{"id":8292,"date":"2024-04-29T21:28:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T02:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=8292"},"modified":"2024-05-26T14:05:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T19:05:22","slug":"tranquility-wadada-leo-smith-amina-claudine-myers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/tranquility-wadada-leo-smith-amina-claudine-myers\/","title":{"rendered":"Tranquility and Rest to the Mind: Conversations with Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers on ‘Central Park\u2019s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thirty-seven and a half million people visit New York City\u2019s Central Park every year. That, by itself, is a fascinating statistic when one considers the entire population of the metropolis is less than a quarter of that amount. What brings so many New Yorkers and tourists alike to the nation\u2019s first landscaped park? Park architect Frederick Law Olmstead answered this question well by noting that the Park provides a \u201cfeeling of relief experienced by those entering them, on escaping from the cramped, confined and controlling circumstances of the streets of the town; in other words, a sense of enlarged freedom is to all, at all times, the most certain and the most valuable gratification afforded by a park.\u201d Or, as Olmstead put it a few years later, \u201c[The beauty of Central Park] should be the beauty of the fields, the meadow, the prairie, of the green pastures, and the still waters. What we want to gain is tranquility and rest to the mind.\u201d With Central Park\u2019s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens <\/em>(Red Hook, 2024), Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers transport listeners to this place of serenity in a way only such masters could. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both creators likely need no introduction to those attuned to creative music. One was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Music and has, throughout his career, refined a compositional language, Ankrahsmation, uniquely his own. The other is a newly minted NEA Jazz Master who mixes jazz, blues, and gospel into a distinct and unified voice. Since joining the groundbreaking Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians [AACM] in the 1960s, both have spent their lives continuing to create music that pushes boundaries in furtherance of a higher creative goal. As they have both done throughout their careers, the music comes first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, it should come as no surprise when Smith and Myers capably guide listeners through the walkways of Central Park. You can smell the fragrant aroma and see the vibrant colors of the flowers in \u201cConservatory Gardens.\u201d \u201cCentral Park at Sunset\u201d radiates shifting colors of light. One can sense the flow of water under gentle winds at the \u201cJacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.\u201d The gentle Eicheresque production of Sun Chung, who previously worked at ECM, also leaves space to better allow these sounds to envelope the listener. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, true to Olmstead\u2019s call for \u201ctranquility and rest to the mind\u201d, the duo recognizes that specific locations at Central Park are only part of the story. In reality, it is not the park itself that people seek but, rather, what it represents: serenity in a world of chaos. This peace can certainly be found in Central Park, but it is also abundant throughout nature and even within one\u2019s own mind. Hence, Myers\u2019 reflections on rural Arkansas in the gorgeous solo piano piece, \u201cWhen Was” is as much a consideration of her youthful memories there as a presentation of the place itself. The years may have changed the scenery, but its vivid image is forever etched into her memory and provides her peace. \u201cAlbert Ayler, a Meditation on Light\u201d and \u201cImagine, a mosaic for John Lennon\u201d contemplate the calmness that musical expression can provide to a listener. Ultimately, with Central Park\u2019s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens<\/em>, Smith and Myers invite the listener to find a park of their own, whether physically or metaphorically. A place to sit at ease and marvel at the wonder of being alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an honor to sit down with the masters to discuss this duo record, the first time they recorded together. In full disclosure, what you are about to read is composed of two separate conversations, set one day\u00a0apart,\u00a0and one with each artist. Neither artist knows what the other said. Excerpts from the transcripts of both conversations have\u00a0been edited\u00a0and compiled to provide a larger overall arc to the piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostGenre: First, Amina, congratulations on becoming an NEA Jazz Master. That is a big accomplishment. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amina Claudine Myers: Thank you. Yes, I was very honored to receive that recognition.  <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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PG: Were you surprised to be named a Jazz Master? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ACM: Yes. Well, [the National Endowment for the Arts] told me last year before they made a public announcement that I had been named. I was surprised. I really couldn’t believe it. I was so incredibly honored to receive that recognition. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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