Azar Lawrence
Encyclopedia
Azar Lawrence is an American jazz saxophonist, known for his contributions as sideman
to McCoy Tyner
, Miles Davis
, Freddie Hubbard
, and Woody Shaw
. Lawrence was the tenor saxophonist Tyner used following John Coltrane
's death.
Lawrence released Summer Solstice on Prestige Records
in 1975, produced by Orrin Keepnews
. It featured Raul de Souza
, Gerald Hayes
, Amaury Tristão, Dom Salvador
, Ron Carter
, Guilherme Franco
on the songs "Novo Ano" and "Highway" which were composed by Amaury Tristão, and Lawrence, Souza, Albert Dailey
, Carter and Billy Hart
on all other selections.
Bridge Into The New Age featured Jean Carn, Woody Shaw
, Ray Straughter, Woody Murray, Clint Houston
, Billy Hart, Guillerme Franco, Julian Priester
, Hadley Caliman
, Black Arthur, Joe Bonner
, John Heard, Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, Mtume
and Kenneth Nash.
People Moving featured Patrice Rushen
, Jerry Peters
, Michael Stanton
, John Rowin, Lee Ritenour
, Paul Jackson
, Harvey Mason
.
Musician and screenwriter Hebert Baker
taught music and mentored Lawrence, who recalled Baker as "one of the greatest pianists who ever lived" and taught Lawrence to reach down deep inside himself for his music.
With Henry Butler
With Miles Davis
With Henry Franklin
With Gene Harris
With Freddie Hubbard
With Woody Shaw
With The 360 Degree Music Experience
With McCoy Tyner
With Harry Whitaker
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
to McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, and Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
. Lawrence was the tenor saxophonist Tyner used following John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
's death.
Lawrence released Summer Solstice on Prestige Records
Prestige Records
Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
in 1975, produced by Orrin Keepnews
Orrin Keepnews
Orrin Keepnews is an American writer and jazz record producer. In June 2010, he received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.- Career :...
. It featured Raul de Souza
Raul de Souza
Raul de Souza is a renowned trombonist who has recorded with Sergio Mendez, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Milton Nascimento, Sonny Rollins, Cal Tjader and the jazz/fusion band Caldera....
, Gerald Hayes
Gerald Hayes
Gerald Hayes is an American football linebacker for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Pittsburgh....
, Amaury Tristão, Dom Salvador
Dom Salvador
Dom Salvador, born 1938 Salvador da Silva Filho, is a Brazilian jazz / Música Popular Brasileira pianist most notable for his Rio 65 Trio that featured the Brazilian jazz drummer Edison Machado and bassist Sérgio Barroso. He also did tours of Europe with musicians like Sylvia Telles...
, Ron Carter
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
, Guilherme Franco
Guilherme Franco
Guilherme Franco was born November 25 1946 in São Paulo, Brazil. He is a percussionist in the jazz and World fusion music genres.Guilherme Franco has recorded on the albums of many jazz performers such as McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Liston Smith and Woody Shaw...
on the songs "Novo Ano" and "Highway" which were composed by Amaury Tristão, and Lawrence, Souza, Albert Dailey
Albert Dailey
Albert Dailey was an American jazz pianist.Dailey's first professional appearances were with the house band of the Baltimore Royal Theater in the early 1950s. Later in the decade he studied at Morgan State University and the Peabody Conservatory...
, Carter and Billy Hart
Billy Hart
William "Billy" Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.-Biography:Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C...
on all other selections.
Bridge Into The New Age featured Jean Carn, Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
, Ray Straughter, Woody Murray, Clint Houston
Clint Houston
Clinton Joseph Houston was an American jazz double-bassist.Houston played with George Cables and Lenny White in the house band at Slugs, a club in New York City, then played with Nina Simone , Roy Haynes , Sonny Greenwich and Don Thompson , Roy Ayers , Charles Tolliver , Stan Getz , and Woody Shaw...
, Billy Hart, Guillerme Franco, Julian Priester
Julian Priester
Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer.He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.-Biography:...
, Hadley Caliman
Hadley Caliman
Hadley Caliman , was an American bebop saxophone and flute player.After studying at the Jefferson High School with trumpeter Art Farmer and fellow saxophonist Dexter Gordon, Caliman performed or recorded with Carlos Santana, Joe Henderson, Earl Hines, Freddie Hubbard, Jon Hendricks, Earl Anderza,...
, Black Arthur, Joe Bonner
Joe Bonner
Joe Bonner is a jazz pianist who is featured in The Bonner Party, a jazz quartet.He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and studied at Virginia State College, but indicates he learned more by musicians he worked with. In the seventies he played with Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard, and Billy...
