Wadada Leo Smith

I have been in dialogue with my family about what can actually be done. We've come up with this philosophy that in…

— Wadada Leo Smith

Jazz infers a style, but creative music has a wider field and wider specification about it. We know it from people like…

— Wadada Leo Smith

I write all the time. I always have. I can pick up my horn to warm up, and an idea will pop…

— Wadada Leo Smith

I've got that Beethoven energy, that Stravinsky energy. And it's all a gift from the Creator.

— Wadada Leo Smith

The only thing that makes change possible is the idea of developing some kind of institution, because the institutions will survive individuals.

— Wadada Leo Smith

Everything and anything is valuable.

— Wadada Leo Smith

My solo playing utilizes the deployment of suggestive psychic rhythms. I'll state these throughout a given piece and play thematic improvisations on…

— Wadada Leo Smith

I'm an optimist. I have always been, and I will continue to be. So I believe there's always a possibility of transforming…

— Wadada Leo Smith

When you live in the South, you're constantly part of the civil rights movement.

— Wadada Leo Smith

There's nothing unnatural in creation.

— Wadada Leo Smith

From now back to the past, we can observe clearly that none of us is free.

— Wadada Leo Smith

The artist is the consciousness of society... but musicians' role is very special.

— Wadada Leo Smith

I always felt of myself as a composer, performer, improviser. I've never called myself a jazz man. I make art.

— Wadada Leo Smith

I think all art is, by nature, intended to motivate society for change, and the only reason change doesn't happen is because…

— Wadada Leo Smith

Seeing the bigger picture opens your eyes to what is the truth.

— Wadada Leo Smith

We have these old fashioned ideas. For instance, here in America, we talk about democracy - but we don't have a democracy.…

— Wadada Leo Smith

When I first started, I worked with my father, Alex 'Little Bill' Wallace; he was a guitarist like B.B. King. I was…

— Wadada Leo Smith

When Barack Obama was elected, it immediately brought out all the differences in society.

— Wadada Leo Smith

I started composing when I was around 13, and back then, people used to say that I needed to be a composer…

— Wadada Leo Smith

All art is political. Yes. Even the stuff that sounds like bubble-gum songs. I think all art is, by nature, intended to…

— Wadada Leo Smith

I don't set out to win awards. I don't think any musician does, but when you receive an award, it's an affirmation:…

— Wadada Leo Smith

I don't set out to win awards. I don't think any musician does, but when you receive an award, it's an affirmation:…

— Wadada Leo Smith

I wanted to identify that the black experience is American experience.

— Wadada Leo Smith