Event Detail

Renowned composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith makes a rare West Coast appearance for a concert featuring his Ten Freedom Summers: Defining Moments in the History of the United States of America. Premiered at REDCAT in Los Angeles in 2012 and performed in Brooklyn the following year for the 50th anniversary of The March on Washington, D.C., the work was inspired by the civil rights movement. Joining Smith onstage at UCSD are pianist Anthony Davis of the music faculty, bassist John Lindberg, harpist Alison Bjorkedal and music department video artist Jesse Gilbert. Davis performs with Smith on the 4-CD box set of Ten Freedom Summers. Last year the pair played concerts in Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Wroclaw, Poland, where they recorded Smith's latest composition, on the theme of solidarity, with the Golden Quartet and the Wroclaw Philharmonic. Davis and Smith have made music together for something like 45 years, beginning when Davis was teenage wiz in a trio including Smith as well as trombonist George Lewis.