A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith

• 1Passage06:15
• 2All Becomes Alive09:09
• 3The Empty Mind Receives04:55
• 4Labyrinths06:43
• 5A Divine Courage09:12
• 6Uncut Emeralds07:43
• 7A Cold Fire05:55
• 8Notes on Water07:58
• 9Marian Anderson08:23
• Total Runtime01:06:13

Info for A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke

A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke präsentiert den Pianisten Vijay Iyer zusammen mit jenem Musiker, den er als seinen »Helden, Freund und Lehrer« bezeichnet, den Trompeter Wadada Leo Smith. Vijay hat bei früheren Gelegenheiten schon ausgiebig mit Wadada musiziert – in dessen Golden Quartet; das vorliegende Album stellt nun die erste Dokumentation ihrer Duo-Arbeit dar.

Produziert wurde das Album von Manfred Eicher im Oktober 2015 im Avatar Studio in New York. Das Kernstück des Albums ist die fesselnde Titelsuite, gewidmet Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990), der indischen Künstlerin, deren innovative Bilderwelt abstrahierte Rhythmen heraufbeschwören. Trompete und Klavier interagieren hier mit schöpferischer Sensibilität hinsichtlich Ton, Textur und Raum.

'Held, Freund und Lehrer' - für den Pianisten Vijay Iyer ist der Trompeter Wadada Leo Smith all dies in Personalunion. Auf dem Duo-Album 'a cosmic rhythm with each stroke' vertiefen sie ihre improvisierten Zwiegespräche, die sie vor ein paar Jahren in Smiths Golden Quartet begannen. 'Bei Auftritten mit dem Quartett bildeten Wadada und ich oft eine Einheit innerhalb der Einheit', schreibt Iyer im Begleittext zur CD, 'und erzeugten spontane Duo-Episoden, die als Bindeglieder dienten. Dabei fand ich Zugang zu anderen Systemen des Musizierens. An diese Herangehensweise haben wir in den letzten Jahren angeknüpft...' Ein besonders inspirierter Auftritt in John Zorns New Yorker Avantgarde-Spielstätte The Stone machte 2015 deutlich, wie wesensverwandt ihre Klänge und Konzepte sind. Deshalb war es höchste Zeit, dieses Duo endlich auf einem Album zu dokumentieren. Und so ging man im Oktober 2015 mit ECM-Produzent Manfred Eicher in die New Yorker Avatar Studios, um die magischen Improvisationen des Duos und die expressive Individualität beider Musiker einzufangen, aber auch die Art und Weise wie sie - so Wadada Leo Smith - 'zu einer einzigen Welle oder einer einzelnen Stimme verschmelzen'.

Herzstück des Albums ist die faszinierende siebenteilige Suite, die dem Album auch ihren Titel gab. Gewidmet ist sie der indischen Künstlerin Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990). Wadadas Trompete und Vijays Klavier (und gelegentliche Elektronik) interagieren hier sehr kreativ und einfühlsam mit Tönen, Texturen und Raum. Obwohl die musikalische Form der Suite größtenteils ad hoc im Studio erschaffen wurde, setzten sich die beiden Musiker vor den Aufnahmen intensiv mit Mohamedis Zeichnungen, Fotografien und Tagebuchaufzeichnungen auseinander. Eingerahmt wird die 'Suite For Nasreen' auf dem Album von Iyers Komposition 'Passage' und Smiths Stück 'Marian Anderson'. Letzteres ist eine Hommage an die gleichnamige große schwarze Opernsängerin (1897-1993), die auch eine Ikone der Bürgerrechtsbewegung war. Smiths faszinierend schillernde und sehr bildliche Abschlussnummer ist ein Kunstwerk für sich.

Vijay Iyer, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, electronics
Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet

Vijay Iyer
was born in Albany, New York. He studied mathematics and physics at Yale, and received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley. He has been on faculty at Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the New School, and is the Director of The Banff Centre’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, in Alberta, Canada. In January 2014 he joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University as the first Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts.

Iyer’s many musical collaborators have included Steve Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell, Butch Morris, George Lewis, Amina Claudine Myers, William Parker, Graham Haynes, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Rez Abbasi, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusire, Liberty Ellman, Steve Lehman, Matana Roberts, Tyshawn Sorey, Miya Masaoka, Pamela Z, John Zorn, Mari Kimura, DJ Spooky, Karsh Kale, and Talvin Singh. He has also worked with poets Mike Ladd, Amiri Baraka, Charles Simic, and Robert Pinsky. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by The Silk Road Ensemble, Ethel, Brentano String Quartet, JACK Quartet, the American Composers Orchestra, Hermès Ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and Imani Winds.

