Najwa (album)

Najwa is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album was released on October 20, 2017 via Finnish TUM Records label.[5]

Najwa
Studio album by Wadada Leo Smith
Released	October 20, 2017
Recorded	March 6–7, 2014
Studio	MSR Studios, NYC Orange Music Sound Studios, West Orange, New Jersey
Genre	Jazz
Length	56:11
Label	TUM Records TUM CD 049
Producer	Petri Haussila
Wadada Leo Smith chronology
America's National Parks (2016) Najwa (2017) Solo (2017)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	[1]
Jazz Forum	[2]
PopMatters	7/10[3]
Tom Hull	A–[4]

Background

Najwa continues a series of Smith's dedicatory albums of varying size and breadth, embracing human and natural subjects. Four of the five tracks pay homage to composers or performers long or recently departed: Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Billie Holiday. The fifth and title track simply and enigmatically references "a love lost."[6]

Reception

A reviewer at Dusty Groove wrote, "Wadada Leo Smith is really on fire here – on a record that feels a lot more like something from the early 80s underground than some of his earlier work – from the lineup of performers, right down to the overall sound of the set! The group's very heavy on guitars – and features work from Michael Gregory Jackson, Henry Kaiser, Brandon Ross, and Lamar Smith on the instrument – often criss-crossing and weaving these beautiful sonic textures – powerful, but never too noisy, and augmented beautifully by some surprisingly thoughtful bass work by Bill Laswell – whose at his most subtle and collaborative here."[7]

S. Victor Aaron of Something Else! wrote, "Wadada Leo Smith has never been one to conceal his influences but when he celebrates the geniuses who motivated him, it’s his own genius that becomes the most illuminating thing in his music. Najwa is one of those particularly bright moments in a catalog full of them."[8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Wadada Leo Smith.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ornette Coleman´s Harmolodic Sonic Hierographic Forms: A Resonance Change in the Millennium"	16:22
2.	"Ohnedaruth John Coltrane: The Master of Kosmic Music and His Spirituality in a Love Supreme"	14:00
3.	"Najwa"	3:31
4.	"Ronald Shannon Jackson: The Master of Symphonic Drumming and Multi-Sonic Rhythms, Inscriptions of a Rare Beauty"	11:49
5.	"The Empress, Lady Day: In a Rainbow Garden, with Yellow-Gold Hot Springs, Surrounded by Exotic Plants and Flowers"	10:01
Total length:		56:11

Personnel

Band Wadada Leo Smith – composer, liner notes, trumpet Pheeroan akLaff – drums Michael Gregory – guitar Henry Kaiser – guitar Bill Laswell – bass (electric), mixing Brandon Ross – guitar Adam Rudolph – percussion Lamar Smith – guitar

Production James Dellatacoma – engineer, mixing Michael Fossenkemper – mastering Dan Fyte – assistant engineer Jori Grönroos – artwork, photography Petri Haussila – photography, producer Juha Lökström – design Robert Musso – engineer Max Salmi – artwork R.I. Sutherland-Cohen – photography

References

1. McClenaghan, Dan (September 30, 2017). "Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa". All About Jazz. allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
2. Romański, Marek. "Najwa - Wadada Leo Smith| Jazz Forum". Jazz Forum. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
3. LAYMAN, WILL (12 December 2017). "Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa". PopMatters. popmatters.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
4. "Tom Hull: Grade List: Wadada Leo Smith". Tom Hull. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
5. "Wadada Leo Smith – Najwa". Discogs. discogs.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
6. Medwin, Marc (November 28, 2017). "Wadada Leo Smith — Najwa (Tum)". Dusted Magazine. dustedmagazine.tumblr.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
7. "Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa". Dusty Groove. dustygroove.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
8. Aaron, S. Victor (29 November 2017). "Wadada Leo Smith – Najwa (2017)". Something Else!. somethingelsereviews.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.