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Reggie Workman
Reggie Workman
	Workman in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Reginald Workman
Born	June 26, 1937 (age 87); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Jazz; avant-garde jazz; hard bop;
Occupations	Musician; composer; educator;
Instrument	Double bass
Labels	Soul Note; Evidence; Baybridge; Prestige; Postcards; Leo; Music & Arts;
Website	reggieworkmanmusic.com

Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937)^[1] is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey, in addition to Alice Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Trio Three (with Oliver Lake and Andrew Cyrille), Trio Transition, the Reggie Workman Ensemble, and collaborative projects with dance, poetry and drama.

Career

Early in his career, Workman worked in jazz groups led by Freddie Cole, Gigi Gryce,^[2] Donald Byrd, Duke Jordan and Booker Little. In 1961, Workman joined the John Coltrane Quartet,^[2] replacing Steve Davis. He was present for the saxophonist's Live at the Village Vanguard sessions, and also recorded with a second bassist (Art Davis) on the 1961 album, Olé Coltrane. Workman left Coltrane's group at the end of the year, following a European tour and recording Africa Brass.

In 1962, Workman joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers^[2] (replacing long-time Blakey bassist Jymie Merritt), and worked alongside Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and Cedar Walton for most of his time. Workman left Blakey's group in 1964.^[2]

Workman also played with Freddie Cole, Lee Morgan, James Moody, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Mann and Thelonious Monk.^[2] He has recorded with Archie Shepp, Lee Morgan and David Murray.^[1] Workman, with pianist Tommy Flanagan and drummer Joe Chambers, formed The Super Jazz Trio in 1978.^[3]

As of 1987, he was^[4] a professor at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, and was a member of the group, Trio 3, with Oliver Lake and Andrew Cyrille. In 1984 he started an on-going performance arts collaborations with writer/director/choreographer Maya Milenovic Workman. Recent works include: "Dos Worlds" "Ophelia's Ocean" & "Guernica Continuum."

Personal life

Workman has three children, Nioka Workman (cellist), Olu Workman (entrepreneur), and Ayana Workman (actor/dancer/poet). Workman lived in Montclair, NJ from 1994 - 2005 and is currently a resident of Harlem, New York City.^[5]^[6]

Honors and awards

In 1997, Workman was named as the recipient of a Life Achievement Award by the Jazz Foundation of America and was awarded a citation of excellence by the International Association of Jazz Educators.^[7] In 1999, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation presented him with its Living Legacy Award.^[8] In 2020, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition in collaboration with Maya Milenovic Workman ^[9] and was named by the National Endowment of the Arts an NEA Jazz Master.^[7]

Discography

As leader/co-leader

1977: Conversation (with Cecil Bridgewater, Slide Hampton, George Adams, Albert Dailey, Michael Carvin, Lawrence Killian)
1978: The Super Jazz Trio (Baystate)
1978: The Works of Workman (Denon Japan)
1979: Something Tasty (Baystate)
1980: The Standard (Baystate)
1986: Synthesis (Leo)
1989: Images (Music & Arts)
1993: Altered Spaces (Leo)
1994: Summit Conference (Postcards)
1995: Cerebral Caverns (Postcards)

With Trio Transition

Trio Transition (DIW, 1987)
Trio Transition with Special Guest Oliver Lake (DIW, 1988)

With Trio 3

Live in Willisau (Dizim, 1997)
Encounter (Passin' Thru, 2000)
Open Ideas (Palmetto, 2002)
Time Being (Intakt, 2006)
Wha's Nine: Live at the Sunset (Marge, 2008)
Berne Concert with Irene Schweizer (Intakt, 2009)
At This Time (Intakt, 2009)
Celebrating Mary Lou Williams–Live at Birdland New York with Geri Allen (Intakt, 2011)
Refraction – Breakin' Glass (Intakt, 2013)
Wiring (Intakt, 2014)
Visiting Texture (Intakt, 2017)

As supporting artist

With Juhani Aaltonen

Strings Revisited (Tum, 2002)
Reflections (Tum, 2004) with Andrew Cyrille
Prana / Live at Groovy (Leo, 1982)

With Roy Ayers

Virgo Vibes (Atlantic, 1967)

With Gary Bartz

Another Earth (Milestone, 1969)

With Art Blakey

Caravan (Riverside, 1963)
Ugetsu (Riverside, 1963)
Free for All (Blue Note, 1964)
Kyoto (Riverside, 1964)
Indestructible (Blue Note, 1964)
Golden Boy (Colpix, 1964)

With Hamiet Bluiett

Orchestra Duet and Septet (Chiaroscuro, 1977)

With The Bridgewater Brothers

Lightning and Thunder (Denon, 1977)
Generation Suite (Denon, 1978)

With Roy Brooks

Ethnic Expressions (Im-Hotep, 1973)
Live At Town Hall (Baystate, 1978)

With Marion Brown

Vista (Impulse!, 1975)
Passion Flower (Baystate, 1978)

