I was very sorry to learn of Greg Tate passing last month. This was my first interview with Greg, I interviewed him again for my book Common Tones in December 2020. The WIRE has kindly hosted a full transcript of the Invisible Jukebox piece which they commissioned in 2004. Our conversation lasted close to three hours--the discussion of one Sun Ra track lasted almost 30 minutes--and the transcript is more than double the length of the printed article. Amazing to see Greg’s mind work in real time as I play him these tracks. Please find it here.

NEW IN THE BOOKSHOP: THE MUSEUM OF RHYTHM (2018) • The Museum of Rhythm is a speculative institution that engages rhythm as a tool for interrogating the foundations of modernity and the sensual complex of time in daily experience. When entering a larger cultural infrastructure such as the art museum, it juxtaposes modern and contemporary art with ethnographic research, cinema, music, and scientific instruments to set in resonance a critical apparatus and conduct exercises in Rhythmanalysis. • This book, and the exhibition upon which it is based, is an outcome of durational research that sees art as one of the means by which the ideologies of rhythm are implemented. Hence alongside artworks it, by necessity, includes objects, films, and documents connected with the history of the development of time measurement, labor monitoring devices, choreography, and music practice, which enable the human being to experience more complex rhythms. • The book includes visual documentation of the exhibition as well as essays and texts by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Erick Beltrán, Robert Brain, Francisco Camacho Herrera, Natasha Ginwala, Robert Horvitz, Ken Jacobs, Elisabeth Lebovici, Ernst Mach, Angela Melitopoulos, Daniel Muzyczuk, Nana Oforiatta-Ayim, Jean Painlevé, Forrestine Paulay, Kathleen Rivera, Simon Schaffer, Georg Simmel, Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen Willats, and Jason Young. • Available via our website and in the bookshop. • #worldfoodbooks #themuseumofrhythm #sternbergpress #hansrichter #lawrenceabuhamdan #erickbeltran #nanaoforiattaayim #ernstmach #stephenwillats #angelamelitopoulos #danielmuzyczuk #wadadaleosmith #jeanpainleve #franciscocamachoherrera #kenjacobs #natashaginwala #simonschaeffer #manray #hannedarboven (at WORLD FOOD BOOKS)

Given how many icons of free improvisation jazz they've both played with, it's inexplicable how "Duologues 5" is the first collaboration between sax master Ivo Perelman and master trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. Here's my review of this duets collection. https://paulsemel.com/ivo-perelman-wadada-leo-smith-duologues-5-review/ 🎶🎷🎺

Leo Smith – trumpet, flugelhorn, gong, percussion Dwight Andrews – alto flute, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, triangles, mbira Bobby Naughton – vibraharp, marimba, bells Lester Bowie, Kenny Wheeler – trumpet (track 2) Charlie Haden – bass (track 3)

The concert ended with a short, improvised set of Smith on trumpet and Chacon on processed guitar in the North Gallery of the Arts and Letters campus. With Chacon providing a bed of soft, slightly shifting, electronic chords, Smith, with his trumpet muted, performed an exquisite, plaintive, melodic coda to the afternoon’s performance. Sublime. 

Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Leo Smith ‎– Silence #Freedom 1974 🇫🇷 France Design – Hamish Grimes Photography By – Valerie Wilmer Producer [Album] – Alan Bates Reeds, Instruments [Misc. Instruments], Producer – #AnthonyBraxton Trumpet, Instruments [Misc. Instruments], Producer – #LeoSmith, #WadadaLeoSmith Violin, Instruments [Misc. Instruments], Producer – #LeroyJenkins https://www.instagram.com/p/CIl5SfqJgzd/?igshid=6393s59tv8h4

Leo Smith*, Peter Kowald, Günter Sommer ‎– Touch The Earth #FMP 1980 🇩🇪 Germany Bass, Artwork – #PeterKowald Drums, Percussion, Organ [Organpipes] – #GünterSommer Photography By – #ArivanSantvoort Producer – Jost Gebers Recorded By – Jost Gebers Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Mbira [African Thumb Piano] – #WadadaLeoSmith https://www.instagram.com/p/CIbiM7NJr5A/?igshid=2aahz3uyt4n4

Listen to Wadada Leo Smith for free: https://music.cliggo.com/artist/347445-Wadada_Leo_Smith