Jazz Articles about Azar Lawrence

About Azar Lawrence

Album Review

Azar Lawrence sounds more like John Coltrane than John Coltrane ever did. Well, almost. Mid-period Coltrane that is, post Atlantic Records and the sheets of sound, when Coltrane starting to record for Impulse with producer Bob Thiele. The closeness of the resemblance is longstanding and uncanny, but it has not been a cynical pose designed to maximise Lawrence's commercial appeal. He was 15 years old when Coltrane passed away in 1967 and by that time the older saxophonist had already ...

Live Review

Shock and Awe: Azar Lawrence Drops "The Seeker" On Dizzy's

by Chuck Koton
October 7, 2014

Azar Lawrence Quintet Dizzy's Club Coca Cola New York, NY June 26-29, 2014 There ain't no denyin' that jazz is best heard “live." Ideally, the band is playing in a club equipped with quality sound and lighting systems, staffed by experienced people who are respectful of the music (especially bartenders who try to avoid running the drink mixers during bass and piano solos) and managed by someone who not only sees to it that ...

Live Review

So Cal Jazz 2013: Highlights and a Serious Low

by Chuck Koton
April 4, 2014

Azar Lawrence Quartet RG Club Venice, CA January-September 2013 2013, already slipping deep into the fog of forgetfulness, had its share of memorable jazz moments here in Southern California. And while, according to the Western, as well as the Chinese calender ( Happy Year of the Horse!), this review and these expressions of gratitude (as well as a few well deserved outbursts of contempt), may be tardy, for the Persian followers of All About Jazz, ...

Live Review

Azar Lawrence Quartet at the RG Club

by Chuck Koton
August 9, 2013

Azar Lawrence Quartet and Special GuestsRG ClubVenice, CANovember 2, 2012-July 21, 2013Venetians like to consider themselves among the hipper denizens of the Los Angeles area, yet remarkably, there hasn't been a Venice jazz club in over 20 years. And any neighborhood that aspires to “hipness" better be able to boast of a cool and swingin' space to dig jazz. Sadly, not since the '80s, when the late Comeback Inn hosted jazz greats like Frank Morgan, ...

Live Review

Azar Lawrence: Long Beach, CA, July 28, 2012

by Chuck Koton
August 28, 2012

Azar LawrenceSeabird LoungeLong Beach, CAJuly 28, 2012The “A Train," saxophonist Azar Lawrence, recently roared into the Seabird Lounge in Long Beach, CA with a burnin' quintet guaranteed to generate a lot of steam power. Lawrence, a native Angeleno, first impacted the jazz scene back in the early '70s while playing with jazz legends Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner and Miles Davis. But after a prolonged hiatus from the jazz scene, Lawrence has paid his dues, again. ...

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Album Review

Azar Lawrence: Mystic Journey

Read "Mystic Journey" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 13, 2011

Saxophonist Azar Lawrence's influential faculties and stylistic attack loom as significant contributions to the state of jazz, a genre that continually reinvents itself. He's played with jazz greats including McCoy Tyner and Miles Davis, amid stints with soul and pop icons. On Mystic Journey, Lawrence rekindles the John Coltrane connection, featuring Rashied Ali's presence and the band's rendition of Tyner's enduring “Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit." Ali passed away several months after these sides were recorded in April, ...

Album Review

Azar Lawrence: Mystic Journey

Read "Mystic Journey" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 17, 2010

Ciò che apprezziamo del jazz è la costante tendenza al rinnovamento, la tensione che lo spinge a sperimentare, cercando nuove sintesi tra musiche e culture diverse. È un compito, questo, che spetta doverosamente ai giovani mentre i protagonisti delle passate stagioni hanno tutto il diritto di esprimere -con aggiornamenti più o meno marcati -i valori musicali che hanno creato.Non tutti sono Miles Davis o Gil Evans. Il contributo dei “maestri" è di alimentare le radici, offrendo un contributo ...