Andrew Cyrille, Wadada Leo Smith, Bill Frisell Lebroba

180g Vinyl LP!
Andrew Cyrille’s title Lebroba is a contraction of Leland, Brooklyn and Baltimore, birthplaces of the protagonists of an album bringing together three of creative music’s independent thinkers. Each of them made his first ECM appearance long ago: drummer Andrew Cyrille on Marion Brown’s Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (1970), trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith on his own classic Divine Love (1978), and guitarist Bill Frisell on Eberhard Weber’s Fluid Rustle (1979); these are, of course, players of enduring influence. Frisell contributed to Cyrille’s previous ECM disc The Declaration of Musical Independence, but Lebroba marks a first-time meeting for the guitarist and Wadada Leo Smith. A generous leader, Cyrille gives plenty of room to his cohorts, and all three musicians bring in compositions, with “Turiya”, Wadada’s elegant dedication to Alice Coltrane, unfurling slowly over its 17-minute duration. In his own pieces, including the title track and the closing “Pretty Beauty”, Cyrille rarely puts the focus on the drums, preferring to play melodically and interactively, sensitive to pitch and to space. There are references to West African music and the blues as well as the history of jazz drumming, but Cyrille’s priority today is an elliptical style in which meter is implied rather than stated.
"The configuration of drums, trumpet and guitar always lends itself to some interesting sounds. When you are dealing with three such atmospheric players as drummer Andrew Cyrille, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Bill Frisell, it’s going to be much more than post-bop extensions. Without doubt, Smith is the star of the session. His clear, frequently slinky blasts rise above the rest as something of a narrative lead on the opener ‘Worried Woman’ and his mute work on the title track references some of Miles Davis’ work with his classic electric combos. […] As for Cyrille, he’s such a sympathetic player that he never really assumes a forward place at any time. He’s just always there, creating interesting ways of playing through the jams…" - Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Sun
"‘Lebroba’ – a combination of the three player’s hometowns: Leland, Brooklyn and Baltimore – opens with a track Frisell fans will recognize. ‘Worried Woman’ first appeared on his 2010 title ‘Beautiful Dreamers.’ This more introspective take places Smith’s gorgeous trumpet at the centre of things. Matched with Cyrille’s spacious percussion, the combination adds a welcome enigmatic quality to Frisell’s contribution. Next is the album’s only improvisation: ‘Turiya: Alice Coltrane Meditations and Dreams Love.’ The 17½ minute effort is not exactly the album’s centerpiece, but it does represent all that is great about the trio’s interplay. If there was any doubt about the decision not to add a bassist to the group, this small masterpiece sets us straight. It’s not often we get to hear such richly detailed performances presented in such an uncluttered setting. […] The album’s final track is an instant jazz-ballad classic. Smith’s muted trumpet is all quiet passion. Complemented as it is by Frisell’s gentle strumming and Cyrille’s masterful brushstrokes, ‘Pretty Beauty’ is an unshakeable conclusion to a deeply satisfying new album." - Kevin Press, Bad Press Blog
"‘Lebroba’ is one of those records that one listens to again and again surrendering to the magical atmosphere it creates: a calm but intense conversation composed of instrumental brushstrokes that breathe naturally and organically." - Yahvé M. de la Cavada, El Pais
"Fluctuating music, without filters, undulating according to crossed conversations away from any aesthetics‘ 'Lebroba' enchants by its large spaces, its field height and the melodic purity that results from it. [...] Beautiful." - Jean-Pierre Vidal, Jazz Magazine
"This album, a beautifully recorded trio performance featuring trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Bill Frisell, is a sensitive, interactive suite of five pieces; all but one are in the five- to seven-minute range…and then there’s a 17-minute tribute to Alice Coltrane, written by Smith. The tone is set from the opening track, ‘Worried Woman.’ It has a rubato ballad structure similar to Ornette Coleman’s ‘Lonely Woman,’ but Cyrille’s drumming is much more abstract and shimmering than Billy Higgins’ was on that 1959 recording. Frisell lays down throbbing blues chords, occasionally letting a deep rumble swell up from one of his pedals, and Smith takes the lead role, his full tone and precise command of high notes giving the music a searing energy." - Phil Freeman, Stereogum
