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[JonG]

Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette - Red Trumpet from America [Tzadik, 2009]

Originally proposed to ECM Records in 1979, the collaboration of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Jack DeJohnette has finally found new life in America. Recorded last year in Bill Laswell’s New Jersey studio (but without his heavy-handed production aesthetic), this unadorned acoustic session documents two of the world’s most versatile and virtuosic improvisers working through a set of six new compositions written by Smith.
Legendary veterans whose seminal innovations can be traced to the late ’60s, Smith was a charter member of the AACM, while DeJohnette served with Miles Davis during his influential fusion period. Their finely tuned rapport was rekindled in the company of pianist Anthony Davis and late bassist Malachi Favors in the first version of Smith’s Golden Quartet. Favors passing in 2004 disbanded the original line-up, leaving their first two albums, Golden Quartet (Tzadik, 2000) and Year of the Elephant (Pi, 2002) as definitive examples of creative improvised music for the new century.

- allaboutjazz.com