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Doug Lawrence
Doug is the lead tenor saxophonist and featured soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra, tenor saxophonist with the Coast to Coast All-Star Septet featuring Jimmy Cobb, and a freelance artist.
About Me
The New York Times quoted jazz legend Buck Clayton saying - Doug
Lawrence is a great tenor saxophonist, a natural, like Lester Young.
Howard Mandel of Downbeat says - The professional credentials Doug
Lawrence has racked up, are astonishing!, Bill Milkowski of Jazz
Times writes - Think of Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Ben
Webster, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra. They
were able to touch our collective soul with their extraordinary sense of
phrasing. Tenor man Doug Lawrence has got it. His phrasing is fluid,
relaxed, conversational and charming, just like his easy going, seductive
Southern drawl. And Dan Morgenstern, former editor of Downbeat
writes - There's nothing forced about Dougs playing: It is, as they say,
the real thing.
Born October 11th, 1956 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, saxophonist Doug
Lawrence spent over 25 years as a working musician based in New
York City. Among the artists he has performed and recorded with
include - Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Ella
Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Rosemary Clooney, Jimmy
Cobb, Frank Wess, Buck Clayton, Billy Eckstine, Dakota Staton, Wild Bill
Davis, Benny Carter, Bobby Short, Eddie Durham, Diane Schuur, Patti
Austin, The Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra, Dennis Mackrel's
Manhattan Symphony Jazz Orchestra, George Bensen, Lizz Wright,
Nneenna Freelon, Ledisi and many others.
Doug has performed on six continents at virtually every major concert
hall, jazz club and jazz festival in the world, including - Carnegie Hall,
Kennedy Center, Royal Albert Hall, The Blue Notes in Japan, Italy and
New York, The Village Vangaurd, Blues Alley, Birdland, The North Sea
Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Newport, Chicago, Montreal, New
Orleans, New York, Los Angeles and Nice Jazz Festivals, The Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame and many more. Doug has also performed for 5
American Presidents as well as the Queen of England and the Royal
Families of Monaco, Sweden and Spain.
As a featured soloist with the 17-time Grammy-winning World Famous
Count Basie Orchestra, Doug has toured the world extensively. The
Basie band has no parallel in jazz. They have won more awards, polls
and Grammys than any other jazz band in history. The chair Doug fills
(lead tenor) has been inhabited by a virtual who's who of jazz tenor
saxophonists. They include - Lester Young, Hershel Evans, Don Byas,
Eli Lucky Thompson, Bud Johnson, Buddy Tate, Illinois Jacquet,
Wardell Gray, Paul Quinechette, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Billy
Mitchell, Sal Nistico, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Jimmy Forrest and Kenny
Hing.
Doug has appeared on over 100 recordings including four critically
acclaimed recordings of his own - Soul Carnival (#3 USA 2/98, Top 10
for 14 weeks, Gavin Jazz Radio Report), High Heel Sneakers (#11
USA 2/99, Top 20 for 10 weeks, Gavin Jazz Radio Report), the
extraordinarily popular Big Band Swing and Street Wise on the Alltribe
label. New recordings for 2010/2011 will include Doug performing on
numerous CD's with a variety of artists including Frank Wess, Hank
Jones, Curtis Fuller, Nneena Freelon, The Count Basie Orchestra,
Clyde Stubblefield, Jamie Cullum and Tony Bennett.
In 2009 Doug appeared in the Atlanta, Georgia opening of the Broadway
Show Come Fly Away as the featured tenor saxophone soloist. This
show, based on the music of Frank Sinatra and the choreography of
Twyla Tharp, featured an all-star big band performing on stage. In 2010
the show debuted at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway in New York
City, with Doug making special appearances as his schedule permitted.