Peter Warren

Membership in drummer Jack DeJohnette’s groups from the mid-1970s onward brought bassist and cellist Peter Warren before a wide listenership. During the ensemble’s most exploratory period, Special Edition issued two ECM albums—Special Edition and Tin Can Alley—that rank among the most praised jazz statements of the late 1970s and early 1980s, both featuring Warren. He had taken up the cello as a child, making his Carnegie Hall debut at seventeen and later enrolling at the Juilliard School. After moving to Las Vegas he switched to double bass and subsequently studied in New York with Chuck Israels, who had previously performed with Bill Evans and Cecil Taylor. In the mid-1960s he toured alongside vocalist Dionne Warwick, then settled in New York and joined bassist David Izenzon in the New York Bass Revolution, an ensemble comprising ten bassists. Early in the 1970s he resided and performed across Europe, appearing with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, trumpeter Don Cherry, and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. Warren came back to the United States in 1974 and rejoined DeJohnette, participating in the 1975 recording Cosmic Chicken. The following year an NEA grant supported his composition of new music for cello. Early in the 1980s he collaborated with guitarists Mike Stern and John Scofield. During the 1990s he made his home in the Boston area and took part in freely improvised performances with many players, among them Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark. In 1994 he established the improvising ensembles Cheap Suit Serenaders and Elastic Consort; the latter featured flutist Matt Samolis, who later joined Warren on a project centered on the steel cello—an instrument fashioned from tuned steel rods and cymbals and sounded with a bow. As a leader Warren has released Bass Is (Enja, 1970), featuring Glen Moore, Dave Holland, and Jamie Faunt; Solidarity (Japo, 1981); and Bowed Metal Music (Innova, 2001), recorded with Samolis.