Wadada Leo Smith's Great Lakes Quartet

[sonnyhill]

 

"The Chicago Symphonies is a magnificent four-CD boxed set by Wadada Leo Smith's Great Lakes Quartet. Each disc includes one of the four symphonies composed by Wadada Leo Smith for this quartet. The first three symphonies, 'Gold Symphony,' 'Diamond Symphony' and 'Pearl Symphony,' are performed by Wadada Leo Smith with saxophonist/flutist Henry Threadill, bassist John Lindberg and drummer Jack DeJohnette whereas the fourth, 'Sapphire Symphony - The Presidents and Their Visions of America,' features Smith with saxophonist Jonathon Haffner, Lindberg and DeJohnette. The idea of a symphony composed for a quartet was first presented by Don Cherry on his classic recording Symphony For Improvisers in 1966 but Wadada Leo Smith has brought this idea to the present day and broadened it to include social and political into the creative space. The Chicago Symphonies celebrate the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the historical development of creative music in Chicago starting with Louis Armstrong and through Sun Ra onto the AACM as well as, in the case of 'Sapphire Symphony,' Abraham Lincoln and Baraka Hussein Obama."

[JSngry]

Sure!

[mjazzg]

Tum just keep delivering new WLS.

Great news although I've hardly absorbed the last two boxes

[tranemonk]

Anybody got a link for ordering or sound samples?

[mjazzg]

No samples but looking at those timings you got to wonder why it's not on three CDs

https://tumrecords.com/box-004-chicago-symphonies

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, tranemonk said:

Anybody got a link for ordering or sound samples?

https://www.dustygroove.com/item/993156

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, mjazzg said:

No samples but looking at those timings you got to wonder why it's not on three CDs

https://tumrecords.com/box-004-chicago-symphonies

I agree. Probably will buy it anyway.

[Chuck Nessa]

1 hour ago, mjazzg said:

No samples but looking at those timings you got to wonder why it's not on three CDs

https://tumrecords.com/box-004-chicago-symphonies

I'm sure Wadada wanted each to be considered as a unit separately.

[JSngry]

Four pieces, four "sides", like a double LP. Uninterrupted pieces 

[jlhoots]

Dusty Groove has them.

[relyles]

Ordered and on the way!

[JSngry]

What is getting me about these four discs is that the horns generate very little motion (and what there is, is slow motion), but Lindberg and DeJohnette constantly keep it all moving ahead by occupying the spaces in an absolutely perfect/appropriate fashion. The combination of discipline, intuition, and spontaneity they draw on is remarkable, imo.