by Thom JurekThe four pieces that make up Wadada Leo Smith's Lake Biwa were composed between 2000 and 2004. They appear here for the first time. The musicians who perform these pieces include John Zorn; drummers Susie Ibarra, Gerald Cleaver, and Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng; pianists Craig Taborn, Jamie Saft, Anthony Coleman, and Yuko Fujiama; bassists John Lindberg and Wes Brown; violinist Jennifer Choi; cellist Erik Friedlander; guitarist Marc Ribot; and tuba player Marcus Rojas. This is quite a lineup, to say the least. Smith has been composing with his originally conceived and developed Ankhrasmation system of notation since the early '70s. The subdued title track is ethereal in places, yet utterly grounded by its sense of time and color. Smith's trumpet enters at midpoint and begins to stir the players to improvisation without ever losing sight of the melody and harmony in the piece. The longest work here is "Sanai's Enclosed Garden of the Truth....