Biography
Azar Lawrence, a saxophonist, composer, and bandleader residing in Los Angeles, produces an expansive, resonant tone that balances adventurous exploration with deep emotional resonance. Across more than five decades in music, he has performed and recorded with such jazz icons as McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Woody Shaw, and Elvin Jones. Additional session and stage work has placed him alongside blues and R&B figures including Muddy Waters, Marvin Gaye, and Phyllis Hyman. On Prestige he helmed three foundational spiritual jazz-funk albums: Bridge to the New Age in 1974, Summer Solstice in 1975, and People Moving in 1976. Throughout the 1980s he collaborated extensively with the Los Angeles songwriting and production duo Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis, as well as with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine and pianist Henry Butler. The funky fusion album Shadow Dancing appeared under his name in 1985. Following a twenty-year period marked by health difficulties, he returned with Speak the Word in 2009. Prayer for My Ancestors followed in 2010, then The Seeker in 2014 and Elementals on HighNote in 2018. Light in the Attic reissued Shadow Dancing in 2021. Lawrence issued New Sky on his Trazar Records imprint in 2022, the same year Light in the Attic again reissued Shadow Dancing.
Born in Los Angeles in 1952, Lawrence drew his earliest and strongest musical guidance from his mother, a music instructor who directed their church choir. At five he performed on violin with the Los Angeles Junior Symphony before switching to viola. Exposure to John Coltrane’s saxophone at thirteen redirected his path permanently. He adopted the tenor saxophone and subsequently gained command of soprano and alto as well. His teenage years unfolded inside an environment saturated with jazz at the residence of his closest friend, Reggie Golson, son of composer, arranger, and saxophonist Benny Golson. One year later Lawrence entered the celebrated Dorsey High School Jazz Workshop. After completing his junior year he toured Europe with Muddy Waters. During his senior year he performed with the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band and with War alongside Eric Burdon.
Following graduation, Lawrence studied with Horace Tapscott in the pianist’s Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra while simultaneously working a club engagement alongside George Cables, Candy Finch, Larry Gales, and Woody Shaw. He also appeared with Ike & Tina Turner’s band. At nineteen he auditioned successfully for drummer Elvin Jones’ touring ensemble and remained a member for five years.
Jones endorsed the young saxophonist to pianist McCoy Tyner, his former John Coltrane Quartet colleague. Struck by the combination of technical command, spiritual depth, and expressive feeling in Lawrence’s playing, Tyner extended an invitation. Lawrence not only traveled with the pianist but contributed to three landmark recordings: Enlightenment in 1973, Sama Layuca in 1974, and Atlantis in 1975. Prestige Records, Tyner’s label at the time, extended Lawrence his own recording contract. His debut as a leader, Bridge into the New Age, arrived in 1974. The five-track collection of original material traversed post-bop, spiritual soul-jazz, Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz, and funky acoustic modal jazz. Its rotating cast of distinguished musicians featured pianist Joe Bonner, Shaw on trumpet, vocalist Jean Carn, trombonist Julian Priester, altoist Arthur Blythe, and drummers Billy Hart and Leon Ndugu Chancler. That same year Miles Davis recruited Lawrence into his road band; the saxophonist performed with the trumpeter at Carnegie Hall and appeared on Dark Magus.
Summer Solstice was released in 1975. Spanning spiritual soul-jazz, Afro-Brazilian music, and Latin jazz, the album enlisted guitarist Amaury Tristao, pianists Albert Dailey and Dom Salvador, bassist Ron Carter, trombonist Raul De Souza, flutist Gerald Hayes, and Hart on drums. That year Lawrence also guested on Shaw’s The Moontrane and Jones’ New Agenda. In 1976 he joined the all-star ensemble on pianist and composer Gene Harris’ jazz-funk landmark In a Special Way and delivered People Moving, his third and final Prestige date, which earned widespread acclaim. More funk-oriented than its two predecessors, the record signaled the stylistic direction Lawrence was beginning to pursue. Its personnel included keyboardist/vocalist Patrice Rushen, bassist Paul Jackson, guitarist Lee Ritenour, drummer Harvey Mason, percussionist James Mtume, trombonist George Bohanon, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, and saxophonists Ernie Watts and Buddy Collette.
By 1977 Lawrence was leading his own groups on the road yet remained heavily sought after for session work. Composer, pianist, and conceptualist Harry Whittaker enlisted him for the historic jazz-funk sessions that produced Black Renaissance: Body, Mind and Spirit; he also recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Deniece Williams, De Souza, and Phyllis Hyman, and performed live with Frank Zappa. In 1978 Lawrence participated in the studio ensemble that tracked Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear. The following year he co-founded the short-lived jazz-disco fusion outfit Chameleon with Gerald Brown, Delbert Taylor, and Ronald Bruner, Sr.; he performed on their sole, self-titled Elektra album and co-produced it with Fred Wesley. In 1980 he established a sustained partnership with new-wave pop and disco songwriters, producers, and recording artists Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis, appearing in their projects Le Pamplemousse and El Coco.
