Jazz Articles about Reggie Workman

Steve Colson: The Untarnished Dream

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 30, 2010

Anche negli anni settanta, quando l'AACM di Chicago otteneva ampi riconoscimenti in Italia e Francia, il pianista Steve Colson non ebbe modo di emergere come figura di primo piano. Dette anche concerti anche nel nostro Paese e qualcuno ricorderà il suo gruppo d'allora, The Colson Unity Troupe, con cui incise anche un album per l'etichetta Black Saint (No Reservation, 1980). Molto attivo come sideman, Colson ha inciso relativamente poco a suo nome e questo è il quinto disco come leader ...

Reggie Workman: Sculptured Sounds

by Terrell Kent Holmes
February 20, 2007

Bassist Reggie Workman has spent almost 50 years participating in the shaping of modern jazz, playing with groups led by Art Blakey, Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, Archie Shepp and John Coltrane, using those experiences to form his own unique brand of improvising and composing. Just a few months short of 70, Workman continues to record and tour, as well as teach at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Lately he has focused his considerable energy towards organizing the ...

Wayne Shorter: Night Dreamer

by John Kelman
March 22, 2005

By the time he made this recording, a few short months before he was to join Miles Davis' groundbreaking second quintet, saxophonist Wayne Shorter had already earned a reputation as a player combining heady intellectualism with a more visceral approach as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He'd also released four records for the Vee-Jay label that demonstrated how, while he'd learned a great deal with Blakey, he was developing his own voice, albeit still in the hard bop ...

A Fireside Chat with Reggie Workman

by AAJ Staff
April 16, 2003

Why would someone leave the John Coltrane Quartet? That question still stigmatizes Workman forty years after his departure, overshadowing his impressive collaborations as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (with Wayne Shorter and Lee Morgan), and with Yusef Lateef, Sam Rivers, Andrew Hill, Archie Shepp, and Freddie Hubbard. So I asked. The following is my conversation with Reggie Workman, a groundbreaking bassist unfairly labeled 'avant-garde' and the before mentioned Trane water he has carried for far too long, unedited ...

Roswell Rudd / Archie Shepp: Live in New York

by John Stevenson
July 1, 2001

The year was 1994. The venue: the Eilat Red Sea Jazz Festival. Hundreds of sweltering Jazz aficionados waited in a huge converted cargo shed to witness reedman Archie Shepp and his quartet--a marquee coup for the Israeli festival. When Shepp swaggered onto the stage, the more discerning members of the audience (including this reviewer) could scarcely conceal their disappointment. Here was the 1960s hero of radical Jazz conservatively bedecked in two--piece gray suit and tie. He might as well have ...

Lee Morgan: Taru

by Jim Santella
March 1, 2000

Just look at that rhythm section. One of the best in the business. The personnel on Lee Morgan’s 1980 album make this one valuable right from its opening bars. George Benson only appears on three tracks, but Morgan’s regular sidekick Bennie Maupin was in his prime. As was Morgan and the rhythm section. John Hicks, Reggie Workman and Billy Higgins each offer a unique sound while fitting Lee Morgan’s upbeat mold. Recorded February 15, 1968 but released in 1980, the ...

Wayne Shorter (Blue Note The Rudy Van Gelder Edition: Speak No Evil / JuJu

by C. Michael Bailey
July 1, 1999

RVG Again. Will Smith and Chris Hovan wrote two very capable articles about the Blue Note RVG Editions. Their articles were very informative and they stimulated me to check out some “new” old music. I decided to start with the initial RVG releases by Wayne Shorter.

Déjà Vu All Over Again The nice thing about both jazz and classical music is that there is always something even the most astute listener has missed in his or her listening experience. Wayne ...