Warren Smith & the Composers Workshop Ensemble - Composers Workshop Ensemble
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Track List: Composers Workshop Ensemble
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Album Details: Composers Workshop Ensemble
- Release Date:
- 02/01/1974
- UPC:
Pro Reviews: Composers Workshop Ensemble
| EXPERT RATING: From AMG Reviews This wonderful double-CD set comprises reissued material originally on the Strata East (Composers Workshop Ensemble and We've Been Around) and Miff (Cricket Song Poem) albums. It's not programmed straight through as on those original vinyl records, instead darting in and out of these various bands' sessions. Coleridge Taylor Perkinson wrote for Howard Johnson and his tuba band Gravity, called "Sub Structure," with swinging tuba and bass from Bushler cueing Smith's drum inserts. "Misterioso" and "Blue Monk" are juxtaposed in perfect balance on "Blues for Monk"; a funky rock-styled/bluesy swing bridge sets up Howard Johnson's all-over-it bari solo, and the horns echo "Centerpiece" in the coda. "Chisai Sake Kao" acts as a happy roaring juggernaut with modal piano, and a workout for Smith on drums, while "Cool Eddie" over its 12 minutes starts and stops, going from boppish swing to a cooler, prevailing sub-head, with a lovely saxello solo by Winter and churning free percussion. On the second CD, the familiar bop strains of Horace Silver's "Ecaroh" (this title and "Chisai" are misidentified and should be switched) leads to the even harder-swinging "Introduction to the Blues," a feature for the tenor sax of the underrated Al Gibbons. The magnum opus "Cricket Song Poem" starts with Townsend again setting the firecracker tone with Smith's rumbling marimba, then slowing in vaudeville fashion as Smith tells the tale of a male cricket that kept coming into his home, accidentally stepping on it when he was high, and remembering that crickets are a sign of good luck. The 19-minute "Love in the Open" suite has long, loping lines and a feature for the great bass trombone work of jazz immortal Jack Jeffers; it goes back and forth from blues to stepped-up swing, and Townsend is again as impressive an improviser and larger-ensemble bus driver as you'll ever hear. You won't find a better document of the oft-neglected Smith's bandwork and personal musical excellence, or of teamwork in action from these established jazz icons. This is a great CD to find -- kudos to Claves Jazz in Switzerland for bringing this incredible music back. - Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide |
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Warren Smith & the Composers Workshop Ensemble Biography
This tasteful and disciplined New York based drummer and percussionist has a long history of pitching in on various masterworks, from the recordings of soul queen Aretha Franklin to the avant-garde saxophone maverick and fascinating composer Sam Rive...Full Warren Smith & the Composers Workshop Ensemble Biography
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