"On his second ECM release, Cyrille again is paired with the endlessly inventive guitarist and fellow melodicist Bill Frisell. Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith rounds out this remarkably creative and empathetic triumvirate. […] Rather than fronting the proceedings by flaunting his chops, Cyrille underscores ‘Lebroba’ with a combination of grace, zen-like restraint and authority." - Bill Milkowski, Downbeat
"Three masters of improvising minimalism — the drummer Andrew Cyrille, the trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and the guitarist Bill Frisell — convene for the first time. Mr. Smith makes a humongous impact wherever he goes, and this album also works as a cooler companion to his own 2017 album ‘Najwa,’ where he was surrounded by four guitars and two percussionists." - Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times
"As a trio, they are now presenting a production that, in terms of gesture, resurrects the will to experiment and the joy of it, as well as the powerful self-image of the 70s, but at the same time is also quite contemporary. [...] Andrew Cyrille is not a timekeeper in the classical sense, but plays around the time, only hints at the beat, sets communicative accents with a lot of feeling, picks up pitches and moods, leaves room for his fellow musicians and the listeners and is always present in an ingeniously unobtrusive way. He does not underline the rhythm work, but puts it in the middle. Bill Frisell pulls out all the stops of his wide-ranging guitar repertoire, sprinkles in floating onomatopoeia, contributes crudely distorted and implements a subtle Americana feeling with his plucked harmonies. At the epicenter of musical events, Wadada Leo Smith shines with his intense, captivating playing on the trumpet – whether he makes wonderful melodic lines explode emotionally, or sets melancholic highlights with a stuffed horn." - Peter Füßl, Culture
"Veteran drummer Andrew Cyrille—best known for his long association with the avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor—made his ECM debut as a leader with the quartet date ‘Declaration Of Musical Independence’ (ECM, 2016). This is a trio session with chameleon guitarist Bill Frisell returning, along with legendary trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith. Frisell is the glue that binds both sessions together: since the previous album he has played duets with Cyrille, but this is his first meeting with Smith; Cyrille and Smith have played together since as far back as the 1970s. The group dynamic is naturally a bit different. With a horn in the mix—which tends to be heard as the lead voice—Frisell spends more time as an accompanist. He contributes only one composition this time, the opener ‘Worried Woman.’ […] It seems odd to say this about such a well-established player, but both of these ECM discs make a strong argument for Andrew Cyrille as composer, bandleader, and even drummer. He seems to have found a new voice, which is a delight to hear. Both Frisell and Smith shine in this context, supporting Cyrille’s concept while also making strong individual contributions." - Mark Sullivan, All About Jazz
"Not only do all imaginable traditions flow together here on the channel of undistorted poetry, not only are intoxicating soundscapes painted in 3D here, very different time levels merge into each other on this CD. The dynamic sound sculptures of the three musicians seemed to reverberate to us from another era. They are full of memories, which are not pulled by the three musicians on long ropes, but assembled into a futuristic mosaic." - Wolf Kampmann, Stereoplay
"November brought a new collaboration from three of the all-time greatest avant-garde jazz musicians: Andrew Cyrille (drums), Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet) and Bill Frisell (guitar). The trio’s album, ‘Lebroba’, takes its title from a contraction of the three musicians’ birthplaces: Leland (Mississippi), Brooklyn, and Baltimore. This is certainly a fitting title for a record featuring a fusion of three musicians’ unmistakable styles. It’s also fitting that the album was released on the ECM label, which has long been a flagship of progressive jazz and which has issued landmark recordings featuring each member of this trio." - Matthew Alley, Black Grooves
"Rough and radiant trumpet sounds, a touch of country rock and jazz guitar and a drum kit that does not mark a beat, but keeps it always present, take you into a dream landscape. [...] This acoustic idyll of freedom and listening to each other could last forever." - Werner Stiefele, Audio
