Warren Smith (jazz musician)
Encyclopedia
Warren Smith is an American jazz percussionist
.
Smith was born in Chicago
, Illinois
, into a musical family; his father played saxophone and clarinet with Noble Sissle
and Jimmy Noone, and his mother was a harpist and pianist. He studied clarinet under his father from age four. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1957, then took a master's in percussion at the Manhattan School of Music
in 1958.
One of his earliest major recording dates was with Miles Davis
as a vibraphonist
in 1957. He found work in Broadway
pit bands in 1958, and also played with Gil Evans
that year. In 1961 he co-founded the Composers Workshop Ensemble, a New York-based jazz composition and performance ensemble. In the 1960s Smith accompanied Aretha Franklin
, Nina Simone
, Lloyd Price
, and Nat King Cole
; he worked with Sam Rivers
from 1964–76 and with Gil Evans again from 1968 to 1976. In 1969 he played with Janis Joplin
and in 1971 with Tony Williams Lifetime. He was also a founding member of Max Roach
's percussion ensemble, M'Boom
, in 1970. Through the 1970s Smith played with Andrew White
, Julius Hemphill
, Muhal Richard Abrams
, Nancy Wilson
, Quincy Jones
, Count Basie
, and Carmen McRae
. Other credits include extensive work with rock and pop musicians and time spent with Anthony Braxton
, Charles Mingus
, Henry Threadgill
, Van Morrison
, and Joe Zawinul
.
In the 1970s and 1980s Smith had a loft
called Studio Wis which acted as a performing and recording space for many young New York jazz musicians, such as Wadada Leo Smith
and Oliver Lake
. He continued to work on Broadway into the 1990s, and has performed with a number of classical ensembles. He taught in the New York City public school system from 1958 to 1968, at Third Street Settlement from 1960 to 1967, at Adelphi University
in 1970-71, and at SUNY-Old Westbury from 1971.
With M'Boom
With Sam Rivers
Jazz drumming
Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz-rock fusion and 1980s-era latin jazz...
.
Smith was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, into a musical family; his father played saxophone and clarinet with Noble Sissle
Noble Sissle
Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:...
and Jimmy Noone, and his mother was a harpist and pianist. He studied clarinet under his father from age four. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1957, then took a master's in percussion at the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
in 1958.
One of his earliest major recording dates was with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
as a vibraphonist
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
in 1957. He found work in Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
pit bands in 1958, and also played with Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
that year. In 1961 he co-founded the Composers Workshop Ensemble, a New York-based jazz composition and performance ensemble. In the 1960s Smith accompanied Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
, Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price is an American R&B vocalist. Known as "Mr. Personality", after the name of one of his biggest million-selling hits...
, and Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
; he worked with Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
from 1964–76 and with Gil Evans again from 1968 to 1976. In 1969 he played with Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
and in 1971 with Tony Williams Lifetime. He was also a founding member of Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
's percussion ensemble, M'Boom
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion ensemble founded in 1970 and led by Max Roach. Although originally a sextet in 1970 over the years the group had as many as ten members in the ensemble but the core of Roy Brooks, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Max Roach, Warren Smith and Freddie Waits appear on...
, in 1970. Through the 1970s Smith played with Andrew White
Andrew White (saxophonist)
Andrew White is an American jazz/R'n'B multi-instrumentalist , musicologist and publisher.-Biography:...
, Julius Hemphill
Julius Hemphill
Julius Arthur Hemphill was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone; less often soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.-Biography:...
, Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
, Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson (singer)
Nancy Wilson is an American singer with more than 70 albums, and three Grammy Awards. She has been labeled a singer of blues, jazz, cabaret and pop; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer." The title she prefers, however, is song stylist...
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, and Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
. Other credits include extensive work with rock and pop musicians and time spent with Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
, Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, and Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul
Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...
.
In the 1970s and 1980s Smith had a loft
Loft
A loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
called Studio Wis which acted as a performing and recording space for many young New York jazz musicians, such as Wadada Leo Smith
Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation.-Biography:...
and Oliver Lake
Oliver Lake
Oliver Lake is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer and poet. He is known mainly on alto saxophone but also performs on soprano saxophone and flute....
. He continued to work on Broadway into the 1990s, and has performed with a number of classical ensembles. He taught in the New York City public school system from 1958 to 1968, at Third Street Settlement from 1960 to 1967, at Adelphi University
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private, nonsectarian university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is the oldest institution of higher education on Long Island. For the sixth year, Adelphi University has been named a “Best Buy” in higher education by the Fiske Guide to...
in 1970-71, and at SUNY-Old Westbury from 1971.
As leader
- Warren Smith and Masami Nakagawa (RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
, 1979) - Warren Smith and Toki (RCA, 1979)
- Warren Smith and the Composer's Workshop Ensemble (Claves, 1995)
- Cats Are Stealing My - - (Mapleshade RecordsMapleshade RecordsMapleshade Records is an American jazz based record label.Mapleshade was founded in 1989 by Pierre Sprey, who had been recording since 1986. Prior to his career in jazz recording, Sprey had worked as an aeronautical engineer in The Pentagon, designing A-10 and F-16 fighter jets. The label is based...
, 1998) - Natural/Cultural Forces (Engine Records, (2007)
With M'Boom
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion ensemble founded in 1970 and led by Max Roach. Although originally a sextet in 1970 over the years the group had as many as ten members in the ensemble but the core of Roy Brooks, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Max Roach, Warren Smith and Freddie Waits appear on...
- Re: PercussionRe: PercussionRe: Percussion is the debut album by American jazz percussion ensemble M'Boom recorded in 1973 for the Strata-East label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...
(Strata-East, 1973) - M'BoomM'Boom (album)M'Boom is an album by American jazz percussion ensemble M'Boom led by Max Roach recorded in 1979 for the Columbia label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This is a particularly colorful set that is easily recommended not only to jazz and percussion...
(Columbia, 1979) - CollageCollage (M'Boom album)Collage is an album by American jazz percussion ensemble M'Boom led by Max Roach recorded in 1984 for the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
(Soul Note, 1984) - Live at S.O.B.'s New York (Blue Moon, 1992)
As sideman
With Julius HemphillJulius Hemphill
Julius Arthur Hemphill was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone; less often soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.-Biography:...
- Flat-Out Jump SuiteFlat-Out Jump SuiteFlat-Out Jump Suite is an album by jazz saxophonist Julius Hemphill recorded in 1980 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested Core Collection....
(Black Saint, 1980)
With Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
- HuesHues (album)Hues is a live album by American jazz saxophonist Sam Rivers featuring performances recorded between 1971 and 1973 and released on the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1973) - SizzleSizzle (album)Sizzle is an album by American jazz saxophonist Sam Rivers featuring performances recorded in 1975 and released on the Impulse! label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 2 stars stating "Funky with electric touches...
(Impulse!, 1975)