Warren Smith (jazz musician)

Warren Smith ( born May 13, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American jazz percussionist and vibraphonist.

Life and work

Warren Smith comes from a musical family; his father played saxophone and clarinet with Noble Sissle and Jimmy Noone, his mother was a harpist and pianist. He first learned to play the clarinet with his father and then studied at the University of Illinois, where he graduated in 1957. In 1958 he earned a master's degree in percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1957 he worked with Miles Davis as a vibraphonist and then played in 1958 in a Broadway band in New York City, also with Gil Evans. In 1961 he co-founded the Composers Workshop Ensemble. In the early 1960s he worked with Ken McIntyre and Charles Mingus ( Town Hall Concert), Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Lloyd Price and Nat King Cole accompanied at a recording session; also he played from 1964 to 1976 in numerous formations with Sam Rivers and from 1968 to 1976 in various projects of Gil Evans ( Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix & There Comes a Time)

In 1969 he worked with Janis Joplin, in 1971 with Tony Williams' Lifetime formation. Smith was also a founding member of the percussion ensemble M'Boom of Max Roach (1970). In the 1970s, Smith played with Andrew White, Julius Hemphill ( Flat Out Jump Suite), Muhal Richard Abrams, Enrico Rava, George Russell New York Big Band, Nancy Wilson, Quincy Jones, Count Basie and Carmen McRae.

In addition to working with rock and pop musicians he worked on projects by Anthony Braxton with (Four (Ensemble ) Compositions, 1992), Henry Threadgill, Van Morrison and Joe Zawinul. During the 1970s and 1980s, Warren Smith ran a loft studio called Studio Wis., where he worked with younger New York artists, such as Wadada Leo Smith and Oliver Lake. In the 1990s, again played in bands and performed on Broadway and with the Untempered ensemble by Bill Cole with ensembles of classical music. He taught in the public schools of New York City from 1958 to 1968, Third Street Settlement 1960 to 1967, at Adelphi University in 1970-71 and at SUNY - Old Westbury from 1971.

The percussionist Warren Smith is not to be confused with the trombonist in the Bob Crosby band.

Auswahldiskographie

• Warren Smith and Masami Nakagawa (RCA, 1979)
• Warren Smith and Toki (RCA, 1979)
• Warren Smith and the Composer 's Workshop Ensemble ( claves, 1995)
• Cats Are Stealing My - ( Maple Shade Records, 1998)
• Natural / Cultural Forces ( Engine Records, 2007)