The celebrated composer, arranger, and vibraphonist Cecilia Smith performed with the likes of Gary Bartz, Milt Hinton, Randy Weston, Marian McPartland, Donald Harrison, Greg Osby, Billy Pierce, Mulgrew Miller, and Cecil Bridgewater to name a few. Her vibraphone stylings can be heard on Cassandra Wilson’s acclaimed Traveling Miles, Digable Planets’ Blowout Comb, Lonnie Plaxico’s Short Takes, and more. Smith received a Joyce Foundation Award to develop her multimedia work Crossing Bridges. Another multimedia work in development, Decisive Moments, is being made in collaboration with Blue Man Group video artist and filmmaker Kevin Frech. A 2016 recipient of the Ziegfeld Club’s Elizabeth Swados Award, she is the Artistic Director of the Mary Lou Williams Resurgence Project and a teaching artist for nonprofit organizations and social service agencies. With six albums as a leader to her credit, Cecilia Smith is proud to announce the release of Volume 1: Small Ensemble Repertoire, the new album from her NEA American Masterpiece Award-winning Mary Lou Williams Resurgence Project.
Pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams made her reputation as a road warrior with the storied Midwestern territory bands of the 1930s (notably Andy Kirk’s 12 Clouds of Joy). She’s known as a formidable boogie-woogie pianist, but her pioneering role in Swing Era big band arranging and composition seems underrated and undervalued. She served as a mentor to Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and other icons of the bebop revolution, and continued to refine and deepen her creative vision until her death in 1981.
Through countless hours of immersion in the Williams archive at the Institute for Jazz Studies, and access to manuscripts and scores from Williams’ former manager Father Peter O’Brien, Smith with her top-tier bandmates have placed their unique stamp on music either composed arranged, and recorded by Williams during her lifetime. Among the timeless gems on Volume 1: Small Ensemble Repertoire is Williams’ previously unrecorded “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone,” sung by the acclaimed Carla Cook.
Smith’s seasoned approach to music composition and arrangements is clearly illustrated, with the support of longtime colleagues Lafayette Harris, Jr. and Carlton Holmes (sharing piano and Hammond organ duties), bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Ron Savage. Each track of the album, co-produced by Smith, Harris, Jr. and master trumpeter and educator Cecil Bridgewater, is sublimely delivered with an unswervingly fresh and harmonious ambiance.
This recording is supported in part by Chamber Music America’s Artistic Projects program (funded through the generosity of The Howard Gilman Foundation); by Integrity: Arts & Culture Association; and by the American Composers Forum/Innova Recordings National Call Grant. The album is available from May 5th.
For more information, please visit www.ceciliasmith.com
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