Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Harriet Tubman and Wadada Leo Smith: Araminta

Harriet Tubman and Wadada Leo Smith: Araminta

By Mark Corroto
February 17, 2017
View read count

Harriet Tubman and Wadada Leo Smith: Araminta

Things are urgent now. Actually, they have been critical for some time, but you might have chosen to ignore them. Politics, racism, sexism, war, inequality, and xenophobia are now issues that you must confront at home, work, in social media, and even within your bowling league. Everyone must have an opinion, and maybe that is the good news.

This consciousness of social justice has long been the well that artists and musicians draw from. Half a century ago Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released "Ohio," chronicling the Kent State shootings, and before that was Dylan, Lennon, Sam Cooke, and later, Public Enemy, and Rage Against The Machine. The list is long, but somewhere along the way America stopped listening.

A band like Harriet Tubman, named after the ex-slave, abolitionist, suffragist, has been 'on-message' since their first release I Am A Man (Knitting Factory Works, 1998). HT is a power trio of guitarist

Brandon Ross

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Brandon Ross, bassist

Melvin Gibbs

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Melvin Gibbs, and drummer

JT Lewis

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">JT Lewis. Araminta their fourth disc, may have appropriated the Nixon 1974 re-election slogan, "now more than ever."

It's not that the lyrics are here to school you. Harriet Tubman brings the noise. And the funk. And the free jazz. Moreover, words are unnecessary when you invite a guest such as trumpeter

Wadada Leo Smith

trumpet
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Wadada Leo Smith to join the recording. A member of the AACM, Smith's Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012), a tribute to the Civil Rights Movement was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His trumpet explorations are the answer to the question of what

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis would be up to were he still with us.

The message clicks from the opener, "The Spiral Path To The Throne." Fuzzy electricity ushers in a bass and trumpet fanfare that morphs into an electric-Miles slow cooker. Smith draws from his Yo Miles! sessions with

Henry Kaiser

guitar
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Henry Kaiser here, and Ross and Gibbs pull from their years in Cold Sweat. The music takes no prisoners, "Ne Ander" thunders heavy bass and shredded guitar effects with a rock pulse. The music is almost a gauntlet thrown at Smith. Undaunted, he blows stabbing trumpet lines into the clash. To quiet the struggle, the music switches gears with "Nina Simone" (another civil rights warrior), a brooding contemplative piece that focuses on Smiths empathetic horn washed with trancelike guitar effects and a slab of bass. The trio brings the heavy guns for "Real Cool Killers." This part dub, part George Clinton Frankenstein monster, lumbers with gravity. The highlight of the session is the one composition Smith contributes, "President Obama's Speech At The Selma Bridge." Ross' guitar summons the ghosts of Hendrix and Sharrock, while Lewis and Gibbs drive a fevered pace. While the exterior of the piece is calm, each player's sound is ablaze with a hardcore passion. Let's say it's a call for justice.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

The Spiral Path To The Throne; Taken; Blacktal Fractal; Ne Ander; Nina Simone; Real Cool Killers; President Obama��s Speech At The Selma Bridge; Sweet Araminta.

Personnel

Wadada Leo Smith

trumpet

Brandon Ross: guitar; Melvin Gibbs: bass; JT Lewis: drums; Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet.

Album information

Title: Araminta | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Sunnyside Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Up North
< Previous

Laura Jurd: Big Footprints
Next >

Wadada Leo Smith Concerts

Oct 17 Fri

Vilnius Jazz 2025: Wadada Leo Smith - Sylvie Courvoisier...

Vilnius Old Theatre
Vilnius, Lithuania

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.