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Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, born on December 18, 1941, in Leland, Mississippi, is a renowned trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. His musical journey began in high school concert and marching bands, where he played drums, mellophone, and French horn before focusing on the trumpet. At the age of thirteen, he became deeply influenced by Delta Blues and improvisation music traditions. Smith received formal musical training from his father, the U.S. Military band program (1963), Sherwood School of Music (1967-69), and Wesleyan University (1975-76), where he studied ethnomusicology. He has taught at several institutions, including the University of New Haven (1975-76), the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY (1975-78), and Bard College (1987-93). Currently, he is a professor of Music at the California Institute of the Arts and serves as the director of the MFA program in African American Improvisation. A member of ASCAP and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Smith has received numerous awards for his work as a composer and musician. In the mid-1980s, he embraced Rastafarianism and adopted the name Wadada. He has composed music for various formats, including solo, ensemble, classical, and creative orchestra works, with performances by his own Nda-Kulture ensemble and other contemporary music groups

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