With Donald Byrd

Byrd in Flight (Blue Note, 1960)

With Don Byron

Tuskegee Experiments (Nonesuch, 1990-91 [1992])

With Steve Cohn

Shapes, Sounds, Theories (Cadence Jazz, 1984)
Bridge Over the X-Stream (Leo, 1999)

With Earl Coleman

Manhattan Serenade (1968)

With Johnny Coles

Katumbo (Mainstream, 1971)

With Adegoke Steve Colson

The Untarnished Dream (Silver Sphinx, 2009)

With Alice Coltrane

World Galaxy (Impulse!, 1972)
Transfiguration (Warner Bros. Master, 1978)

With John Coltrane

Africa/Brass (Impulse!, 1961)
Ole Coltrane (Atlantic, 1961)
The Complete Copenhagen Concert (Magnetic, 1961)
Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard (Impulse!, 1961 [1962])
The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (Impulse!, 1961 [1997]) – contains recordings also on Impressions and the above release
Newport '63 (Impulse!, 1961 [1993])
Ballads (Impulse!, 1961-1962 [1963])
Impressions (Impulse!, 1961–1963 [1963])
Live Trane: The European Tours (Pablo, 1961-1963 [2001])
So Many Things: The European Tour 1961 (Acrobat, 1961 [2015])
Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy (Impulse!, 1961 [2023])

With Stanley Cowell

Brilliant Circles (Freedom, 1972)
Such Great Friends (1983)^[10] with Billy Harper and Billy Hart

With Marilyn Crispell

Gaia (Leo, 1988)
Live in San Francisco (Music & Arts, 1989)
Live in Zurich (Leo, 1990)
Circles (Les Disques Victo, 1991)
Highlights from the Summer of 1992 American Tour (Music & Arts, 1993)

With Andrew Cyrille

My Friend Louis (DIW, 1992)

With Sussan Deyhim

Madman of God: Divine Love Songs of the Persian Sufi Masters (Cramworld, 2000)
Shy Angels: Reconstruction and Mix Translation of Madman of God (Cramworld, 2002) with Bill Laswell

With Bill Dixon

Intents and Purposes (RCA, 1967)

With Eric Dolphy

Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise (Natasha, 1961)

With Booker Ervin

The Space Book (Prestige, 1964)
The Trance (Prestige, 1965)
Setting the Pace (Prestige, 1965) – with Dexter Gordon

With Mario Escalera

Blue Mondays (Phoenix, 1981)

With Chris Fagan

Lost Bohemia (Open Minds, 1992)

With Art Farmer

New York Jazz Sextet: Group Therapy (Scepter, 1966)

With Sonny Fortune

Awakening (Horizon, 1975)
In the Spirit of John Coltrane (Shanachie, 2000)

With Hal Galper

Art-Work (Origin, 2008)

With Grant Green

Goin' West (Blue Note, 1962)

With Gigi Gryce

Saying Somethin'! (New Jazz, 1960)
Reminiscin' (Mercury, 1960)

With Billy Harper

Capra Black (Strata-East, 1973)

With Andrew Hill

Grass Roots (Blue Note, 1968 [2000])

With Terumasa Hino

Love Nature (Canyon/Love, 1971)
Peace and Love (Canyon/Love, 1971)
A Part (Canyon/Love, 1971)
Double Rainbow (CBS/Sony, 1981)

With Takehiro Honda

Jodo (Trio, 1972)

With Freddie Hubbard

Hub-Tones (Blue Note, 1962)
Here to Stay (Blue Note, 1962)
The Body & the Soul (Impulse!, 1964)
The Black Angel (Atlantic, 1970)

With Bobby Hutcherson

Patterns (Blue Note, 1968)

With The Jazz Composer's Orchestra

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (JCOA, 1968)

With Elvin Jones

Brother John (1982)

With Clifford Jordan

Hello, Hank Jones (Eastworld, 1978)

With Duke Jordan

Flight to Jordan (Blue Note, 1960)

With Oliver Lake

Again and Again (Gramavision, 1991)
Edge-ing (Black Saint, 1993)

With Yusef Lateef

1984 (Impulse!, 1965)
Psychicemotus (Impulse!, 1965)
A Flat, G Flat and C (Impulse!, 1966)

With Booker Little

Booker Little and Friend (Bethlehem, 1961)

With Living Colour

Time's Up (Epic, 1990)

With Herbie Mann

Our Mann Flute (Atlantic, 1966)
Impressions of the Middle East (Atlantic, 1966)
A Mann & A Woman (Atlantic, 1966) with Tamiko Jones
The Beat Goes On (Atlantic, 1967)
The Wailing Dervishes (Atlantic, 1967)
New Mann at Newport (Atlantic, 1967)

With Miya Masaoka

Monk's Japanese Folk Song (Dizim, 1997)

With Cristina Mazza

Where Are You? (Il Posto, 1989)

With Ken McIntyre

Home (SteepleChase, 1975)

With Roscoe Mitchell

In Walked Buckner (Delmark, 1999)

