Label: Kabell Records, 2023

Personnel - Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Nels Cline: guitar; Brandon Ross: guitar; Lamar Smith: guitar; Bill Laswell: electric bass; Malvin Gibbs: electric bass; Mauro Refosco: percussion; Pheeroan AkLaff: drums; Hardedge: electronics.

Wadada Leo Smith is a master of wringing an impressive range of sounds from his trumpet. A creative spirit with genre-bending approach to music who exteriorizes whatever goes on in his soul. A sense of freedom is present in each of his releases and Fire Illuminations is another marvelous outing made with like-minded individuals. Here, he commands an unconventional nine-piece electric group - Orange Wave Electric - that features three guitarists and two electric bassists.

“Ntozake”, titled after the playwright/poet Ntozake Shange, burns with a joyful space funk pelted with shredding guitar maneuvers, effect-drenched bass licks, and limpid trumpet observations. If the piercing frequencies of Hardedge’s electronics can be a bit disturbing on the ear, then the billowing orchestration is phenomenal, galvanized by soulful individual speeches and eased up by quiet moments of reflection that serve Smith’s cuttingly emotional remarks. Bassists Bill Laswell and Melvin Gibbs contribute to the intersecting light and dark atmospheres.

Reduced to a sextet, the ensemble transforms “Fire Illumination Inside Light Particles” into a microcosmic sonic voyage with multicolored patterns that come and go. Smith pays tribute to the boxer and activist Mohammad Ali on two occasions: “Muhammad Ali’s Spiritual Horizon” generates contrasting tones with solemnity and polyrhythm, featuring for this purpose the tambourine of Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco (a member of the Nublu Orchestra who has been playing with David Byrne and the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and the expert drumming of Pheeroan AkLaff (their association goes back to the late ‘70s); whereas “Muhammad Ali and George Forman’s Rumble in Zaire Africa” features guitarist Nels Cline injecting irreverent quirkiness with hallucinogenic discharges of noise. This latter piece takes the form of an overt experimental exercise where the percolating drums respond to the noir funk of the bassists. Five minutes after its start, Smith makes his entrance, dancing with and around the strange mix of obscurity and buoyancy created by the rhythm section.

The ensemble is found fully fledged on “Tony Williams”, a tribute to the groundbreaking drummer of the same name who helped give life to the indelible Miles Davis Quintet. At this meeting, one comes across shrilling trumpet aiming at the sky, chiming chords, lingering twangy bass notes, and swinging drum work later turned rock routine for a change of direction. Avant-garde jazz, free funk, and alternative rock in a liberal fusion of rhythmically consistent figures and ideas.

Exposed to an intensive post-production, Fire Illuminations features great performances by innovators in constant search for the eternal groove.