''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 fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for '' Ten Fr ...

released on

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedg ...

. 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 2012-201 ...

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 in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

.Wadada Leo Smith
at

Reception

In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, 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 trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

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

Down Beat ' (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 which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Ch ...

'' 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
at

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, f ...

'' 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 ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

Vijay Iyer Vijay Iyer (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, histori ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

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

* John Lindberg -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

Pheeroan akLaff Pheeroan akLaff (born Paul Maddox January 27, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder� ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

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 percus ...

- 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 the 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 w ...

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

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

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, Lou Reed, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Arto Lindsay, and composers Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jóhan ...

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* John Lindberg - acoustic bass *

- drums

References

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