers in America.
YOU ALSO REFER TO THE BIBLICAL PASSAGE WHERE YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT DOING THAT IN EVERY DAY LIFE? 1743
I don’t really think like that; what I think about is that the Creator made us, so we have to respect that part of creation. We were made as a special part of creation. I don’t think about if the body is here or there, because I think that God is bigger than anyone’s imagination or intelligence. The God who created creation created it out of mercy.
WHAT IS REFRESHING ABOUT YOUR MUSIC IS THAT IT TELLS A STORY BEYOND CHORD PROGRESSIONS
That’s right, because I don’t even use chord progressions.
YOUR RECENT ALBUM ALSO LISTS A VIDEO ARTIST, JESSE GILBERT, AS A VIDEO ARTIST. WHAT IS HIS ROLE IN THIS ALBUM SINCE THERE IS NO ACCOMPANYING DVD?
I did that deliberately. The visual part will come in live performances; that’s why the video artist is there. The different parties and I connect on the project, and we do the research together. We search all kinds of archives for images that we’re going to use in “live” performances. Those images when used in “live” performances are transformed by the software that Gilbert has created. We have on stage four cameras, on stage front and back, and we have images that are stored and we shoot those images on the screen, so that the music that is being played conditions those images. It makes those images appear a certain way, or disappear a certain way.
The video artist is there to inform people that there you are hearing an audio version of what I’m thinking about but there is also a visual quality to it that will only be seen “live.” I used him for the LA concert.
MUSIC IS SENSUOUS EXPERIENCE, JUST LIKE AT CHURCH WHERE YOU HAVE THINGS TO HEAR, SMELL, TASTE, AND TOUCH
All of it is part of our awareness.
YOU’VE RECEIVED A NUMBER OF AWARDS, LIKE THE NEA AND GUGGENHEIM. IS THERE ANY BENEFIT TO RECEIVING THESE AWARDS?
There’s always a benefit in receiving help. These awards don’t come from those organizations, although they are the ones that have given it to you and have honored you. The award comes from the fact of the work that you do, which comes from the Creator.
WHEN YOU “CREATE” SOMETHING, IF YOU’RE HONEST YOU KNOW THAT THE TALENT DIDN’T ORIGINATE WITH YOU.
That’s right
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU DO TO INSPIRE YOU MUSICALLY?
Basically, I live by myself, so I mostly talk to my daughters and grandkids. When I’m out traveling I go out and socialize with people. But basically, my house is quiet; it’s a reflective house. That’s kind of how I live. Fewer distractions.
WHAT PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE FOR THE FUTURE?
I just recently did a project. It’s called Rosa Parks; Six Songs. It’s an oratory about Rosa Parks. I wrote the libretto, so the whole idea is my reflections on the life and contributions of Rosa Parks as a human being at this time in America.
IS THERE A DREAM PROJECT FOR YOU?
I’m always working on projects. I have a large project that I’ve been working on for the past several years. The National Parks project took two years; it didn’t happen overnight. It has 28-30 pages in the score. It was a huge work.
The new project that I’m working on is something that will be pretty big; it will take several days to perform all of it.
LIKE ALL GREAT PILGRIMS, WADA LEO SMITH NEVER STOPS SEARCHING FOR NEW LANDS TO CONQUER. HE SEES HIS MUSIC NOT AS AN END OF ITSELF, BUT AS A MEANS TO COMMUNICATE THE THINGS ABOUT LIFE THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO HIM. BEYOND NOTES, SCALES AND CHORD PROGRESSIONS, SMITH’S MUSIC TAKES US ON JOURNEYS THAT ARE BOTH GEOGRAPHIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL. CHECK OUT HIS MUSIC AND JOIN THE SOJOURN!