, John Heard, Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, Mtume
Mtume
Mtume was a funk and soul group that had several R&B hits in the 1980s. Its founder, percussionist James Mtume, previously played with Miles Davis in the 1970s. Other members of the group included Reggie Lucas and Tawatha Agee.-History:...
and Kenneth Nash.
People Moving featured Patrice Rushen
Patrice Rushen
Patrice Rushen is a Grammy Award-winning African American R&B and jazz vocalist, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
, Jerry Peters
Jerry Peters
Jerry Peters is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, conductor and arranger. He is best known for writing the hit song Going In Circles" by The Friends of Distinction.-Career:...
, Michael Stanton
Michael Stanton
Giancarlo Cruz Michael "Mike" Stanton is an outfielder for the Miami Marlins.-Early life:...
, John Rowin, Lee Ritenour
Lee Ritenour
Lee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...
, Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson may refer to:*Paul Jackson , British television producer*Paul Jackson , British video game publisher*Paul Jackson , English rugby league player...
, Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
.
Musician and screenwriter Hebert Baker
Herbert Baker (screenwriter)
Herbert Baker born Herbert Abrahams in New York City 25 December 1920 died 30 June 1983 of cancer in Encino, California was a songwriter and screenwriter for television and films.- Biography :...
taught music and mentored Lawrence, who recalled Baker as "one of the greatest pianists who ever lived" and taught Lawrence to reach down deep inside himself for his music.
As leader
- 1974: Bridge into the New Age (Prestige)
- 1975: Summer Solstice (Prestige)
- 1976: People Moving (Prestige)
- 2009: Prayer For My Ancestors (Furthermore)
- 2010: Mystic Journey (Furthermore)
As sideman
With Mulatu AstatkeMulatu Astatke
Mulatu Astatke is an Ethiopian musician and arranger best known as the father of Ethio-jazz....
- Timeless (2010, Mochilla)
With Henry Butler
Henry Butler
Henry Butler is an American jazz pianist.He is known for his technique and his ability to play in many styles of music. Referred to by Dr...
- Fivin' Around (1986, Impulse!/MCA)
With Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- Dark MagusDark MagusDark Magus is a live album by jazz artist Miles Davis recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York City on March 30, 1974. The album was released in 1977 in Japan as a double-LP by Columbia Records, and released in 1997 in the United States in a double-CD format...
(1977)
With Henry Franklin
Henry Franklin
Henry "Skipper" Franklin is an American jazz double-bassist.- Biography :Franklin played on Hugh Masekela's 1968 number one single, "Grazing in the Grass," as well as with Masekela's band at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967...
- If We Should Meet Again (2007, Skipper Productions)
- Home Cookin (2007, Skipper Productions)
With Gene Harris
Gene Harris
Gene Harris was an American jazz pianist known for his warm sound and blues and gospel infused style that is known as soul jazz....
- In a Special WayIn a Special Way (album)In a Special Way is an album by American jazz pianist Gene Harris recorded in 1976 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars stating "Harris crafted a record that revels in contemporary soul trends from the mid-'70s --...
(1976)
With Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
- Bundle of JoyBundle of Joy (album)Bundle of Joy is an album recorded in 1977 by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It was released on the Columbia label and features performances by Hubbard, Dorothy Ashby, Azar Lawrence and Ernie Watts. -Track listing:# "Bundle of Joy"# "Rainy Day Song"...
(1977)
With Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
- The Moontrane (1974, Muse)
With The 360 Degree Music Experience
The 360 Degree Music Experience
The 360 Degree Music Experience was an Ameican band that performed both traditional and experimental jazz. Active during the 1970s and 1980s, the group was initially co-led by drummer Beaver Harris and the pianist Dave Burrell. After Burrell left the group, pianist Don Pullen replaced him...
- In: SanityIn: SanityIn: Sanity is an album by American jazz group The 360 Degree Music Experience led by drummer Beaver Harris and pianist Dave Burrell recorded in 1976 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1976)
With McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
- EnlightenmentEnlightenment (McCoy Tyner album)Enlightenment is a live album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone label. It was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on July 7, 1973 and features Tyner in performance with Azar Lawrence, Joony Booth and Alphonse Mouzon....
(1973, Milestone) - Sama LayucaSama LayucaSama Layuca is a 1974 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his sixth to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in March 1974 and features performances by Tyner with John Stubblefield, Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence, Bobby Hutcherson, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Guilherme Franco and Mtume...
(1974, Milestone) - AtlantisAtlantis (McCoy Tyner album)Atlantis is a live album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone label. It was recorded at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco on August 31 & September 1, 1974 and features Tyner in performance with Azar Lawrence, Joony Booth, Wilby Fletcher and Guilherme Franco.- Reception :Scott...
(1974, Milestone)
With Harry Whitaker
- Black Renaissance (1976, Bay State/Ubiquity)