A Night With Jazz Titans
Azar Lawrence Sextet - Azar Lawrence, tenor & soprano saxes; special guests Oscar Brashear, trumpet; George Bohanon, trombone; Roy McCurdy, drums; feat. Theo Saunders, piano & Jeff Littleton, bass
Sat., April 25 2015 @ Seabird Jazz Lounge 730 East Broadway Long Beach, CA. - Cover $15, Doors open 7:30p, Show Tine 9p - 12:30a - Free parking @ Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles
A tenor saxophonist squarely in the post-Coltrane continuum, still best recognized for his prolific output in the 1970s, Azar Lawrence blowing stronger than ever and is still on the circuit. Since his career in Jazz began circa 1970's; at age nineteen, Sax legend Azar Lawrence has had a free-thinking approach to music. One of the most powerful and distinctive of all post-Coltrane tenorists, Lawrence was born 1952 in Los Angeles and by the age of 21 had worked with Ike & Tina Turner, War, and Charles Wright's Watts 103rd Street Band ("Express Yourself").
He joined drummer Elvin Jones for two years, and for the next eight years moved between Jones' group and that of McCoy Tyner. Azar then briefly joined the Miles Davis band, appearing on the live album Dark Magus (1974) and recorded with Roberta Flack and Marvin Gaye (appearing on Gaye's Here My Dear).
He released seven albums as a leader, and has had his songs recorded by Stanley Turrentine, Woody Shaw and Earth Wind & Fire, among others. And he worked with Boston, and Frank Zappa.
Met by critical acclaim in 2010 Azar released Mystic Journey (Furthermore Recordings). The saying goes that Azar is a direct descendant of John Coltrane via his years with McCoy Tyner. And on Mystic Journey it would be the final recording date played by Rashied Ali, the powerful drummer of Coltrane’s late period.
His 2014 follow up release to Mystic Journey; Azar Lawrence - The Seeker (Sunnyside Records) and recorded live at New York's Jazz Standard; was on the 2014 Grammy nomination ballot consideration list. For The Seeker, again, Azar was able to bring together Jazz luminaries and heavy hitters. Recording The Seeker with Azar were Nicholas Payton and Jeff “Tain” Watts and additional muscle was provided by his band mates Benito Gonzalez and Essiet Okon Essiet.
Ben Ratliff of the New York Times, recently had this to say about Azar,
“To hear Mr. Lawrence upshift through his improvisations, honoring a song’s rhythm and harmony and then breaking free of it, is one of jazz’s current thrills, and he understands this music as well as anyone.” Ben Ratliff, New York Times, December 6, 2014
“But in 'The Seeker,' Mr. Lawrence switched to soprano saxophone and started unspooling exponentially bigger ideas, strong enough to make you think about lists of significant soprano players in jazz and wonder why Mr. Lawrence isn’t generally on them.” Ben Ratliff, New York Times, June 27 2014
Born in Chicago Oscar Brashear has had an illustrious career as an jazz trumpeter and session musician. He was a menber of Count Basie's Band and freelanced in Chicago with Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon and James Moody.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1971, he worked with Gerald Wilson, Harold Land, Oliver Nelson, Shelly Manne, Quincy Jones (with whom he toured in Japan), Horace Silver and Duke Pearson. Brashear has recorded with Teddy Edwards, Jimmy Smith, Sonny Rollins, Benny Golson, Bobby Hutcherson, B. B. King, Bobby Bland, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Farrell, The Crusaders, McCoy Tyner, Gene Harris, Randy Newman, Frank Sinatra, Earth, Wind & Fire, Carole King, Benny Carter, Billy Higgins and Ry Cooder and many more.
National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded George Bohanon the "Most Valuable Player" award in 1980. His evolution as a jazz musician has put him in the company of Kenny Burrell, Yusef Lateef, Barry Harris, and Donald Bird, to name a few. He was also a member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet with Charles Lloyd and Gabor Szabo in the early 1960s.
