Najwa (album)

Najwa continues a series of Smith's dedicatory albums of varying size and breadth, embracing human and natural subjects. Four of the five tracks pay homage to composers or performers long or recently departed: Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Billie Holiday. The fifth and title track simply and enigmatically references "a love lost."[6]

A reviewer at Dusty Groove wrote, "Wadada Leo Smith is really on fire here – on a record that feels a lot more like something from the early 80s underground than some of his earlier work – from the lineup of performers, right down to the overall sound of the set! The group's very heavy on guitars – and features work from Michael Gregory Jackson, Henry Kaiser, Brandon Ross, and Lamar Smith on the instrument – often criss-crossing and weaving these beautiful sonic textures – powerful, but never too noisy, and augmented beautifully by some surprisingly thoughtful bass work by Bill Laswell – whose at his most subtle and collaborative here."[7]

S. Victor Aaron of Something Else! wrote, "Wadada Leo Smith has never been one to conceal his influences but when he celebrates the geniuses who motivated him, it’s his own genius that becomes the most illuminating thing in his music. Najwa is one of those particularly bright moments in a catalog full of them."[8]