PAPATAMUS REDUX

ECM RECORDS (RELEASED MARCH 21, 2025)

To paraphrase a line from a Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic, “What the world needs now is … Defiant Life” To counter the crises and chaos that engulfs our world, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and keyboard artist Vijay Iyer offer a series of calming and mesmerizing duets on their second ECM recording — Defiant Life. According to Iyer, the session was conditioned by the pair’s ongoing sorrow and outrage over the past year’s cruelties, but also their faith in human possibility. Sonic possibilities are also what Defiant Live is all about. Smith squeezes and coaxes a range of emotions out of his trumpet while Iyer’s keyboard rumbles and flows with perfectly placed chordal clusters and shimmering glissandos, The prayer-like “Prelude: Survival” sets the tone for close to an hour of meditative musical soundscapes punctuated by Smith’s unmistakable muted and unmuted trumpet supported by Iyer ‘s inventive and intuitive support on an array of keyboards. Smith and Iyer navigate the following five compositions — “Sumud,” “Floating River Requiem (for Patrice Lumumba),” “Elegy: The Pilgrimage,” Kite (for Rafaat Alareer)” and Procession: Defiant Life”  — with pathos and passion, creating an epic poem of trance-like, contemplative musical moments. On Defiant Life, Wadada and Iyer soothe rather than swing, inspire rather than impress, pray rather than pontificate and cogitate rather than complicate. Defiant Life may not end the crises and chaos facing our world, but the music of Smith and Iyer will help you reflect on where we have been and where we might be headed because “what the world needs now is … Defiant Life.

BOTTOM LINE: The music of Defiant Life is brooding, dark and meditative. What would you expect for a recording that expresses how trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and keyboard artist Vijay Iyer feel about this past year’s cruelties and their hope for the future? Smith and Iyer create a sense of calm on Defiant Life. Let’s just hope it is not the calm before the storm!