''Light Upon Light'' is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter

Wadada Leo Smith Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the field of creative music. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Freedom Summers'', released on ...

which was released in 1999 on the

Tzadik Records Tzadik is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-p ...

' Composer Series. The album includes a composition for chamber ensemble and gamelan quartet, a solo piece for viola, a bass concerto written for

Bert Turetzky Bertram Jay Turetzky (born February 14, 1933) is a contemporary American double bass (contrabass) soloist, composer, teacher, and author of ''The Contemporary Contrabass'' (1974, 1989), a book that looked at a number of new and interesting ways o ...

and two electronic pieces.''Light Upon Light''
at Wadada Leo Smith

Reception

In her review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Joslyn Layne states "Wadada Leo Smith's second recording for the Tzadik label, ''Light Upon Light'', is more spacious and a little colder than his first, '' Tao-Njia''."

Track listing

All compositions by Wadada Leo Smith. # "Moths, Flames and the Giant Sequoia Redwood Trees" - 15:33 # "Hetep: Serenity: Tranquility 2" - 8:05 # "Multiamerica" - 10:27 # "Nur: Luminous, Light Upon Light" - 14:01 # "A Thousand Cranes: A Memorial for Amir Hamzehi" - 4:11

Personnel

Moths, Flames and the Giant Sequoia Redwood Trees * Stephen "Lucky" Mosko –

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

*Dorothy Stone –

piccolo flute The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...

*Martin Walker –

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

*Arthur Jarvinen –

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

, Tibetan temple bells, hi-hat cymbale-sets,

axatse The axatse( /ˈɑː.hɑː.tʃeɪˌ/ or /ˈɑː.hɑː.tseɪˌ/) is a West African rattle-like percussion instrument. The axatse is traditionally a dried gourd, wrapped in a beaded net. The axatse originated in Ghana, Togo and in the Volta Region b ...

, large bass drum *Vicki Ray –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

*Robin Lorentz –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

*Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

*I. Nyoman Wenten – gender barung *Joh Parsons – gender panembung *I. Wayhan Budha –

kempul A kempul is a type of hanging gong used in Indonesian gamelan. The kempul is a set of pitched, hanging, knobbed gongs, often made of bronze, wood, and cords. Ranging from in diameter, the kempul gong has a flat surface with a protruding knob a ...

, gong ageng *Wadada Leo Smith –

kenong The Kenong is a musical instrument of Indonesia used in the gamelan. It is a kind of gong and is placed on its side. It has the same length and width. Thus, it is similar to the bonang, kempyang, and ketuk, which are also cradled gongs. Kenongs ...

Hetep Serenity Tranquility 2 *Karen Elaine Bakunin –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

Multiamerica *Wadada Leo Smith –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Mark Trayle Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (January 17, 1955, in San Jose, California – February 18, 2015, in Ventura, California) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, impro ...

– electronics *Harumi Makino Smith –

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

Nur Luminous, Light Upon Light *David Rosenboom –

Bertram Turetzky Bertram Jay Turetzky (born February 14, 1933) is a contemporary American double bass (contrabass) soloist, composer, teacher, and author of ''The Contemporary Contrabass'' (1974, 1989), a book that looked at a number of new and interesting ways o ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

*Dorothy Stone –

piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...

*Allen Vogel –

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

*Bill Powell –

*Arthur Jarvinen –

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

*Vicki Ray –

celesta The celesta () or celeste (), also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music ...

*Brian Pezzone –

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

*Robin Lorentz –

*Karen Elaine Bakunin –

*Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick –

A Thousand Cranes A Memorial for Amir Hamzehi *Wadada Leo Smith –

*Mark Trayle – electronics

References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Wadada Leo Smith albums Tzadik Records albums