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Bardsdale (1997-1998)
| composer |
Wadada Leo Smith (b. 1941) |
| performers |
Southwest Chamber Music:
Stuart Fox, guitar |
| publisher |
Kiom Music |
| label |
Cambria Master Recordings 8809http://www.cambriamus.com
|
| duration |
15:22 |
Bardsdale takes its name from a small California town northwest of Los Angeles.
Wadada Leo Smith:
"Bardsdale is composed for and dedicated to Stuart Fox, a friend of mine. Evening: Dusk, Luminous Streaks Of Magenta Blues, is a work having eight bars of non-metrical and proportionally designed musical structure. It has a psychological feeling of a colorful sky after sunset. The magenta blue streaks are symbolic of the late evening Mississippi delta blues expressed in the blues sonics of the guitar. Early Morning: A Deep Rain In A Diamond-Laden Valley, that valley is Bardsdale early in the morning after the rain. It is a lyrical expression in the song tradition. Mid-day: The Heat That's In The Sunrays, a reference to the mystical and religious philosophy of Akhenaten of Thebes Egypt, 1395 BCE, a work having 14 bars of music, reveals my deepest feelings regarding what the guitar can express and my ability to convey my feelings in the context of musical composition for that instrument."
Active as a composer and performer for over 30 years, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (b. 1941) has studied a variety of musical cultures and has developed a system called "Ankhrasmation" to express jazz and other improvised musics in notated form.
Born in Leland, Mississippi, Smith played trumpet in high school concert and marching bands; at the age of 13, he became immersed in the Delta Blues and improvisation. He received formal musical training from his father, the Sherwood School of Music in Chicago, Illinois, and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Smith has taught at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, and Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Since 1993 Smith has taught at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He is also a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
Smith has received grants from Meet the Composer, Asian Cultural Council, New York Foundation on the Arts, and National Endowment for the Arts. His music philosophy notes (8 pieces) source a new world music: creative music (1973) was published by Kiom Press and has been translated into Japanese and Italian. In 1996 he presented a paper on his Ankhrasmation music theory at the Third Culture conference of artists, scientists, and philosophers in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Much of Smith's music has been performed by his N'da-Kulture ensemble, as well as Kronos Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Players, New Century Players, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Contemporary Chamber Players (University of Chicago), Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, and California E.A.R. Unit. As a performer he has collaborated with many notable musicians and composers including Ed Blackwell, Henry Brant, Anthony Braxton, Don Cherry, David Murray, and Pauline Oliveros. His music can be found on such labels as Cambria, ECM, Kabell, Moers Music, and Tzadik.
related websites
http://music.calarts.edu/~wls
Founded in 1987, Southwest Chamber Music is among the most active chamber music ensembles in the United States, presenting year-round concert series in Pasadena, Los Angeles, and San Marino, California. The ensemble also offers a regularly-scheduled open rehearsal series entitled Open Rehearsal: Breaking the Code. Taking its name from the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, the oldest cultural institution in southern California, Southwest Chamber Music has commissioned and/or premiered works by Morton Subotnick, Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen L. Mosko, Ernst Krenek, Hans Werner Henze, Pierre Boulez, William Kraft, György Ligeti, and Charles Wuorinen, among others. The group's current season is entitled The Universe, a major festival with eight Pasadena organizations celebrating the beginning of the third millennium through the history of music, art, and science. The ensemble has recently released a 12-CD box set on Cambria Master Recordings entitled Composer Portrait Series; other recordings may be found on the Orfeo label. Recent performances include a Koussevitsky Foundation commission of An American Decameron by Richard Felciano.
related websites
http://www.swmusic.org
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