Wadada Leo Smith - The Emerald Duets / 5CD set

2022 CD collection.

The Emerald Duets is a crowning achievement among Wadada Leo Smith's many recorded duo collaborations with drummers/percussionists that have previously featured such creative giants as Ed Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, Milford Graves, Louis Moholo-Moholo and Gunter Sommer, among others. The Emerald Duets features four master drummers who have each, in their own unique fashion, contributed to the way modern drumming has developed in the past six decades and how it is now perceived.

Pheeroan akLaff, Andrew Cyrille and Han Bennink are each featured on one disc and Jack DeJohnette on two discs, including Smith's five-part composition "Paradise: The Gardens and Fountains" that fills the fifth disc of this boxed set in it's entirety. The sessions with akLaff, Cyrille and DeJohnette mostly feature compositions by Wadada Leo Smith, including three very different versions of Smith's powerful statement for the protection of freedom and democracy, "The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy." The session with Bennink includes a combination of Smith's compositions and collectively created tracks.

DISC 1
Wadada Leo Smith & Pheeroan akLaff
LITANIES, PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS
Total playing time 74:58

DISC 2
Wadada Leo Smith & Andrew Cyrille
HAVANA, CUBA
Total playing time 65:36

DISC 3
Wadada Leo Smith & Han Bennink
MYSTERIOUS SONIC FIELDS
Total playing time 51:15

DISC 4
Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette
FREEDOM SUMMER, THE LEGACY
Total playing time 53:18

DISC 5
Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette
PARADISE: THE GARDENS AND FOUNTAINS
Total playing time 37:45

Wadada Leo Smith trumpet and piano

with

Pheeroan akLaff drums (DISC 1)
Andrew Cyrille drums (DISC 2)
Han Bennink drums and percussion (DISC 3)
Jack DeJohnette drums, piano and Fender Rhodes (DISCS 4 and 5)