Wadada Leo Smith - Emerald Duets (2022)

Emerald Duets represents another high point in Wadada Leo Smith’s already legendary series of duo recordings with some of the greatest drummers in the history of creative music. On each separate CD, Smith is featured with one of four extraordinary drum masters, Pheeroan akLaff, Han Bennink, Andrew Cyrille and Jack DeJohnette. Smith first played with Jack DeJohnette in Chicago in the 1960s and has frequently collaborated with him since the 1990s. After Smith settled in New Haven, Connecticut, in the early 1970s, Pheeroan akLaff entered the circle of young musicians Smith worked with, heralding a musical relationship that continues to the present day. Smith’s earliest encounters with Han Bennink also took place in the 1970s, when he spent time in Europe and toured with Company. Smith and Andrew Cyrille first performed together in the late 1990s in the John Lindberg Ensemble and have more recently expanded their collaborations into various other projects.