Very pleased to be performing new music with Wadada Leo Smith, Marcus Gilmore and special guest Thomas Morgan in Europe in 2025. Tickets available trough the venue websites.
November 8 at tba, Berlin
November 9 at DE SINGEL, International Arts Centre, Antwerpen
November 11 at Bremen Teater, Copenhagen
The newly assembled trio of Wadada Leo Smith, Jakob Bro & Marcus Gilmore is coming to Europe for the first time. They are on an exploration mission through improvised music that defies generations and musical boundaries.
The Danish guitarist Jakob Bro invites two great musical minds to Europe to refine the music from their first recording. “Wadada is like a force of nature, able to break through all the ‘correct’ and obvious choices in music to travel to parallel sound-worlds, where what you thought you knew doesn’t really apply. He seems to have found a loophole to the other side, to a place of mystery, creativity and beauty,” says Jakob Bro, who defines Marcus Gilmore a “generational talent in jazz and beyond”, and a modern, freethinking improviser that fits perfectly with this group. Special guest this evening is the unique double bassist and “musical soul-mate”, Thomas Morgan.
Wadada Leo Smith, Jakob Bro & Marcus Gilmore first met in January 2025 at Power Station, formerly Avatar Studios in New York, and their instant chemistry can be heard on that recording session – set for release on Loveland Music in October 2025.
Legendary trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith have recorded with Jakob Bro before through playing with their common ally Andrew Cyrille, and the next generation drummer genius Marcus Gilmore have played with both in New York, after he joined Bro’s band at the Village Vanguard last year, but this would be the first time they are all together on stage.
Commissioned by Pierre Boulez Saal and De Singel.
Photo: James Farber, New York 2025
About:
Trumpeter, composer and author Wadada Leo Smith is one of the creative music world’s most heralded artists. Born in 1941 in Mississippi, he grew up steeped in the musical traditions of the South performing in Delta Blues and other traditional bands, eventually moving to Chicago where he joined the legendary AACM collective. Smith defines his music as “Creative Music,” and his diverse discography reveals a recorded history of music centered in the idea of spiritual harmony and the unification of social and cultural issues of his world. Wadada Leo Smith was one of the three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize with his landmark album “Ten Freedom Summers” and as a celebrated composer of chamber music and string quartets, he was called “an anchor of American experimental music” by The New York Times.
Marcus Gilmore is a multi Grammy Award winning drummer/composer. While Marcus can be found performing and recording with a diverse array of the finest musicians in the world such as Chick Corea, Pharoah Sanders, Savion Glover & Pat Metheny, he has also demonstrated his multifaceted musical talents and personality through long term solo projects with his own groups. In 2020, he performed his first orchestral composition titled “Pulse” with members of the Cape Town Philharmonic. Gilmore, in all of his playing, integrates a unique style where he is musically expanding rhythm, while supporting the great musicians with whom he plays. He has also performed/recorded with Herbie Hancock, Mulatu Astatke, Ravi Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, Common, Thundercat, Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith, Flying Lotus, Cassandra Wilson, Talib Kweli, Queen Latifah, Black Thought, Zakir Hussain, Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper, and Taylor Mcferrin.
Jakob Bro (b. 1978) is a guitarist, composer and bandleader based in Copenhagen, Denmark. His latest album for ECM Records is “Taking Turns” with a star-studded cast featuring Lee Konitz, Andrew Cyrille, Jason Moran, Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan playing compositions by Bro. He is currently collaborating with Charles Lloyd, Midori Takada, Joe Lovano, Brian Blade, Ambrose Akinmusire, Andrew Cyrille, Larry Grenadier, Joey Baron, Thomas Morgan, Palle Mikkelborg, Arve Henriksen, Brussels Philharmonic and many others. Jakob Bro is a former winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll in the Rising Star Guitarist category and his various ensembles are depicted in the award-winning film “Music for Black Pigeons” (directed by Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed), which premiered at the 79th Venice Biennale and has been featured at film festivals around the world.
Special guest: Thomas Morgan is a double bass player with a unique approach to the instrument and an exceptional musical understanding. He has recorded and toured all over the world as a member of Paul Motian’s bands, the John Abercrombie Quartet, Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet, Bill Frisell Trio, Jakob Bro Trio w. Joey Baron among many others. He has also collaborated with Dan Tepfer, Craig Taborn and Masabumi Kikuchi, and released an album with Bill Frisell, Small Town, and with Jakob Bro/Joe Lovano, Once Around The Room.