Warren I. Smith
For nearly 70 years, Warren I. Smith has been an enormous contributor to the American Jazz and Music scene as percussionist; composer-arranger; leader; curator; archivist; educator; activist and mentor to generations of jazz artists. In addition to his own extensive musical endeavors and collaborations, he has always been a first call by many of the most prominent composers of the second half of the 20th century due to his combination of rhythmic precision, high creativity and sensitivity to the composers’ intent.
As a percussionist, Smith’s resume is not only a veritable who’s who of jazz, but also spans a scope unlike any other artist. His total command of all aspects of the jazz tradition have resulted in his performing over the years with a myriad of artists, including small groups led by a spectrum of jazz heavyweights, ranging from Dizzy Gillespie, Sy Oliver, Frank Foster, Charles Mingus to Muhal Richard Abrams, Tony Williams, Sam Rivers and Cecil Taylor.
His sensitivity and subtle creativity have made him a choice of countless vocalists, including Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson and Nina Simone. A favorite of vocalists who wanted to add an element of jazz sensibility to their music, Smith has graced the music of a stunningly vast array, including Roberta Flack, Janis Joplin (also serving as her musical director at the height of her career), Aretha Franklin, Ashford & Simpson, Marvin Gaye, Esther Phillips, Barbra Streisand, Tom Waits, Dionne Warwick, Harry Belafonte, Josephine Baker, and dozens of others. His prominent and highly affecting presence on two artists’ debut albums that became groundbreaking classics of popular music – Van Morrison’s immortal Astral Weeks and Melvin Van Peebles’ Brer Soul – profoundly influenced contemporary popular music’s use of jazz elements.
A favorite of composers of large ensemble works, Smith has contributed heavily to jazz orchestras of George Russell, Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, among many others. Due to his enormous versatility and training, Smith has often been invited by major composers outside of the jazz realm – including Leonard Bernstein and Harry Partch – to infuse the appropriate jazz-related elements into their works.
As a composer-arranger and leader, Smith has led and co-led numerous ensembles and cooperatives of varying sizes, with a particular focus upon his still-active Composers Workshop Ensemble, which has ranged from 8 to 16 members. His many compositions will sometimes include his own spoken word materials as well as collaborations with dancers and poets. Countless musicians have performed with the ensemble over the years – and in many cases have been ushered into the jazz world through this group.
Throughout his collaborative career, Smith has also contributed compositions and arrangements to a large number of other ensembles.
Along with Max Roach, Smith is a co-founder of the legendary percussion ensemble M’Boom. He and fellow co-founder Joe Chambers are the only surviving original founder/members and continue to perform with the newly formed version of the ensemble.
As a curator, Smith has presented a large number of concerts of his own and other musicians’ ensembles for more than 50 years, and continues to do so in his residency activities at the Andrew Freedman House in the Bronx, NY. His legendary loft, Studio WIS, was a major force during the richly productive NYC Loft Scene of the 1970s. Studio WIS was the first to open (1967) and the last to close (1996) and provided space for performances, educational activities, and salon-style activities regularly over its 30-year history.
The studio became a very popular rehearsal place for many renowned artists to develop their projects and showcase their talent. It also became a meeting place and reference center for jazz organizations, record producers, Broadway contractors, and band leaders. Numerous artists, coming from out of town or overseas, were accommodated “in residency” for brief periods of time, sometimes as much as six months or a year, were generously nurtured by Smith as they accustomed themselves to New York City and its incredibly rich scene.
The entire list of musicians who rehearsed and/or performed there – numbering nearly 200 – along with the more than two dozen organizations and developers on the scene is a virtual encyclopedia of the legends and hopefuls who enriched that timeless era. Providing artists with a comfortable, well-equipped and no pressure setting for rehearsing and workshopping, Studio WIS was heavily utilized by many major figures – including George Russell, Sun Ra, Max Roach, Henry Threadgill, Archie Shepp, Wadada Leo Smith, Muhal Richard Abrams, Reggie Workman, and Abdullah Ibrahim – many of whom are NEA Jazz Masters.
As an archivist, Smith’s documentation of the jazz scene for more than 60 years is mind-boggling. Included in his archival activities are more than 1000 recordings from both Studio WIS and his touring and presenting activities. As of 2021, his huge archives are being housed at Indiana University – itself a legendary font of jazz education – the largest archives in the prominent institution’s prestigious collection. New York Filmmaker Chuck Martin’s first of three films about Smith is entitled Warren Smith: Percussionist and Archivist and focuses heavily upon Smith’s remarkable focus and commitment to his archiving.
As an educator, Smith takes enormous pride in his activism and effectiveness in helping to establish jazz in the realm of higher education. He has taught institutionally since the late 1950s until recently at all levels from elementary to post-collegiate, including Bennington, Adelphi, the New School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and SUNY Old Westbury, where he began a long collaborative relationship with Makanda Ken McIntyre and the outstanding students they mentored, including Craig Harris. He has always taught privately, and as is the case with extraordinary artists of his caliber and generosity, every interaction that one is fortunate to have with him is an educational experience. His mentorship has profoundly influenced countless artists.
At 87 years old, Smith is still dynamically involved in all of the above-mentioned areas. He works regularly with longtime colleagues like Joseph Daley, Bill Cole, Jack Jeffers and The Makanda Project (dedicated to performing the unrecorded works of Makanda McIntyre), as well as with M’Boom. He still maintains the Composers Workshop Ensemble from his workshop at the Andrew Freedman House, where he continues to perform, teach, and curate. He is overseeing the ongoing placement of his archives at Indiana University and recently completed his third film collaboration with Chuck Martin, Exactly One. His autobiography in collaboration with poet/author Kirpal Gordon entitled Crossing Borders & Playing with Pioneers: My Life in Music was published in May 2023.
Smith’s humility, quiet professionalism, and selfless generosity in both spirit and comportment has kept him from seeking the limelight, but any time his name is mentioned, the response is virtually always the same four-word response: “I love Warren Smith.”