A reconvening of two musical giants, fifty years in the making. On Friday, May 10, Red Hook Records will release Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens, the first album from newly minted jazz duo Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers.
This is the first recorded collaboration from the duo since their involvement as key members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musician (AACM) in the 1960s. AACM is a nonprofit that was founded in 1965 in Chicago as a space to nurture jazz musicians who were serious about preserving the recording and performing of original music as jazz music was losing ground due to the burgeoning rock scene at the time.
It was at AACM where trumpeter-composer Wadada Leo Smith met current NEA Jazz Master pianist Amina Claudine Myers and where they became key members of the movement, whose work included a music education program for inner-city youth in Chicago. Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens represents the power of friendship and creative collaboration that spans 50 years and counting.
The two have become respected legends in the field of experimental jazz with Smith being a renowed trumpter and composer and Myers who has performed all over the world as a respected pianist, composer and organist who was recently honoured as a 2024 Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
The duo’s publicist Lydia Leibman describes the project as, “A testament to the enduring power of musical kinship. Through their shared journey, Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers invite listeners to rediscover the beauty of human connection and the transformative power of creative expression.”
