Red Warrior
Studio album by
Ronald Shannon Jackson
Released1990
GenreJazz, free jazz
LabelAxiom[1]
ProducerBill Laswell
Ronald Shannon Jackson chronology
Taboo
(1990)		 Red Warrior
(1990)		 Raven Roc
(1992)

Red Warrior is an album by the American jazz drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, released in 1990.[2][3] It was rereleased by Mango Records the following year.[4]

Production

The album was produced by Bill Laswell.[5] Jackson opted to record the album without horns, instead utilizing a three-guitar roster.[6] Red Warrior, inspired by a tour that Jackson undertook in Africa, was recorded in one day.[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Chicago Sun-Times[9]
Robert Christgau(2-star Honorable Mention)(2-star Honorable Mention)[10]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[11]
Los Angeles Times[12]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[14]

The Washington Post thought that the guitarists "all fall into one hard-rock or funk cliché after another ... For all the volcanic energy happening at the bottom of this music, the top is so uninspired that it dooms the album."[5] The Los Angeles Times called the album "a flawed experiment," writing that Jackson "failed to solve metal's rhythmic stolidity."[12] The Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "the songs cut deeper than any Jackson has delivered since the days of his harmolodic fusion band, the Decoding Society."[9] The St. Petersburg Times relegated it to "the guitar-mag crowd."[4]

AllMusic wrote that "the mix is expanded with plenty of jazz improvisation, weaves of effects-riddled guitar lines, complex head statements, and, of course, the drummer's pan-stylistic rhythmic support."[8] Billboard called Red Warrior an "extremely uncompromising fusion" album.[15] The New York Times, in its Jackson obituary, deemed it "a fiery guitar-oriented session."[16]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Red Warrior"4:43
2."Ashes"4:40
3."Gate to Heaven"5:14
4."In Every Face"6:06
5."Elders"13:33
6."What's Not Said"4:15

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "Sounding Off". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. April 19, 1992 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ Giddins, Gary (November 15, 2004). Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century. Oxford University Press – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Wynn, Ron (4 Jan 1991). "Recordings". The Commercial Appeal. p. E19.
  4. 1 2 Green, Tony (15 Mar 1991). "Losing Battle for 'Red Warrior'". Weekend. St. Petersburg Times. p. 19.
  5. 1 2 "Recordings". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Shimamoto, Ken (July 5, 2012). "Jazz Great Ronald Shannon Jackson Returns to DFW". Dallas Observer.
  7. ↑ Flans, Robyn (July 1991). "Update: Ronald Shannon Jackson". Modern Drummer. Vol. 15, no. 7. p. 8.
  8. 1 2 "Red Warrior - Ronald Shannon Jackson | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  9. 1 2 Sachs, Lloyd (January 10, 1991). "Ronald Shannon Jackson, 'Red Warrior' (Axiom)". Features. Chicago Sun-Times. p. 56.
  10. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG: Ronald Shannon Jackson". www.robertchristgau.com.
  11. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4. MUZE. p. 540.
  12. 1 2 Snowden, Don (7 July 1991). "Charting Pop's Format Orphans". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 54.
  13. ↑ The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (8th ed.). Penguin. 2006. p. 684.
  14. ↑ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 353.
  15. ↑ Macnie, Jim (July 4, 1992). "Jazz Postcards from the Edge". Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 27. p. J18.
  16. ↑ Smith, Steve (October 23, 2013). "Ronald Shannon Jackson, Composer and Avant-Garde Drummer, Dies at 73". The New York Times.
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