"Drummer-composer Andrew Cyrille, who turns 80 next year, is in the midst of a late-career renaissance, gigging with a wide variety of groups and convening unusual, ingenious lineups on recording sessions for legendary label ECM. His second bandleading effort for the label retains guitarist Bill Frisell from 2016’s ‘The Declaration of Musical Independence’ and brings in trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, another jazz elder who’s had a major resurgence in recent years. The trio is at its best on pieces like the Cyrille-penned title track, where hints of earthy blues and ringing West African guitar float through sparse, unhurried improvisations that give each player room to ramble. Throughout, Cyrille, one of the great deep-listening drummers in contemporary jazz, performs with consummate subtlety and precise textural command." - Hank Shteamer, Rolling Stone
"One of the most exciting CDs of the year makes a rather abstract sentence by Friedrich Dürrenmatt meaningful, which goes like this: 'The present is a point through which the future is torn into the past.‘ Or, more precisely, in its reverse: in creative, improvised music, called jazz, the past is often torn into something new, future. [...] Freedom, economic refinement and the most intense sensitivity of the interaction make up the unusual tension of this gentle, equally weighty and flyingly light music." - Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche
"Smith meanders through the scales with a present tone, rudimentarily incorporating atonal frays, and is responsible for the lyrical melos – unsentimental. Their mostly chromatic characteristics ornament, harmonize and rhythmize Frisell and Cyrille with exactly this measure of the necessary and semantic. Subtle chord decompositions, percussive melody sketches, harmonic bizarreries/ temperatures, wonderful little noise interventions flow from the guitar. Frisell is the most universal today's guitarist and the best. Cyrille, for his part, dances, drums between the meters, accentuates freely, makes the otherwise only felt time pulsate periodically in percussion motifs. There are percussive splashes of color, cross rhythms hinted at there. The African heritage, as with Smith, is in every sound. Finely divided bubbling is omnipresent, resulting in inner luminosity." - Hannes Schweiger, Concerto
"Instead of resting on his laurels, Cyrille proves with his new album that he is still one of the awake spirits of contemporary jazz. With trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Bill Frisell, Cyrille forms a non-conformist trio whose improvisational music based on compositions by all participants oscillates between blues melancholy and poetic abstraction. In their mixture of liberated pulsation and melancholic-melodic grace, certain passages are reminiscent of the groundbreaking Paul Motian Trio, in which the sound magician Bill Frisell also played a key role." - Tom Gsteiger, Luzerner Zeitung
"It’s an unusual line-up, but it works well – their instruments so different in timbre and range, but pleasing in combination. They all have diverse musical backgrounds and each can draw on many traditions. Their collective musical palette is therefore vast. Cyrille and Smith in their younger days could be wild and free, but there is no storming or squalling. Here, they play with great delicacy. Frisell is the fitting third member of the trio. There are plenty of his odd but lovely harmonies, electronic effects and gentle folk overtones. Smith’s far-away sounding melodic lines sit nicely with Frisell’s unfussy playing, the two of them occasionally in unison, or in pleasing harmony. Cyrille’s percussion work is fascinating. The range of sound is surprising, from gentle taps, like a wooden spoon being knocked on the rim of a mixing bowl, to drum beats like the sound of a distant marching band blowing in through a briefly opened window. There is also elegant, brushy cymbal. The music is fragmented yet lyrical, and full of space. […] ‘Lebroba’ is a fine album which repays repeated listening. Cyrille is quoted as saying: ‘I didn’t want to play all the time – I wanted to play rhythms with spaces between them, and to play melodically, in relation what they were doing… and like a fibrillating heart.’ Cyrille does just that, with this thoughtful and inventive trio." - Jane Mann, London Jazz News
"Cyrille is not an obtrusively ostentatious drummer. But if you trace the development of the jazz avant-garde from the beat to the pulse, he gets a top position. In the way he went through his striking patterns, there was always a reference back to the Africa of his ancestors. Cyrille never completely left the field of his traditions, he knows that great music is often defined by rhythms. That's why he keeps you awake in ever new contexts. [...] Frisell fills the transparent primers with the widest possible palette, while he often only outlines the variety of his ideas, as well as the bandleader leaves rooms that, after the many small gestures, charge themselves with meanings as if by themselves. The guitarist lays down tracks to country and Americana, celebrates small electronic explosions, breaks down the chords, hints at melodic, adds distortions. It is as if a screen is being considered and selectively filled in a gradually developing logic that is gaining more and more persuasive power. Sometimes it's as if this canvas is primed so pointedly so that trumpeter Smith can swing up from these open surfaces. [...] The CD title 'Lebroba' is composed of the beginnings of the birthplaces Leland (Smith), Brooklyn (Cyrille) and Baltimore (Frisell) of the three jazz giants, who recorded this luminous music without comparison in July 2017 in New York." - Ulrich Steinmetzger, Leipziger Volkszeitung