With Grachan Moncur III

Shadows (Denon, 1977)

With James Moody

Running The Gamut (Scepter, 1965)

With Lee Morgan

Search For The New Land (Blue Note, 1964)
Infinity (Blue Note, 1965 [1981])
Caramba! (blue Note, 1968)
Taru (Blue Note, 1968)
Live in Baltimore 1968 (Fresh Sound Records, 1968) with Clifford Jordan
The Last Session (Blue Note, 1971 [1972])

With David Murray

Morning Song (Black Saint, 1983)

With New York Art Quartet

Mohawk (Fontana, 1965)
35th Reunion (DIW, 2000)
Call It Art (Triple Point, 2013)

With Dave Pike

It's Time for Dave Pike (Riverside, 1961)

With Sam Rivers

Crystals (Verve, 1974)

With Max Roach

Nommo (Victor, 1976)
Live in Tokyo (Denon, 1977)
The Loadstar (Horo, 1977)
Live in Amsterdam (Baystate, 1977)

With Charlie Rouse

We Paid Our Dues! (Epic, 1961)

With Hilton Ruiz

Fantasia (Denon, 1977)

With Pharoah Sanders

Karma (1969)

With Ellen May Shashoyan

Song For My Father (New Ark, 1989)

With Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp – Bill Dixon Quartet (1962)
Four for Trane (Impulse!, 1964)
The Magic of Ju-Ju (Impulse!, 1967)
Ballads for Trane (Denon, 1977)
Live in New York (Verve, 2001) with Roswell Rudd

With Wayne Shorter

Night Dreamer (1964)
JuJu (1964)
Adam's Apple (1966)

With Sonny Simmons

American Jungle (1997)

With Heiner Stadler

Brains on Fire (Labor Records, 1966–73)
Ecstasy (Labor, 1973) with Walter Steffens
A Tribute to Monk and Bird (Tomato, 1978) with Thad Jones, George Adams, George Lewis, Stanley Cowell, and Lenny White
Jazz Alchemy (Tomato, 1989)

With Sonny Stitt

Moonlight in Vermont (Denon, 1977)

With Monnette Sudler

Other Side of the Gemini (Hardly, 1988)

With Aki Takase

Clapping Music (Enja, 1995)

With Horace Tapscott

Aiee! The Phantom (Arabesque, 1996)

With John Tchicai and Andrew Cyrille

Witch's Scream (TUM, 2006)

With Charles Tolliver

Live at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival (Strata-East, 1973)
Impact (Strata-East, 1975)
Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2008)

With Mickey Tucker

Blues in Five Dimensions (SteepleChase, 1989)

With Edward Vesala

Heavy Life (Leo, 1980)

With Mal Waldron

Up Popped the Devil (Enja, 1973)
Breaking New Ground (Baybridge 1983)
Mal Waldron Plays Eric Satie (Baybridge, 1983)
You and the Night and the Music (Paddle Wheel, 1983)
The Git Go - Live at the Village Vanguard (Soul Note, 1986)
The Seagulls of Kristiansund (Soul Note, 1986)
The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil (Paddle Wheel, 1987)
Crowd Scene (Soul Note, 1989)
Where Are You? (Soul Note, 1989)
My Dear Family (Evidence, 1993)
Soul Eyes (BMG, 1997)

With Cedar Walton

Soul Cycle (Prestige, 1969)

With Tyrone Washington

Natural Essence (1967)

With Richard Williams

New Horn in Town (Candid, 1960)

With Frank Wright

Kevin, My Dear Son (Sun, 1979)

With Attila Zoller

Gypsy Cry (Embryo Records, 1970)

References

^ ^a ^b "Reggie Workman | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 439/440. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
^ Dryden, Ken "Tommy Flanagan's Super Jazz Trio – Condado Beach". AllMusic. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
^ "The New School > College of Performing Arts > Jazz > Faculty > Reginald Workman". newschool.edu. The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. p. 1. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
^ Ebbels, Kelly. "Sonia Sanchez to read alongside Montclair musicians", The Montclair Times, March 21, 2013, backed up by the Internet Archive as of December 30, 2013. Accessed September 18, 2017. "A jazz-and-poetry-infused fundraising event for the Montclair Academy of Dance and Laboratory of Music (MADLOM) will bring together the poet laureate of Philadelphia, Sonia Sanchez, to read alongside jazz musicians, including former Montclair resident and John Coltrane band mate Reggie Workman at the Montclair Public Library, 50 South Fullerton Ave., this Saturday evening, March 23."
^ "The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats", The Star-Ledger, September 28, 2003, backed up by the Internet Archive as of September 27, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2017. "Reggie Workman -- This bass dynamo, active in post-bop and avant-garde circles, lives in Montclair."
^ ^a ^b "Reggie Workman: Bio". National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
^ "Reggie Workman – 1999 Living Legacy Awardee". Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
^ "Reggie Workman". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
^ "Blogger". Accounts.google.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.