Alto saxophonist Arnie Lawrence had a successful career and played with many artists, including Charlie Palmieri, Chico Hamilton, Clark Terry, and Tito Rodriguez. He was also a member of the Tonight Show Orchestra for Johnny Carson and was the co-founder of the New School University Jazz and Contemporary Music Program.
Lawrence, born Arnold Lawrence Finkelstein, in Brooklyn, N.Y. on July 10, 1938, began studying clarinet at age 11. By age 17, he was leading groups on the “Jazz Unlimited” series presented at Birdland in New York and early on, played a double bill with John Coltrane. He was soon playing with bands and artists such as the Frank Foster Big Band, the Duke Pearson Big Band, Charles Mingus, Thad Jones, and Maynard Ferguson.
Lawrence made his first recording with Chico Hamilton on the latter’s 1966 album The Dealer and became a longtime member of Hamilton’s groups and albums. The following year, Lawrence joined the Tonight Show Orchestra as a featured soloist and performed with guests including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, B.B. King, and Tony Bennett. When the show moved to Los Angeles in 1972, Lawrence decided to stay behind in New York to work on music there.
Lawrence did not confine himself to solely jazz gigs and was a member of Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1974 and in 1978, embarked on a 14-month world tour with Liza Minelli. He also recorded albums with the Spin Doctors in 1996 and 1999.
After working with the New School in the late 1980s and 90s, Lawrence left the country in 1997 and moved to Jerusalem, where he founded the International Center for Creative Music. The Center is an educational facility where young Israelis and Palestinians study music side-by-side.
The school also hosted foreign music students and scholars. Many of them came to visit their maestro at his deathbed and bid him farewell with a final jam session. Arnie Lawrence passed away in 2005 in Jerusalem.
Tracklist:
01 Be My Love
02 Eleanor Rigby
03 When I Look In Your Eyes (from the film "Dr. Doolittle")
04 Swingin' From The Trees
05 A Felicidade (from the film "Black Orpheus")
06 Like Someone In Love
07 You're Gonna Hear From Me
08 I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart
09 But Beautiful
10 Slippin', Slidin', High Fly Ridin'
11 Goin' Out of My Head
12 Summer Wind
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