Warren I. Smith Collection, 1926-2022

Summary

Creator:
Composer's Workshop Ensemble and Smith, Warren (Warren I.), 1934-
Abstract:
Papers, photographs, notated music, and audiovisual materials documenting the life and work of percussionist, composer, and educator Warren I. Smith.
Extent:
50 document case(s) (8.4 linear ft. ), 760 audiocassette(s), 184 audiotape reel(s), 1 audio disc(s) (LP), 54 audiocassette(s) (DAT), 427 audio disc(s) (CD), 296 audio disc(s) (CD-R; CD-RW), 156 videocassette(s) (VHS; Umatic; miniDV), 5 video disc(s) (DVD), and 89 video disc(s) (DVD-R; DVD-RW; miniDVD)
Language:
Materials are in English, Italian, French, and Korean.
Preferred citation:

Warren I. Smith Collection, SC 175, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Warren Smith was born in Chicago in 1934 to a musical family. He graduated from the University of Illinois, then received a master's degree in percussion from the Manhattan School of Music. In 1961 he co-founded the Composers Workshop Ensemble; he was also a founding member of Max Roach's percussion ensemble, M'Boom. In the '70s and '80s Smith had a loft called Studio WIS, which acted as a performing and recording space for many young New York jazz musicians. In the 1970s Smith also played with Coleridge Taylor Perkinson, Andrew White, Julius Hemphill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Nancy Wilson, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, and Carmen McRae. Other credits include extensive work with musicians Anthony Braxton, Charles Mingus, Henry Threadgill, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, The Last Poets, and Joe Zawinul. Smith continued to work on Broadway into the 1990s, and has performed with a number of classical ensembles. Smith has worked as an educator for over five decades, at institutions such as SUNY College at Old Westbury and a South Korean residency in 1991. In this regard, Smith was among the first musicians to pioneer the integration of jazz and Black music as a whole into collegiate curricula. Smith continues to sustain his contributions to music and community development through performance, political activism, and pedagogy.

Acquisition information:
Donated to the AAAMC by the Warren Smith family in 2021.
Processing Information:

Processed by AAAMC staff. Bulk of the collection completed in 2024. Photographs and audiovisual series are still being processed.

Arrangement:

Arranged in eight series:

Series 1: Biographical
Series 2: Papers
Series 3: Correspondence
Series 4: Music
Series 5: Scrapbooks
Series 6: Posters
Series 7: Photographs
Series 8: Audiovisual
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Use of time-based media materials (audio and video) may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Access to streaming audio, moving image, and full resolution digital image materials may currently be restricted to researchers who can authenticate with an IU account or who are physically present on campus. Remote streaming to individual researchers may be allowed with the completion of applicable forms.

For further information about access to online audiovisual materials, contact AAAMC staff at aaamc@indiana.edu.

Terms of access:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, including but not limited to the Indiana Public Records Act (5-14-3-2 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Indiana University assumes no responsibility.

Copyright is retained by the creators/authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. All requests for copying and publishing materials must be submitted in writing to the Archives of African American Music and Culture, and may require the written permission of the creator(s)/author(s) or donor(s).

Preferred citation:

Warren I. Smith Collection, SC 175, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Location of this collection:
Herman B Wells Library
1320 E 10th St
West Tower, Suite 305
Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
Visit Archives of African American Music and Culture
Before you visit:
Campus:
Indiana University Bloomington
Contact:
812-855-8547
aaamc@iu.edu