"With ‘Lebroba’ his elliptical, fragmented drum playing is joined on the creative tightrope by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and electric guitarist Bill Frisell. It’s a fluid approach, the musicians responding to a combination of written music, descriptive notes – even an unheard lyric. But it’s extraordinary just how cohesively this magical music materializes, rarefied but determinedly retaining its roots in early blues." - Garry Booth, BBC Music Magazine
"In addition to the leader and the guitar genius Frisell, who acts as the linchpin here, it is the great Wadada Leo Smith on the trumpet who ennobles the production with his imaginative, variable, colorful playing, from balladesk to free. Thus, with 'Lebroba' – the album title refers to Leland, Brooklyn and Baltimore, the birth cities of the three protagonists – the trio succeeds in creating an ingenious snapshot and at the same time one of the best recordings of recent times in the world of jazz." - Andreas Collet, Badische Zeitung
"A fabulous mood-setting album called ‘Lebroba’ from drummer Andrew Cyrille, who teams up with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Bill Frisell to create some truly haunting soundscapes." - Charles Waring, Record Collector
"The five pieces that these three free spirits play on ‘Lebroba’ (a fantasy word composed of the protagonists' birthplaces) sound like open, highly concentrated and yet deeply relaxed, floating, infinitely flowing improvisations, in which the nature of each individual comes to its best advantage. Cyrille, Smith and Frisell are such different characters, stand for such different approaches and sound ideals – and yet they fit together perfectly. A great team." - Ssirus W. Pakzad, Jazzthing
"The outbursts of energy or even rage of the Free awakening half a century ago have turned into almost touching fragility in Smith's trumpet sound, and Cyrille has completely abandoned timekeeping in favor of free, airy sound painting. Frisell's guitar sounds fit into this sound concept as elements of floating, flowing beauty." - Heribert Ickerott, Jazz Podium
"There is a kind of hovering, floating quality in much of Cyrille’s playing, which has a flexible pulse and carefully shaded timbres, particularly his cymbal work, which blends effectively with the languorous character of Frisell’s chords and single-note spirals and the shimmer of Smith’s brass. All of which suits material that often has a quality of deep lament, with melodies emerging, flickering and submerging […] The composure with which Cyrille performs, leaving significant space in some arrangements yet making his interventions decisive, brings to this album an understated majesty and noble beauty." - Kevin Le Gendre, Echoes
"[An] album of grace and beauty that uses space and time to let the music unfold and expand. […] the sound evinces ECM’s usual attention to space and instrumental detail and integrity on both CD and LP — but the music really blooms on vinyl. Cyrille’s low-toned drums, the kick drum and toms, hit with more force and staying power, and Frisell’s chord swells have a luxurious level of depth and sustain. The bell of Smith’s trumpet is easier to visualize and its sound is more textured, and the interaction among the three musicians is more palpable. […] ‘Lebroba’ is a testament to how three musicians can learn to anticipate and build on each other’s ideas in ways that are unpredictable and exciting." - Joseph Taylor Soundstage Access
"Cyrille [proves] with his new album ‘Lebroba‘ that he is still one of the awake spirits of contemporary jazz. [...] With trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Bill Frisell, Cyrille forms a non-conformist trio whose improvisational music based on compositions by all participants oscillates between blues melancholy and poetic abstraction. [...] All in all, the album radiates a high degree of serenity. The musicians develop their ideas without excitement and on the interactive level a subliminal tension dominates.
Tom Gsteiger, Jazz 'n'More

Features:

• 180g Vinyl
• Audiophile High Quality Pressing
• Mastered From Original Analog Source
• Recorded at Reservoir Studios, New York, July 2017
• Made in Germany