Born in Detroit Michigan, Bohanon began playing trombone at the age of eight. He attended Northwestern High School, Wayne State University, and the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts, where he decided to pursue a career as a musician. Some of his greatest influences were J. J. Johnson, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane.
Motown Records hired Bohanon as their first trombonist, a position he held for some seven years, accompanying artists such as Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye,
Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and many more. In 1968 Bohanon moved to Los Angeles and became very active in the jazz and recording studio scenes. In addition to his position with the UCLA Jazz Studies Program, he is also a music contractor, a signatory to the American Federation of Musicians, a music publisher, writer, arranger, producer, clinician, and performer.
Roy McCurdy will probably always be best-known for his important contributions to Cannonball Adderley’s Quintet (1965-1975), but he has been a tasteful and stimulating participant in many other sessions through the years. In 1960 he joined the Art Farmer Benny Golson Jazztet and remained for two years. Early on, he worked with Chuck and Gap Mangione in the Jazz Brothers (1960-1961). McCurdy also gained recognition with Sonny Rollins before joining Adderley. After Adderley’’s death, McCurdy moved to the Los Angeles area, where he has played and recorded with the top local musicians ever since.
McCurdy counts among his influences Louie Bellson, Shelly Manne, Sam Woodyard, Buddy Rich, “Papa” Jo Jones, Philly Joe Jones and the bands of Duke Ellington, Jimmy Lunceford and Lionel Hampton. He’ has performed on between 150 and 200 recordings. The list of greats that McCurdy has played with includes Count Basie, Wes Montgomery, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae, Joe Williams, Herbie Hancock, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell. Roy has also played with Art Pepper, John Heard, Ron McCurdy, Jackie Ryan, Joe Zawinal, Blood, Sweat and Tears, etc.
A native New Yorker, Theo Saunders has lived in California since 1985, but his musical career remains international in scope. Saunders' musical odyssey has taken him to four continents and more than twenty countries. Growing up in NYC, he played with Pharoah Sanders in the 1960s, and in 1971 (at age 24), at the Village Vanguard with the likes of Jimmy Garrison and Jack DeJohnette in a group led by guitarist Sonny Greenwich. Appearing on more than 40 recordings as a sideman, he has accompanied everyone from Sonny Fortune and Charles Lloyd to Freddie Hubbard and Ray Mantilla, and has six recordings as a leader.
He has performed in many of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals, concert halls and night clubs, with distinguished jazz artists including: Azar Lawrence, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, , Joe Lovano, Jimmy Garrison, Sonny Fortune, Reggie Workman, Curtis Fuller, Rashied Ali, Mike Stern, Alphonse Mouzon, Mike Clark, David Weiss, Ernie Andrews, George Bohanon, and others.
His diverse musical activities have included musical director for opera and dance productions, for cabaret singers, and international musical theatre. He has played with many well known Latin, R&B, and rock artists, including Claudio Roditi, Victor Brasil, Ray Mantilla, Willie Bobo, Bobby Matos, Raul De Souza, Ray Armando,Claudio Caribe, Guillerme Franco, Bobby Rodriguez, Gladys Knight and the Four Tops.
As a composer, Theo has numerous jazz & rock compositions to his credit as well as original scores for dance, theatre, radio and multimedia production.
One of the most versatile and in demand bassists on the West Coast, Jeff Littleton has performed with a virtual who's who of top jazz artist including Nancy Wilson, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Crawford, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Higgins, Harold Land, Bobby Hutchinson and a long list of top musicians.
HYPERLINK: Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kLfaDXtDe8
HYPERLINK: Event Flyer http://azarlawrence.com/SB_4.25_web2.jpg
HYPERLINK: Press - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/28/arts/music/azar-lawrence-quintet-focuses-on-the-seeker.html?_r=0
HYPERLINK: Hi-Res Photo - http://azarlawrence.com/Zar2fb.jpg
HYPERLINK: Websites
www.azarlawrence.com
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Brashear
www.georgebohanon.com
www.music.usc.edu/roy-mccurdy//
www.theosaunders.com
www.seabirdjazzloungelbc.com
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