Saw the very first performance of the Reggie Workman Ensemble's performance "In Celebration of an African-American Legacy". The Ensemble included a large brass section and a gospel choir. The ensemble performed compositions from John Coltranes' "Africa Brass" sessions. The two tunes played from Coltrane were "Song of the Underground Railroad" and "Africa." Charles Toliver produced the arrangements by ear because the orginals had been destroyed in the Rodney King riots. The orignal arrangements were at an Eric Dolphy library in Watts, which apparently burned.

Reggie said this was the first performance of these compositions since the original recordings. The ensemble is performing at the All Soul's Church in Washington, D.C. tonight and then in Philadelphia. Those are the only planned performances. Reggie Workmans' comments seemed to indicate that he planned to take the ensemble on the road.

The performance I saw was on Saturday, June 6th, at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Va. The show sold out. I actually hung out at the "will call" window to get an unclaimed ticket for $10. Happy for Reggie that the show sold out.

The tunes performed were:

Suite Tristan-Reggie Workman
Fast/Forward-Reggie Workman
The Wise One-John Coltrane
Variation of III- Reggie Workman
Eulogy For Trane-Mario Escalero

Intermission

Song of the Underground Railroad-John Coltrane
The Damned Don't Cry-Calvin Massey
Martr's Hymn- Reggie Workman
Africa-John Coltrane

There were other selections on the program not performed because of time. Had the feeling Reggie is still working out the logistics and planning bugs with such a large ensemble. The show was scheduled at 8 p.m. but didn't get going until 8:30 or so. They could have easily played till midnight, but stopped at around 11 p.m.

I really enjoyed the show. If it comes to your neighborhood try to catch it. Members on the ensemble, which included people from Reggie Workmans' last couple of solo releases, were:

Vocals-Dean Bowman(Screaming Headless Torsos) 
Piano-John Hicks
Trombone-Julian Priester (He played on the orig. "Africa Brass" session)
Cello-Nika Workman
Conductor-Charles Tolliver

"Eulogy For Trane" was very enjoyable. There was a vocal from Dean and the song covered many phases of Tranes' career. It sounded modal, outside, and at moments like the Stardust sessions.