Home » Jazz Musicians » Motassem Azar ("Azar")
Motassem Azar ("Azar")
Shmeisani Jazz Massive: Shmeisani Jazz Massive
by Blue Summers
Jazz is alive and living in Jordan. Shmeisani Jazz Massive is an Amman-based band, but do not expect much in the way of local musical influences (not that that would be a bad thing). These guys would sound at home in any American jazz club. The core band consists of Motassem Azar ("Azar") on drums, John McKay ("John") on bass, Omar Farouki ("Omar") on keyboards, and Archibald Gallet ("Archie") on guitar. What you get on Shmeisani Jazz Massive, their self-titled debut album, sounds pretty close to a ...
Continue ReadingTenor Saxophonist Azar Lawrence Sums Up His Lifelong Musical Trajectory On 'Turn The Music Up,' Set For September 25 Release On Trazar Records
Source:
Terri Hinte Publicity
Tenor saxophone titan Azar Lawrence’s past, present, and future converge with the September 25th release of Turn the Music UponLawrence’s own Trazar Records. The world-renowned 73-year-old player and composer, who first made his name in the spiritual jazz and funk-fusion of the 1970s, revisits some of the milestones of that era, filtering it through the lens of his current-day ensemble (The Azar Lawrence Experience, or TALE), and pointing the way forward for his musical conception. In other words, Turn the ...
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Saxophone Giants Azar Lawrence & Al McLean Kick Off "Conduit"
Source:
Randy Cole
Cinematographer Randy Cole and saxophonist Al McLean deliver Conduit, an iconic Jazz recording, captured in a former church in Montreal. Cole and McLean invited American saxophonist Azar Lawrence, to the session (McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis), and the resulting tracks are mesmerizing. Digitally released on major music download sites (iTunes, Amazon, etc.), Conduit will be officially launched on March 7th in Montreal at Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill by Azar Lawrence and Al McLean. Together, Lawrence and McLean cast ...
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Brooklyn-based Ben Azar showcases guitar prowess on new CD
Source:
Lauren Rogers
The music of Brooklyn, NY-based Ben Azar is alive. It breathes, moves, and even changes shape. These are guitar instrumentals that never sit still and because of that his latest album, Organized Memories, doesn't lose its freshness even after repeated spins. It always reveals something new with each listen. The opening title track immediately establishes Azar's distinct style. Azar introduces the song with a velvety soft groove, his nylon string guitar creating a plush blanket of melody. As Azar starts ...
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Azar Lawrence, Classical to Jazz - Jazz to Classical
Source:
Linda G.
In the early 20th Century a young girl named Ima Jeane Smith often went to the movies— Silent Pictures— where the only sound was a live pianist, vamping dramatically in sync to the happenings on the screen. Upon returning home from the pictures, Ima Jeane would sit down to her piano and play the “sound track" by memory. Her parents, Casey and Beulah recognized their daughter's gift and they provided her with formal lessons. Ima excelled in Classical music. She ...
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Journeyed Tenor Saxophonist Azar Lawrence Set to Release "Mystic Journey," May 4 on Furthermore Recordings
Source:
DL Media
JOURNEYED TENOR SAXOPHONIST AZAR LAWRENCESET TO RELEASE MYSTIC JOURNEY,MAY 4 ON FURTHERMORE RECORDINGS
ALBUM FEATURES EDDIE HENDERSON, GERALD HAYES, BENITO GONZALEZ, ESSIET ESSIET AND THE LATE RASHIED ALI LAWRENCE'S SEXTET TO PERFORM IN TRIBUTE TO ALI ON MAY 7 AT THE TRIBECA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER The re-emergence of saxophonist Azar Lawrence has been one of the most exciting things and perhaps one of the best-kept secrets of the past five years on the Los Angeles jazz scene. Those ...
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Azar Lawrence New York Dates: Smoke, Kumble Theatre and Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Source:
Zarmedia
Playing to audiences small and large over the past three years and back recording regularly, master of the saxophone, Azar Lawrence is establishing himself again in Jazz land. Azar had been advised by longtime friends and mentors to return to New York, where Elvin Jones in 1971 brought him to join his group when Azar was 19. Friends who he played with as a teen and young adult, like McCoy Tyner, (whose band Azar was a member during the 'Enlightenment" ...
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Music in the Clouds / Azar Lawrence – Blue Skies Smiling at Me - Swinging in the Big Blue Sky
Source:
Zarmedia
When Irving Berlin composed Blue Skies one has to wonder if Montana was on his mind. Berlin wrote Blue Skies in 1926, it was featured in the first feature-length talkie, The Jazz Singer and became a hit. Montana is known as Big Sky Country because of it's beautiful mountains and healthy terrain, yet topography is not Montana's only attraction. With Montana's rich music and arts scene it can also be called Big Jazz Country. On the heels of the International ...
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Azar Lawrence - Making a Musical Statement! Tour Announced
Source:
Zarmedia
There’s a reason jazz legends like McCoy Tyner, Benny Golson and Pharoah Sanders have been asking Azar to sit in with their groups lately. Sure, they are close friends and they’ve played together any number of times. They’ve all watched his reemergence onto the jazz scene in the past few years. But they want Azar to join them on stage because he’s at the top of his game, playing with the kind of heart and spirit that comes only from ...
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B.J. Jansen Joins Red Holloway, Donald Harrison, James Carter and Azar Lawrence as an International Woodwind Artist
Source:
JM Creative
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