''Spiritual Dimensions'' is a double 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 ...

released on

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

. The first disc is the fourth release by his Golden Ensemble, which began as a quartet but here expands into a quintet with two drummers, and was recorded live at the 2008

Vision Festival The Vision Festival is the world's premier festival of experimental music (typically free jazz/avant-garde jazz), art, film and dance, held annually in May/June on the Lower East Side of New York City from 1996 to 2011, in Brooklyn from 2012 to 20 ...

in New York. The second disc is the first-ever release by Organic, an electric nine-piece band with four guitarists, and was recorded live in 2009 at the jazz club Firehouse 12 in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

.Wadada Leo Smith
at

Reception

In his 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 ...

, arwulf arwulf notes that "Both ensembles combine swirling currents of ethereal mystery with funk tropes descended directly from the achievements of

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

during the last 25 years of his life." The ''

Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' review by Kirk Silsbee says "Smith shows a marked distillation in his playing and the frameworks he chooses. He plays in short bursts and phrases, made of brilliant tones, startling sounds, pungent runs and lyrical asides."Silsbee, Kirk. ''Spiritual Dimensions'' review. ''Down Beat'' April 10: page 58. Print. In a review for

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

Jakob Baekgaard says "Smith creates a unique world of sound where rhythms are more than mere earthly creations, but rather something which aspires to a beauty of metaphysical proportions."Baekgaard, Jakob
''Spiritual Dimensions'' review
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Another review by Raul D'Gama Rose states "Every note trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith blows on his exquisite brass instrument brings a whole world of joy."D'Gama Rose, Raul
''Spiritual Dimensions'' review
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Meanwhile, Dan McClenaghan notes that "With the ambitious ''Spiritual Dimensions'', Wadada Leo Smith has created a strangely entrancing music, and one of his finest recordings."McClenaghan, Don
''Spiritual Dimensions'' review
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The ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' review by Will Layman states "Though Smith has never compromised his dedication to freely improvised music, his sound is engaging and easy to enjoy: tart, lyrical, often delicate, and always rich in the pregnant silences between notes. He is, in many respects, the greatest successor to Miles Davis in his use of silence, texture, and rhythm in jazz trumpet."Layman, Will
''Spiritual Dimensions'' review
at ''

'' The Point of Departure review by Stuart Broomer notes that "There’s plenty of depth and focus in his Golden Quintet, but the Organic concert seems to take the trumpeter to another level of interaction, with a band that's both more intense and more inventive. It's not to be missed."Broomer, Stuart
''Spiritual Dimensions'' review
at Point of Departure

Track listing

:''All compositions by Wadada Leo Smith'' ''Disc One'' # "Al-Shadhili's Litany of the Sea: Sunrise" - 12:57 # "Pacifica" - 5:49 # "Umar at the Dome of the Rock, parts 1 & 2" - 14:52 # "Crossing Sirat" - 6:21 # "South Central L.A. Kulture" - 15:42 ''Disc Two'' # "South Central L.A. Kulture" - 12:37 # "Angela Davis" - 19:18 # "Organic" - 18:07 # "Joy : Spiritual Fire : Joy" - 13:34

Personnel

''Golden Quintet'' (Dísc One) *

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 ...

Vijay Iyer Vijay Iyer (; born Vijay Raghunathan, October 26, 1971) is a composer, pianist, bandleader, producer, writer, and professor based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builde ...

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 ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

* John Lindberg -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Pheeroan akLaff -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Don Moye Donald Moye, Jr. (born May 23, 1946), known as Famoudou Don Moye, is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. He is most known for his involvement with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and is noted for his mastery of African and Caribbean percuss ...

- drums ''Organic'' (Dísc Two) *Wadada Leo Smith - trumpet * Michael Gregory (Jackson) - electric guitar (and producer of Disc Two) *Brandon Ross - electric guitar *

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been a guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has wor ...

- 6 and 12-string electric guitar *Lamar Smith - electric guitar (on 1 & 4) *Okkyung Lee -

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 ...

Skúli Sverrisson Skúli Sverrisson (born 23 October 1966) is an Icelandic composer and bass guitarist. He has worked with musicians Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey (guitarist), Derek Bailey, Lou Reed, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Arto Lindsay, and composers ...

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

* John Lindberg - acoustic bass * Pheeroan akLaff - drums

References

{{Authority control 2009 live albums Wadada Leo Smith live albums Cuneiform Records live albums