Famous US trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith will perform in Athens on November 1, 2014, in an event organized by Onassis Cultural Centre as part of the Cycle Improvisation: three days of music, performance and speech about the importance of collective creation today.

Social activism has always played a more central role in Wadada Leo Smith’s life than his aesthetic explorations within the Western musical tradition. His pivotal role in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (A.A.C.C.), an organization that has left an indelible stamp on artistic events of all kinds in Chicago, was part and parcel of these activities. Similarly, the 22 compositions that make up his Ten Freedom Summers, a work which focuses on 1954-64, the period in which the young trumpeter was growing up, essay a psychological interpretation of events connected with the Civil Rights Movement.

Smith and his ‘Golden’ quartet join forces with the video artist Jesse Gilbert to deliver a concert-fleuve which transcends his sound to confirm Smith’s status as an engaged citizen activist as well as a key figure in the development of creative music, written and improvised alike.

Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet
Anthony Davis: piano
John Lindberg: double bass
Pheeroan akLaff: drums
Jesse Gilbert: video and projections

ONASSIS CULTURAL CENTRE
107-109 Syngrou Avenue, 11745 Athens, Greece
Information/Tickets: 210 900 5 800,
Administration: 213 0 178000
Email: info@sgt.gr