I started composing when I was around 13, and back then, people used to say that I needed to be a composer or a performer, but I can't be good at both of them. I could never understand why anyone would say that. Jellyroll did both, Bessie Smith did both, and so did I.

Wadada Leo Smith

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I always felt of myself as a composer, performer, improviser. I've never called myself a jazz man. I make art.

— Wadada Leo Smith

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Jazz infers a style, but creative music has a wider field and wider specification about it. We know it from people like Scott Joplin and on through Bessie Smith.

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When I first started, I worked with my father, Alex 'Little Bill' Wallace; he was a guitarist like B.B. King. I was around 13 when I started, and I learned a lot by looking and listening. I learned how to be a bandleader from watching that band work.

— Wadada Leo Smith

From now back to the past, we can observe clearly that none of us is free.

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I don't set out to win awards. I don't think any musician does, but when you receive an award, it's an affirmation: it means that people appreciate what you do.

— Wadada Leo Smith

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