MP3 Warren Smith - Old News Borrowed Blues

Percussionist extraordinaire, Warren Smith, is most at home in a progressive-jazz setting, or more specifically, at the helm of his Composers Workshop Ensemble, which he founded way back in the early â60s.

10 MP3 Songs in this album (61:28) !
Related styles: JAZZ: Big Band, JAZZ: Avant-Garde Jazz

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Details:
Despite nearly five decades of existence, this midsize big band has been documented on record only a handful of times. In light of this, Smithâs new CWE disc, Old News Borrowed Blues (on the fine label Engine), is a genuine event.

On Old News Borrowed Blues Smith gathers the Composer's Workshop Ensemble to explore his approach to music, which he refers to as 'a little bit inside, a little bit outside.' Starting the album out with an energetic big band opener, 'Lock the Toilet Door,' the band follows up with 'Rivers State Suite,' a polyrhythmic multi-segment tone poem inspired by a trip to Nigeria. 'The Hungarian Gypsy Song' features a haunting melody on soprano sax with tasteful backup from the rest of the band. After another more traditional big band number, 'One More Lick for Harold Vick,' the album closes with the sprawling avant 'Free Forms 1-4,' a less structured open piece with intro bass work, an over the top baritone sax solo followed by solos from other horns and vibes, and a closing poem read by Warren Smith.

As you can hear from the lush sample tracks, Old News Borrowed Blues also happens to be an outstandingly coherent and wide-ranging example of contemporary large-ensemble jazz, a release that traverses reggae, free improv and hard swing with impressive ease. Although Warren Smith has been an integral part of the Downtown New York network for more than forty years, he has recorded infrequently as a leader. This disc in particular is certainly his crowning achievement.