Wadada Leo Smith In Concert at The Hammer

Wadada Leo Smith, ‘Vision, from Kosmic Music, n.d..’ One of four parts matted together, 32 in. × 15 3/4 in (81.2 cm × 40 cm). | Image courtesy of the artist and Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago.

Tonight (June 23), as part of Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, exhibit participant, legendary trumpeter and former CalArts faculty Wadada Leo Smith performs his compositions at the Hammer Museum in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Acclaimed bassist John Lindberg joins Smith onstage. Accompanying the performance are video projections by CalArts alumnus Jesse Gilbert (Music-Integrated Media MFA 02).

From the program notes:

The scores of Made in L.A. 2016 artist Wadada Leo Smith are composed in the musical language of Ankrasmation, figuring as both aesthetic objects and musical roadmaps that encourage their performers to think deeply about improvisation as a resistance to classical notation.

Gilbert, Chair of Media Technology at Woodbury University, is a long-time collaborator of Smith, as well as several other experimental musicians, including harpist and CalArts faculty Anne LeBaron and pianist Motoko Honda. His work has been shown all over the United States, in venues such as Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and Ars Electronica in Austria.

Tonight’s performance will also be livestreamed on the Hammer Museum website.