''Synthesis'' is a live album by bassist/composer

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman worke ...

. It was recorded on June 15, 1986, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and was released by

Leo Records Leo Records is a British record company and label which releases jazz from Russian, American, and British musicians. It concentrates on free jazz. Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin (also known under his broadcasting name Aleksei Le ...

later that year. On the album, Workman is joined by multi-instrumentalist

Oliver Lake Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano and flute. During the 1960s, Lake worked with the Black Art ...

, pianist

Marilyn Crispell Marilyn Crispell (born March 30, 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrot ...

, and drummer

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographe ...

. Workman, Lake, and Cyrille would later go to form the group known as Trio 3.

Reception

In an article for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Robert Palmer wrote: "The group is an all-star unit... But they don't play like all-stars here, they play like a unit... the music is very free structurally, with a soaring spirit and incantatory qualities that link it to some of the better small-band sessions from the early days of the mid-60's ESP label. But while he leaves plenty of room for each player, Mr. Workman deploys his forces ingeniously... This is stunning music, with a deeply felt intensity and a purity of intent that haven't been finding their way onto jazz records as often as one would like." The authors of the ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' awarded the album 3 stars and praised Crispell's playing, stating that she gives "the performance its undoubted sense of coherence." Writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Thom Jurek remarked: "As a quartet, this band has some interesting things to say. There is fire in the group interplay and Lake's playing in particular is very inspired... Workman gets considerable credit for putting this ensemble together."

Track listing

All compositions by Reggie Workman unless otherwise noted. # "Jus' Ole Mae" - 8:00 # "Ogun's Ardor" - 9:27 # "Martyrs Hymn" - 6:19 # "Earthly Garden" - 15:08 # "Chant" (Marilyn Crispell) - 8:35 # "Synapse II" - 9:07 # "Fabula" - 6:49

Personnel

– bass *

– reeds *

– piano *

– drums

Production

Leo Feigin Leo Records is a British record company and label which releases jazz from Russian, American, and British musicians. It concentrates on free jazz. Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin (also known under his broadcasting name Aleksei Le ...

– producer * Kazunori Sugiyama – recording engineer

References

{{Reflist 1986 live albums Leo Records live albums Reggie Workman live albums