Doug Lawrence (jazz musician)

Last updated

Doug Lawrence
Doug Lawrence at the Isola (Italy) Jazz Festival 2013 Photo by Maurizio Rossi.jpg
Doug Lawrence at the Isola (Italy) Jazz Festival 2013 Photo by Maurizio Rossi
Background information
Born (1956-10-11) October 11, 1956 (age 68)
Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S.
GenresJazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentTenor saxophone
Website
Military service
AllegianceFlag of the United States (1912-1959).svg United States
BranchFlag of the United States Army.svg  United States Army
Years of service1978–1986
Unit USMA Band

Doug Lawrence (born October 11, 1956) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist from Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Contents

Early life

Lawrence, the youngest of six children, was born into a musical family in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. [1] His father and two of his older three brothers were professional musicians who worked and recorded with Jack Teagarden, Elvis Presley, Ike and Tina Turner, Edgar Winter, The Righteous Brothers, Louis Bellson and others, and both of his sisters played musical instruments. [2] His mother was a dancer and played piano. Lawrence graduated high school from Highland High School (Albuquerque, New Mexico) and studied music at North Texas State University, the University of New Mexico and was a member of the Jazz Knights, a jazz ensemble of the West Point Band. [3] [4]

Career

Lawrence spent over 25 years in New York City, collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Roy Eldridge, Nancy Wilson (jazz singer), Joe Williams (jazz singer), Teri Thornton, Benny Goodman and others. [5] He has also recorded with many prominent jazz musicians such as Buck Clayton, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Wild Bill Davis, Hank Jones, Mel Lewis, Frank Wess, Grover Mitchell, Loren Schoenberg, Butch Miles and Jimmy Cobb as well as recording six albums as a leader - "Soul Carnival", [6] "High Heel Sneakers", [7] "Big Band Swing" [8] "Street Wise" [9] and "Doug Lawrence and Friends". [10] Lawrence served in the West Point Band's Jazz Knights in the early 1980s as the lead tenor saxophonist.

Lawrence has been a featured performer at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Village Vanguard, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and at the international concert halls and jazz festivals including the Sydney Opera House, the Moscow International House of Music, the Blue Note Tokyo, the Nice Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Since 1996 Lawrence has been, and is currently, the featured tenor saxophone soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra. In 2020 Lawrence began working with the iconic organist Joey DeFrancesco in DeFrancesco's "Tenor Madness" band. After Mr DeFrancesco's untimely death on August 25, 2022, the band briefly continued on with Dan Trudell taking Mr DeFrancesco's place on organ. This band featured longtime Harry Connick Jr. tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon and Lawrence in a quartet or quintet setting. [11] Lawrence also works regularly with pianist George Cables among others. [12] Lawrence leads his own Trio, Quartet, Quintet or Sextet as well as a latin jazz band called Doug Lawrence y Su Nuevo Mexicanos. [13] Lawrence frequently appears as guest clinician and artist-in-residence at universities and jazz camps around the world. [14] In November 2023, Lawrence was inducted into the New Mexico Music Hall Of Fame, [15] and on February 4, 2024, the Count Basie Orchestra won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, [16] an album that features Mr Lawrence on numerous tenor saxophone solos.

Personal life

Lawrence lives in New Mexico, USA. [17] He has one daughter.

Discography

George Cables, Doug Lawrence, John Webber, Leroy Williams George Cables, Doug Lawrence, John Webber, Leroy Williams.pdf
George Cables, Doug Lawrence, John Webber, Leroy Williams

As leader

As sideman

References

  1. ↑ "Doug Lawrence gives back to youth - Albuquerque Journal". www.abqjournal.com. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ Feather, L; Gitler, I "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz", New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.403
  3. ↑ Command, United States Army Recruiting (1978). U.S. Army Recruiting and Reenlisting Journal. U.S. Army Recruiting Command.
  4. ↑ McGill, Nigel (March 19, 2015). "Doug Lawrence Interview". McGill Music Sax School Online. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  5. ↑ Yanow, Scott. "Doug Lawrence: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  6. ↑ Frankling, Ken. "Doug Lawrence: Soul Carnival". JazzTimes. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  7. ↑ Terrell, Tom. "Doug Lawrence". JazzTimes. |accessdate= 10 June 2013
  8. ↑ Bowers, Jack (July 25, 2006). "Doug Lawrence and His Orchestra: Big Band Swing". All About Jazz. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  9. ↑ Bailey, C.Michael (February 13, 2003). "Doug Lawrence; Street Wise". All About Jazz. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  10. ↑ Bowers, Jack (December 11, 2021). "Doug Lawrence;Doug Lawrence and Friends". All About Jazz.
  11. ↑ "Boss Tenors Jerry Weldon and Doug Lawrence". Musical Instrument Museum. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Dexter Gordon Legacy Quartet with Doug Lawrence, George Cables, Louis Hayes, John Webber". Outpost Performance Space. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  13. ↑ Steinberg, David. "Match Made In Jazz Heaven". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ Gambetta, Franchesco. "Festival internationale Isola Jazz". Genova Oggi Notizie. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  15. ↑ "We welcome Doug Lawrence to the New Mexico Hall of Fame" . Retrieved August 3, 2025.
  16. ↑ "66th Annual Grammy Awards".
  17. ↑ Page-English, Mike. "Doug Lawrence: Local Jazz Hero". Local iQ . Retrieved June 10, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.