REGGIE WORKMAN
Legendary
Bassist,
Composer
And Ardent
Advocate of
Arts Education …
Reggie Workman has long been recognized as one of the most original and technically gifted of all bassists in modern music. His versatile style spans Post-Bop to Futuristic, incorporating contemporary approach to jazz improvisation and compositions. His uncanny ability to equally understand and share musical ideas with such diverse musicians as Art Blakey on one side and Cecil Taylor on the other is stunning. Workman has invented his own language of sound and expression as a performer and composer.
A native of Philadelphia, Workman began playing the piano, tuba, and euphonium early on but settled on bass in the mid-50s. He quickly graduated to working regularly with Gigi Gryce (1958), Red Garland, and Roy Haynes, later joining the John Coltrane Quartet, participating on several landmark important recordings.
With extensive performing and recording credits, Workman has performed and recorded with the giants of jazz including John Coltrane, Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers, Eric Dolphy, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Cecil Taylor, Jeanne Lee, Mal Waldron, Archie Shepp, Sam Rivers, Trio 3 and Great Friends as well as emerging jazz legends such as Jason Moran.
In the 1970’s, Workman established himself as a bandleader, composer, arranger and producer when he first presented his stellar group, Top Shelf. By the 1980s, Workman began expanding his musical concept, exploring more experimental approaches while incorporating dance and theater. Fellow artists in these more experimental configurations included Amiri Baraka, Jason Hwang, Genevieve Lamb, Gerry Hemingway, Marilyn Grispell, Dianne Grotke, Maya Millenovic, also formed the high-octane collective, TRIO 3 (with Oliver Lake and Andrew Cyrille). Workman also began actively composing and recording his own works with Altered States (with the late Jeanne Lee) and the critically acclaimed Cerebral Caverns (collaborating with Gerry Hemingway, Julian Priester, Geri Allen, Sam Rivers, Al Foster, Tappan Modak and Elizabeth Panzer) and the 1993 Summit Conference session with Sam Rivers, the late Andrew Hill, Pheeroan aKLaaf and Julian Priester. (For a more extensive discography, see www.bb10k.com/workman.disc.html).
An ardent advocate of the arts, Workman has always been active in music outreach and education to the community. He Co-Founded the historic Collective Black Artists (CBA), and was Music Director of the famous New Muse Community Museum (Brooklyn, NY). His current community endeavors include Co-Director of The Montclair Academy of Dance & Laboratory of Music and Co-Founder (with Singer/Writer Francina Connors) and Producer of the Sculptured Sounds Music Festival, an artist-driven festival of futuristic music and concepts.
At the University level, Workman has served on the faculty at The University of Michigan, Bennington College, Long Island University. He is also proud to be associated with the establishment of the one of first African-American studies programs in the U.S. at the University of Massachusetts (UMASS.) This historic program boasted such important artist-educators as Max Roach, Yuseff Lateff, Archie Shepp, Nelson Stevens, Sonia Sanchez, as well as Aklyn Lynch, Roland Wiggins, Bill Hassan and Horace Boyer. Prominent graduates of this department are Bill Cosby, Jimmy Owens, Cannonball Adderley and Dr. Billy Taylor.
Presently, Workman is a Full-Time Professor at New York’s famed The New School (Jazz and Contemporary Music Department) where, in 2007, he celebrated his twentieth-year and was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award.
Workman’s other awards and recognitions include Meet the Composer, MidAtlantic Arts, the Eubie Blake Award and Living Legend Award from the Philadelphia African-American Historical and Cultural Museum, in recognition of his international performances and recordings.
Today, Workman continues his arts advocacy, teaching, developing new music arts curriculums and workshops, managing a steady tour schedule as a guest artist and with TRIO 3 as well as presenting various Reggie Workman ensembles under the umbrella of his production company, Sculptured Sounds, in the United States and internationally.
Sculptured Sounds, LLC • P.O. Box 230068 • New York, NY • (212) 969 - 8566
www.sculpturedsounds.com/www.myspace.com/reggieworkman
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