''Serious Fun'' is the first album by

Lester Bowie Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Biography Born in t ...

recorded for the Japanese DIW label and the fourth album by his "Brass Fantasy" group.Jazzlists: DIW Records - CDs 801 to 899
accessed September 22, 2017 It was released in 1989 and features performances by Bowie,

Vincent Chancey Vincent Chancey (born February 4, 1950) is an American jazz hornist. Early life and education Chancey was born and raised in Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the SIUC School of Music in 1973 and studied under Julius ...

Frank Lacy Frank Lacy (born August 9, 1958, Houston, Texas) is an American jazz trombonist who has spent many years as a member of the Mingus Big Band. Career Lacy's father was a teacher who played guitar with Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, and Eddie Cle ...

Steve Turre Stephen Johnson Turre (born September 12, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer of using seashells as instruments, a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. For years, Turre has b ...

, E. J. Allen, Gerald Brezel,

Stanton Davis Stanton Davis, Jr. (born November 10, 1945, New Orleans) is an American jazz trumpeter and educator. Davis studied at the Berklee College of Music (1967–69) and the New England Conservatory (1969–73), and served as program director for MIT' ...

, Bob Stewart, Ken Crutchfield, Vinnie Johnson and

Famoudou Don Moye Donald Moye, Jr. (born May 23, 1946), known as Famoudou Don Moye, is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. He is most known for his involvement with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and is noted for his mastery of African and Caribbean percuss ...

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

review by

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles a ...

awarded the album 4 stars, stating, "''Serious Fun'' is one of the ensemble's earlier records and the material is better than usual... on this particular project it is mostly quite successful and full of Lester Bowie's wit".Yanow, S
Allmusic Review
accessed August 12, 2011

Track listing

# "

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is a song written and recorded by James Brown. Released as a two-part single in 1965, it was Brown's first song to reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Top Ten, peaking at number eight, and was a number-one R&B hit, to ...

" ( James Brown) - 4:40 # "

Smooth Operator "Smooth Operator" is a song by English band Sade from their debut studio album, '' Diamond Life'' (1984). It was released as the album's third single in the United Kingdom as a 7-inch single with "Spirit" as its B-side, and as a 12-inch maxi ...

" (

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WA ...

, Ray Saint John) - 6:59 # "Inflated Tear" (

Roland Kirk Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

) - 7:24 # "Da Butt" (

Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross ...

) - 6:05 # " God Bless the Child" (

Arthur Herzog Jr. Arthur Herzog Jr. (December 13, 1900 in New York City – September 1, 1983 in Detroit, Michigan) was a songwriter and composer. Career Herzog was most known for work with Billie Holiday. He co-wrote several jazz songs she popularized, inclu ...

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

) - 14:59 # "

Don't Worry, Be Happy "Don't Worry, Be Happy" is a 1988 song by American musician Bobby McFerrin, released as the first single from his fourth album, '' Simple Pleasures'' (1988). It was the first ''a cappella'' song to reach number-one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ...

" (

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American folk and jazz singer. He is known for his vocal techniques, such as singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also ra ...

) - 6:32 # "

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...

" (

Lewis Allan Abel Meeropol (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986)Baker, Nancy Kovaleff, "Abel Meeropol (a.k.a. Lewis Allan): Political Commentator and Social Conscience," '' American Music'' 20/1 (2002), pp. 25–79, ; see especially note 3. was an Ameri ...

) - 7:54 :*Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY on 4–6 April 1989

Personnel

: trumpet *

: French horn *

: trombone, vocals *

: trombone *E. J. Allen: trumpet *Gerald Brezel: trumpet *

: trumpet, flugelhorn * Bob Stewart: tuba *

: percussion *Ken Crutchfield: drums *Vinnie Johnson: drums

References

{{Authority control 1989 albums DIW Records albums Lester Bowie albums