1980 · Album
Touch the Earth
Recorded 1979, live · FMP · Personnel: Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), Peter Kowald (bass), Günter Sommer (drums)
Three Voices in Conversation, No Script
Free jazz that sings — wild and peaceful, rooted in body and earth alike.
Touch the Earth is a live recording that sounds like three musicians discovering what they can make together in real time. Wadada Leo Smith's trumpet doesn't announce itself; it enters as one voice among equals, often sparse, sometimes urgent, always listening. Peter Kowald's bass anchors nothing and floats everything — it's melodic when it needs to be, propulsive when space opens up. Günter Sommer on drums doesn't keep time so much as respond, shifting weight and texture as the conversation demands. The result feels intimate despite being caught in a live setting, the kind of free playing where silence matters as much as sound.
This was recorded at a moment when free jazz had already moved past its initial shock value, and Smith, Kowald, and Sommer seem unconcerned with proving anything. There's no pyrotechnics for their own sake, no attempt to overwhelm. Instead they build and dissolve phrases, sometimes pursuing a melodic idea together, sometimes pulling in separate directions until something clicks back into place. It's patient music, but not slow — the energy comes from precision and mutual attention rather than volume or speed.
AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek heard this as music that speaks to both mind and body, and JazzTimes critic John Murph placed it in conversation with the Art Ensemble of Chicago's approach to free improvisation. For listeners already drawn to collective improvisation without preset heads or changes, this trio rewards close listening. For newcomers to free jazz, this is less an obvious entry point than a proof that the form can sound conversational and grounded rather than chaotic.
