Video | Conversation | Jazzfest Berlin 2025

Artist Talk with Wadada Leo Smith

With contributions by Paola Malavassi and Vijay Iyer

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Artist Talk with Wadada Leo Smith and Paola Malavassi
© Berliner Festspiele / Jazzfest Berlin
As part of his final European tour, legendary trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith is appearing at Jazzfest Berlin 2025. Along with music journalist Peter Margasak and Nadin Deventer, artistic director of Jazzfest Berlin, he will look back on more than half a century of “Creative Music”, talk about his experiences past and present as an American musician in Europe, and reflect on the importance of self-organised musicians’ associations like the AACM for the future. In addition to this artist talk, curator Paola Malavassi will present “Drawing Sounds, Listening to Symbols: Interpreting a Score by Wadada Leo Smith”, examining the notation method and visual language of Smith’s composition “Louis Armstrong Counterpointing”.

Available from 16 December 2025

30 min

English

Word mark Jazzfest Berlin

With

Wadada Leo Smith, Paola Malavassi

Nadin Deventer, Peter MargasakModeration