Zach Top String Quartets Nos. 1-12 (7CD)

7 CDs and a 72-page booklet. String Quartets Nos. 1-12 focus on Wadada Leo Smith as a composer for strings. Smith began work on his first string quartet in 1965 and has composed string quartets and other works for strings throughout his career. Smith has also featured strings on a number of his other major works, including Ten Freedom Summers in 2011, Occupy The World in 2012 and Rosa Parks: Pure Love in 2016/17. String Quartets Nos. 1-12 represent a magnificent addition not only to Smith's own recorded output but also to the literature for modern string quartet music in general. Compositions vary from relatively brief, one-part quartets of highly evocative and at times meditative soundscapes to the groundbreaking "String Quartet No. 11" that fills two discs with its nine movements. String Quartets Nos. 1-12 were recorded by the RedKoral Quartet. The group was brought together by Smith during his tenure at CalArts and was featured on the recording of Ten Freedom Summers more than a decade ago and again on Rosa Parks: Pure Love as well as on numerous live performances of Smith's string quartets and other works over the past decade. In addition, featured soloists on the recording include harpist Alison Bjorkedal ("String Quartet No. 4"), pianist Anthony Davis ("String Quartet No. 6"), percussionist Lynn Vartan ("String Quartet No. 6"), guitarist Stuart Fox ("String Quartet No. 7") and voice artist Thomas Buckner ("String Quartet No. 8") as well as Wadada Leo Smith himself on trumpet ("String Quartet No. 6" and "String Quartet No. 8"). Disc 1 String Quartet No. 1 (1965-1982) String Quartet No. 2 (1969-1980) Disc 2: String Quartet No. 3 "Black Church: A First World Gathering of the Spirit" (1995) String Quartet No. 4 (1987-2001) Disc 3: String Quartet No. 5 "In the Diaspora - Earthquakes and Sunrise Missions (Dedicated to Haki R. Madhubuti)" (2005) String Quartet No. 6 "Taif: Prayer in the Garden of the Hijaz" (2007) String Quartet No. 7 "Ten Thousand Ceveus Peruvianus Amemevical Disc 4: String Quartet No. 8 "Opuntia Humifusa" (2011) String Quartet No. 9 (2001-2015) String Quartet No. 10 "Angela Davis: Into the Morning Sunlight" (2007-2016) Disc 5 String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) Disc 6: String Quartet No. 11 (1975-2019) Disc 7: String Quartet No. 12 (2016-2018)