Lawrence contributed to the Leslie Drayton Orchestra’s Our Music Is Your Music in 1980 while continuing to tour and record with Le Pamplemousse. He joined saxophonist Stanley Turrentine’s elite ensemble for the jazz-funk album Home Again in 1982; other participants included bassists Nathan East and Abe Laboriel, Jerry Peters, Victor Feldman, and Chuck Jackson. In 1983 he played synthesizers and co-wrote three tracks on Earth, Wind & Fire’s charting, gold-certified Powerlight. Lawrence recorded the funky smooth-jazz album Shadow Dancing for the independent Riza label in 1985. His supporting musicians included drummer James Gadson, Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli, and percussionist Eddie “Bongo” Brown. It would stand as his final leader date for more than two decades. He closed the decade by appearing with jazz pianist Henry Butler on the acclaimed Fivin’ Around and participating in sessions for Welcome Home by the Los Angeles R&B vocal group the Waters.
Lawrence then withdrew from music for roughly fifteen years while confronting health challenges. He reemerged in 2006 leading the Edward Bayers Quartet on the live recording Legacy and Music of John Coltrane and directed his own quartet on the modal-jazz album Speak the Word in 2009. That year he also joined the Gathering collective, whose independent release Leimert Park: Roots & Branches of Los Angeles Jazz appeared shortly afterward. Later in 2010 he issued the widely praised Prayer for My Ancestors, which presented him at the head of a quartet featuring drummer Alphonse Mouzon, pianist Nate Morgan, and bassist Henry Franklin. He participated in Franklin’s quartet projects O, What a Beautiful Morning! that year and Home Cookin’ from 2009. During the summer he took part in a series of concerts at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Los Angeles, performing with pioneering vibraphonist and Ethio-jazz originator Mulatu Astatke; the performance was released the following year as Mochilla Presents Timeless: Mulatu Astatke.
Lawrence maintained an active schedule of club and touring dates under his own name. He released the internationally acclaimed Mystic Journey in 2010 with a lineup that included pianist Benito Gonzalez, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, altoist Gerald Hayes, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Rashied Ali in Ali’s final recording session; the album is dedicated to Ali’s memory. Lawrence also appeared on Gonzalez’s Circles alongside bassist Christian McBride, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, and tenorist Ron Blake. That same year he contributed to Cast the First Stone, the debut album by the jazz supergroup the Cookers, and to Like Someone in Love by vocalist and pianist Eden Atwood.
In 2014 Lawrence delivered The Seeker, a charting quartet recording for Sunnyside featuring Gonzalez, Essiet, and Watts. He also performed on pianist Franklin Kiermyer’s Further with Gonzalez and bassist Juini Booth. After another year of touring, club work, and sessions, Lawrence joined Canadian saxophonist Al McLean and his quartet to record the digital-only Conduit, consisting solely of standards by Coltrane, Tyner, Charlie Parker, and others. In 2016 they issued Frontiers with nearly identical personnel. Lawrence released Elementals on HighNote in 2018, a charting, stylistically wide-ranging program of post-bop and modal jazz. His collaborators on the date included Gonzalez, drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith, percussionist Munyungo Jackson, and guitarist Greg Poree.
After stepping back in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Lawrence introduced a new quartet in a January 2021 livestream from the World Stage, featuring drummer Tony Austin, pianist Robert Turner, and bassist Seoku Bunch. Late that year Light in the Attic remastered and reissued the 1985 jazz-boogie recording Shadow Dancing. Lawrence simultaneously launched his own Trazar label and recorded New Sky, which appeared in 2022. The personnel encompassed pianists and keyboardists John Beasley and Nduduzo Makhathini, bassist Bunch, drummer Austin, percussionist Jackson, guitarists James Saez, Greg Poree, and Gregory “GMOE” Moore, harpist Destiny Muhammad, and an array of vocalists.
Born in Los Angeles in 1952, Lawrence drew his earliest and strongest musical guidance from his mother, a music instructor who directed their church choir. At five he performed on violin with the Los Angeles Junior Symphony before switching to viola. Exposure to John Coltrane’s saxophone at thirteen redirected his path permanently. He adopted the tenor saxophone and subsequently gained command of soprano and alto as well. His teenage years unfolded inside an environment saturated with jazz at the residence of his closest friend, Reggie Golson, son of composer, arranger, and saxophonist Benny Golson. One year later Lawrence entered the celebrated Dorsey High School Jazz Workshop. After completing his junior year he toured Europe with Muddy Waters. During his senior year he performed with the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band and with War alongside Eric Burdon.
Following graduation, Lawrence studied with Horace Tapscott in the pianist’s Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra while simultaneously working a club engagement alongside George Cables, Candy Finch, Larry Gales, and Woody Shaw. He also appeared with Ike & Tina Turner’s band. At nineteen he auditioned successfully for drummer Elvin Jones’ touring ensemble and remained a member for five years.