The ensemble heard on Mutations was assembled especially for this album. Miranda Cuckson has worked closely with composers including Elliott Carter, Boulez and Lachenmann. Her recording of Luigi Nono’s ”La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura” was named a Best Classical Recording of 2012 by the New York Times. Michi Wiancko’s recent album releases include works by French composer/virtuoso Émile Sauret. She leads her own band Kon Michi. Kivie Cahn-Lipman is the founding cellist of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Violist Kyle Armbrust also plays with ICE, as well as with the Argento Ensemble and the Orchestra of the League of Composers. He has worked with Steve Reich, Elliott Carter and Charles Wuorinen, amongst other composers.

Vijay Iyer has recorded for labels including Asian Improv, Red Giant, Sunnyside, Savoy Jazz, Artist House, ACT and, most recently, Pi Recordings, which issued Holding It Down, a collaboration with Mike Ladd, setting poetry by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. He first recorded for ECM in 2007, as a member of Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory on the live album Far Side. Further ECM recordings with Vijay Iyer are in preparation.

Wadada Leo Smith
trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser has been active in creative contemporary music for over forty years. His systemic music language Ankhrasmation is significant in his development as an artist and educator.

Born in Leland, Mississippi, Smith's early musical life began in the high school concert and marching bands. At the age of thirteen, he became involved with the Delta Blues and Improvisation music traditions. He received his formal musical education with his stepfather Alex Wallace, the U.S. Military band program (1963), Sherwood School of Music (1967-69), and Wesleyan University (1975-76). Mr. Smith has studied a variety of music cultures: African, Japanese, Indonesian, European and American.

He has taught at the University of New Haven (1975-'76), the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY (1975-'78), and Bard College (1987-'93). He is currently a faculty member at The Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts. He is the director of the African-American Improvisational Music program, and is a member of ASCAP, Chamber Music America, and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

Mr. Smith's awards and commissions include: MAP Fund Award for “Ten Freedom Summers” (2011), Chamber Music America New Works Grant (2010), NEA Recording Grant (2010), Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2009-2010), Other Minds residency and "Taif", a string quartet commission (2008), Fellow of the Jurassic Foundation (2008), FONT(Festival of New Trumpet) Award of Recognition (2008), Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Award (2005), Islamic World Arts Initiative of Arts International (2004), Fellow of the Civitela Foundation (2003), Fellow at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (2001), "Third Culture Copenhagen" in Denmark-presented a paper on Ankhrasmation (1996), Meet the Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Commissioning Program (1996), Asian Cultural Council Grantee to Japan (June-August 1993), Meet the Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Commissioning Program (1990), New York Foundation on the Arts Fellowship in Music (1990), Numerous Meet the Composer Grants (since 1977), and National Endowment for the Arts Music Grants (1972, 1974, 1981).

Mr. Smith's music philosophy Notes (8 Pieces) Source a New. World Music: Creative Music has been published by Kiom Press (1973), translated and published in Japan by Zen-On Music Company Ltd. (1976). In 1981 Notes was translated into Italian and published by Nistri-Litschi Editori.

He was invited to a conference of artists, scientists and philosophers "Third Culture Copenhagen" in Denmark 1996, and presented a paper on his Ankhrasmation music theory and notational system for creative musicians. His interview was recorded for Denmark T.V., broadcasted September 1996.

Some of the artists Mr. Smith has performed with are : Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Richard Teitelbaum, Joseph Jarman, George Lewis, Cecil Taylor, Andrew Cyrill, Oliver Lake, Anthony Davis, Carla Bley, David Murray, Don Cherry, Jeanne Lee, Milton Campbell, Henry Brant, Richard Davis, Tadao Sawai, Ed Blackwell, Sabu Toyozumi, Peter Kowald, Kazuko Shiraishi, Han Bennink, Misja Mengelberg, Marion Brown, Kazutoki Umezu, Kosei Yamamoto, Charlie Haden, Kang Tae Hwan, Kim Dae Hwan, Tom Buckner, Malachi Favors Magoustous and Jack Dejohnette among many others.

Mr. Smith currently has three ensembles: Golden Quartet, Silver Orchestra, and Organic. His compositions have also been performed by other contemporary music ensembles: AACM-Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Player, New Century Players, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Contemporary Chamber Players (University of Chicago), S.E.M. Ensemble, Southwest Chamber Music, Del Sol String Quartet, New York New Music Ensemble, ne(x)tworks, and California E.A.R. Unit.

Mr. Smith's music for multi-ensembles has been performed since 1969. "Tabligh" for double-ensemble was performed by Golden Quartet and Classical Persian ensemble at Merkin Concert Hall (2006) and by Golden Quartet and Suleyman Erguner's Classical Turkish ensemble at Akbank Music Festival in Istanbul (2007). His largest work "Odwira" for 12 multi-ensembles (52 instrumentalists) was performed at California Institute of the Arts (March 1995). His Noh piece "Heart Reflections" was performed in Merkin Concert Hall, NY (November 1996).

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