It is helpful to research the artist, using sources like Wikipedia , Music Magazine Reviews (Pitchfork, Rolling stone, NME etc.,) Artist Websites, etc…A synopsis of the life and music of this Issue’s featured artists appears below.

This Week’s Artists

WADADA LEO SMITH

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the field of creative music. As an improvisor-composer, Smith has studied a variety of music cultures (African, Japanese, Indonesian, European and American) and to fully express this music, he has developed an original theory and notation system for jazz and world music which he calls Ankhrasmation. Smith was born in Leland, Mississippi, United States. He started out playing drums, mellophone, and French horn before he settled on the trumpet. He played in various R&B groups. In the 60s, he joined the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) and formed the trio Creative Construction Company (or CCC) with saxophonist Anthony Braxton and violinist Leroy Jenkins. His work frequently engages with themes of civil rights, universal human rights, and spiritual peace. He participated in a number of landmark recordings associated with the AACM. Smith has performed and recorded with a wide variety of musicians over the years. With a discography of over 100 albums, significant projects include: Divine Love (1978): A seminal early recording on ECM that showcases his expansive, luminous sound. Ten Freedom Summers (2012) A massive 4-CD box set inspired by the American civil rights movement. At the age of 84, Smith has shown no sign of slowing down. He’s released 15 albums this decade. His most recent collaborative album Defiant Life, with pianist Vijay Iyer released on ECM Records. Others include  America’s National Parks (2016): An acclaimed suite exploring the natural and cultural history of the U.S. Park system. Rosa Parks: Pure Love (2019): An oratorio dedicated to the civil rights icon.

With each consecutive album, Herndon has brought more collaborators into her process. For PROTO, she assembled an electronic pop choir that included both human and AI voices, with Spawn an AI program created by Herndon and Mat Dryhurst trained to replicate human voices, featuring throughout. 

HOLLY HERNDON

Holly Herndon (born 1980) is an American composer, musician, and sound artist known for her pioneering work at the intersection of electronic music, artificial intelligence (AI), and decentralized technology. Based in Berlin, she holds a PhD from Stanford University where she researched the ethics and aesthetics of AI in music. Holly Herndon was born in 1980 and raised in Johnson City, Tennessee. As a teenager, she spent several years living in Berlin on a high school exchange program, absorbed in the city’s dance and techno scene, she got her start experimenting with club music. When Herndon returned to the United States she began studying electronic music at Mills College in Oakland, California receiving her MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media. At school she focused on laptop performance, and she currently does most of her composing via laptop. In 2012 she pursued a music career internationally. Herndon moved from California back to Berlin. Herndon’s music although often includes human singing voices (including her own), is primarily computer-based, and regularly uses the visual programming language Max/MSP to create custom instruments and vocal processes. She has released music on the labels RVNG Intl. and 4AD.  She lives with her partner and frequent collaborator, Mat Dryhurst. Every Holly Herndon album comes with a concept. Her first, Movement, was inspired by the notion that “the laptop is the most intimate instrument.” The experimental collection of songs was made up of sounds of bodies in motion — a cut-and-pasted sigh, a hand brushing up against another. Her second album, 2015’s Platform, furthered that narrative; using sousveillance technology, the recording of an activity by a member of the public, rather than a person or organisation in authority. The technology was developed by Dryhurst called Net Concrete, Herndon spied on her digital self. Platform was a critical success, and in the years since it was released, conversations surrounding online privacy have become more urgent. 

Hindemith’s legacy is marked by his dual roles as a composer and educator, reflecting a deep commitment to bridging the gap between composers and audiences. He passed away in 1963, leaving behind a rich and diverse body of work that continues to resonate in the music world today.

PAUL HINDEMITH

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) was a versatile German-American composer, violist, and educator who became a central figure in 20th-century music. Initially a “bad boy” of the avant-garde, he later championed Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and Neoclassicism, seeking to bridge the gap between performers and audiences through functional music. Despite being a pre-eminent German musician, his music was denounced as “atonal noise” and “degenerate” by Joseph Goebbels.  Born in 1895. His early life in Frankfurt am Main was marked by financial struggles and a strict upbringing, which influenced his artistic development. Despite a challenging childhood, he demonstrated exceptional musical talent, studying violin at the Hoch Conservatory and eventually becoming a notable violist. Hindemith’s career took off in the post-World War I period, during which he gained recognition for his compositions and performances, particularly with the Amar Quartet. His music evolved from experimental works to a neoclassic style characterized by tonal roots and a neo-Baroque contrapuntal texture (music with two or more independent, equally important melodies weaving together, creating a rich, thick sound where no single melody dominates) reminiscent of Johann Sebastian Bach. Hindemith’s professional good fortune gradually began to change when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. His music was held in low esteem by the Nazi authorities, who viewed it as decadent. Hindemith, reluctant to abandon the country of his birth, initially attempted to work within the repressive guidelines of the Third Reich. In 1935, he accepted an invitation by the Turkish government to reorganize the music and music education systems in that country. Another career move saw him spend a brief time in Switzerland. He eventually settled in the United States in 1940, where he became a legendary professor at Yale University and a U.S. citizen. In 1953, he returned to Switzerland and taught at the University of Zürich until his retirement. After moving to the United States, he continued to compose influential works, including the celebrated “Symphonic Metamorphosis” and “Ludus Tonalis.” Throughout his life, he emphasized the idea of “Gebrauchsmusik,” or functional music, aiming to create accessible music for performers of varying skill levels.