Kalamazoo Institute of Arts: Wadada Leo Smith: Ankhrasmation, The Language Scores, 1967-2015

Can a musical score be a work of visual art? Trumpeter, composer, educator, and visual artist Wadada Leo Smith is a pioneer in the fields of contemporary jazz and creative music. During the 1960s and early ’70s, Smith was based in Chicago, where he was a key member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM). A significant organization in the history of jazz, the AACM created a vibrant discourse between improvised and formally scored music. Smith was one of the most active and articulate proponents of this exchange, legitimizing a formal ideology around improvised music and the illustrated score that he continues to build on to this day. Ankhrasmation–a neologism formed of Ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life, “Ras,” the Ethiopian word for leader, and “Ma,” a universal term for mother–is the systemic musical language that Smith has developed over nearly 50 years. The scores represent the composition with color, line, and shape, still providing instruction for the seasoned improviser, but while allowing musicians room for their own expertise and individual strengths.