Divine Love

About

Trumpeter Leo Smith—later Wadada Leo Smith—blazed a path on his own Kabell label before issuing 1979’s <i>Divine Love</i>, one of only two ECM titles in his catalog (the other, <i>Kulture Jazz</i>, would arrive in 1993). The avant-garde chamber-group sound of <i>Divine Love</i>’s two longer pieces, “Divine Love” and “Spirituals: Language of Love,” couldn’t be more striking, with Smith’s trumpet, Dwight Andrews’ woodwinds, and Bobby Naughton’s vibraphone yielding a rich and intimate sound (they’re aided on “Spirituals” by Charlie Haden on bass). Smith’s long, vibrato-less legato peals have an austere beauty—an enduring quality in his sound over the decades, one that culminated in such major works as <i>The Great Lakes Suites</i>, <i>The Chicago Symphonies</i>, and the Pulitzer Prize finalist <i>Ten Freedom Summers</i>. The middle track on <i>Divine Love</i>, “Tastalun,” initially sounds like Smith multi-tracking himself; in fact, it’s him joining trumpet peers Lester Bowie and Kenny Wheeler—with mutes—in a triangular parley full of motion and textural flux. Here is a compelling précis of the avant-garde trumpet language of the period, with rapid flurries, tremolos and smears, lyrical tones, and ample idiosyncrasies—all of it beautifully captured by Manfred Eicher’s production. Smith was one of the early figures to come to prominence with the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), along with Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, and others. There was no specific “style” attached to this movement, although there were common themes, such as a fascination with small auxiliary percussion, and a fondness for orchestral timbres such as bass clarinet, marimba, and other instruments outside the jazz mainstream. <i>Divine Love</i> is one of many examples of the beauty and imagination the AACM was able to harness as its members documented new forms of improvisatory concert music. It takes its place next to landmark ECM albums by Marion Brown, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roscoe Mitchell, Sam Rivers, Old and New Dreams, Jack DeJohnette, and more.

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