Wadada Leo Smith

An adventurous trumpeter and composer, Wadada Leo Smith is among the most innovative American musicians to emerge from the 1960s jazz vanguard. The systemic musical language he calls Ankhrasmation began its development in 1965 and was documented on voluminous recordings for his Kabell label and more than a dozen others, including Tzadik. Smith's Ten Freedom Summers, a 2013 oratorio on the Civil Rights era, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Subsequent long-form works included 2014's Great Lakes Suites, while 2016's America's National Parks secured a Doris Duke Foundation Award. In 2019, Rosa Parks: Pure Love, a second work inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, appeared. In 2021 and 2022, in commemoration of his 80th birthday, Finland's TUM label issued several sets of unreleased material, ranging from solos, duets, trios, and quartets to boxed sets The Chicago Symphonies and the seven-disc String Quartets Nos. 1-12.