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Dennis Warren
Dennis
Warren formed FMRJE in 1989, but
the roots of the Ensemble go back two decades. In 1971, Martin Gil, Raphe Malik, and
Dennis were studying music in the Black Music Division of Antioch College, directed by the
legendary pianist/composer Cecil Taylor. Raphe Malik went on to record and tour with the
Cecil Taylor Unit and also the Jimmy Lyons Quartet.
Beginning in 1974, Dennis studied with Professor
Graves, polyrhythmic innovator, at Bennington College. In 1980 Tor Yochai Snyder and
Dennis met in the Black Music Department of Bennington College, chaired by
trumpeter/composer Bill Dixon. After graduating from Bennington College in 1984, Dennis
returned to his hometown, Boston, Massachusetts.
In the mid-eighties Martin Gil and
Dennis renewed their percussion association with guitarist Tor Snyder to perform in
various concerts and groups. Flautist Earl Grant Lawrence and Dennis crossed musical paths
at the Community Music Center of Boston, where they were teaching in 1987. Raphe Malik and
Dennis renewed their musical connection in 1989, when he invited Dennis to join in his new
Quartet; it was in the Quartet that Dennis met acoustic bassist Larry Roland. For the past
decade Raphe's compositions have been a major component of FMRJE's repertoire.
In the 90's the FMRJE featured a horn
section of Boston's multi-reedist Raqib Hassan, Bay Area's tenor saxophonist the late
great Glenn Spearman, alto saxophonist Tony Owens and trumpeter Raphe Malik. Acoustic
bassist Larry Roland of Boston was the featured bassist on most FMRJE recordings and
concerts.
1997 was the year of dramatic changes
for FMRJE with new ensemble members Mike Sealy on electric guitar and electric bassist
Albey Balgochian. In 1998 FMRJE produced the compact disc 7 in One which features
Raphe Malik on trumpet, Earl Grant Lawrence on flute, Mike Sealy on electric guitar, Tor
Yochai Snyder on electric guitar, Albey Balgochian on electric bass, Martin Gil on congas,
percussion and Dennis Warren on drums, timbales.
FMRJE was selected by Black
Entertainment Television's Jazz Central as Jazz Discovery artist in 1997. Opened the NEXT
WAVE SERIES of the Toronto Jazz Festival 1995 and closed the Toronto Jazz Festival's NEXT
WAVE SERIES in 1996. FMRJE has also performed at the Knitting Factory's Main Space,
Alterknit Theater, NYC; Sarah Lawrence College and at the Texaco New York City Jazz
Festival 98'.
Current configuration of FMRJE
features conga-percussionist Jose Arroyo, bassist Albey Balgochian, alto saxophonist, Andy
Voelker, and guitarist/synth/electronics, Chris Florio. Other long time occassional
visiting members include keyboardist Michael Shea who has recorded and performed with
FMRJE since 1992, as well as two of the orginal FMRJE members, guitarist Tor Snyder and
conga-percussionist Martin Gil. The FMRJE band on stage and in recordings is producing
music with the collective experience of over a century of drum and orchestral
improvisation.
Dennis Warren's Website
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Discography on Drimala Records
2002
Horizon Event DR 02-347-03
Selected Discography
1994 Very
Live. FMRJE Music
1996 Watch
Out!. Accurate/Rounder
1998 7
In One. FMRJE Music
Some thoughts about Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble
by Stu Vandermark
Everybody talks about the jazz
tradition, but FMRJE does something about it. This evolving cast of improvisers takes its
inspiration from no single time and place in the jazz continuum - but from the relentless
searching of John Coltrane, the soaring vision of Jimmy Lyons, the focused passion of
Archie Shepp, the hidden call of music to come, and other sources both ancient and
articulate. The result is the creation of music that always is relevant to the Now.
Once during the waning months of the
Reagan years it was their signature primal scream that hung in the air. In the Now of the
birth of the century's last decade they took the music right off the pavement. Today the
resonance of the Ensemble erases the line between the familiar and the startling.
This music of the FMRJE in mid-stride,
built on the writing of Raphe Malik (who cared enough to put aside for a time his own
remarkable performing ensembles), is so sure-footed that it seems like a culmination. But
because of a single essential constant - the leadership an unleashed crate-of-marbles
percussion work of Dennis Warren - the music remains nothing other than what is exactly
right for the moment. And that commitment to the evolving Now is what makes the music of
the FMRJE durable in the truest sense of the jazz tradition.
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