Jones endorsed the young saxophonist to pianist McCoy Tyner, his former John Coltrane Quartet colleague. Struck by the combination of technical command, spiritual depth, and expressive feeling in Lawrence’s playing, Tyner extended an invitation. Lawrence not only traveled with the pianist but contributed to three landmark recordings: Enlightenment in 1973, Sama Layuca in 1974, and Atlantis in 1975. Prestige Records, Tyner’s label at the time, extended Lawrence his own recording contract. His debut as a leader, Bridge into the New Age, arrived in 1974. The five-track collection of original material traversed post-bop, spiritual soul-jazz, Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz, and funky acoustic modal jazz. Its rotating cast of distinguished musicians featured pianist Joe Bonner, Shaw on trumpet, vocalist Jean Carn, trombonist Julian Priester, altoist Arthur Blythe, and drummers Billy Hart and Leon Ndugu Chancler. That same year Miles Davis recruited Lawrence into his road band; the saxophonist performed with the trumpeter at Carnegie Hall and appeared on Dark Magus.
Summer Solstice was released in 1975. Spanning spiritual soul-jazz, Afro-Brazilian music, and Latin jazz, the album enlisted guitarist Amaury Tristao, pianists Albert Dailey and Dom Salvador, bassist Ron Carter, trombonist Raul De Souza, flutist Gerald Hayes, and Hart on drums. That year Lawrence also guested on Shaw’s The Moontrane and Jones’ New Agenda. In 1976 he joined the all-star ensemble on pianist and composer Gene Harris’ jazz-funk landmark In a Special Way and delivered People Moving, his third and final Prestige date, which earned widespread acclaim. More funk-oriented than its two predecessors, the record signaled the stylistic direction Lawrence was beginning to pursue. Its personnel included keyboardist/vocalist Patrice Rushen, bassist Paul Jackson, guitarist Lee Ritenour, drummer Harvey Mason, percussionist James Mtume, trombonist George Bohanon, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, and saxophonists Ernie Watts and Buddy Collette.
By 1977 Lawrence was leading his own groups on the road yet remained heavily sought after for session work. Composer, pianist, and conceptualist Harry Whittaker enlisted him for the historic jazz-funk sessions that produced Black Renaissance: Body, Mind and Spirit; he also recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Deniece Williams, De Souza, and Phyllis Hyman, and performed live with Frank Zappa. In 1978 Lawrence participated in the studio ensemble that tracked Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear. The following year he co-founded the short-lived jazz-disco fusion outfit Chameleon with Gerald Brown, Delbert Taylor, and Ronald Bruner, Sr.; he performed on their sole, self-titled Elektra album and co-produced it with Fred Wesley. In 1980 he established a sustained partnership with new-wave pop and disco songwriters, producers, and recording artists Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis, appearing in their projects Le Pamplemousse and El Coco.
Lawrence contributed to the Leslie Drayton Orchestra’s Our Music Is Your Music in 1980 while continuing to tour and record with Le Pamplemousse. He joined saxophonist Stanley Turrentine’s elite ensemble for the jazz-funk album Home Again in 1982; other participants included bassists Nathan East and Abe Laboriel, Jerry Peters, Victor Feldman, and Chuck Jackson. In 1983 he played synthesizers and co-wrote three tracks on Earth, Wind & Fire’s charting, gold-certified Powerlight. Lawrence recorded the funky smooth-jazz album Shadow Dancing for the independent Riza label in 1985. His supporting musicians included drummer James Gadson, Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli, and percussionist Eddie “Bongo” Brown. It would stand as his final leader date for more than two decades. He closed the decade by appearing with jazz pianist Henry Butler on the acclaimed Fivin’ Around and participating in sessions for Welcome Home by the Los Angeles R&B vocal group the Waters.
Lawrence then withdrew from music for roughly fifteen years while confronting health challenges. He reemerged in 2006 leading the Edward Bayers Quartet on the live recording Legacy and Music of John Coltrane and directed his own quartet on the modal-jazz album Speak the Word in 2009. That year he also joined the Gathering collective, whose independent release Leimert Park: Roots & Branches of Los Angeles Jazz appeared shortly afterward. Later in 2010 he issued the widely praised Prayer for My Ancestors, which presented him at the head of a quartet featuring drummer Alphonse Mouzon, pianist Nate Morgan, and bassist Henry Franklin. He participated in Franklin’s quartet projects O, What a Beautiful Morning! that year and Home Cookin’ from 2009. During the summer he took part in a series of concerts at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Los Angeles, performing with pioneering vibraphonist and Ethio-jazz originator Mulatu Astatke; the performance was released the following year as Mochilla Presents Timeless: Mulatu Astatke.
Lawrence maintained an active schedule of club and touring dates under his own name. He released the internationally acclaimed Mystic Journey in 2010 with a lineup that included pianist Benito Gonzalez, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, altoist Gerald Hayes, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Rashied Ali in Ali’s final recording session; the album is dedicated to Ali’s memory. Lawrence also appeared on Gonzalez’s Circles alongside bassist Christian McBride, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, and tenorist Ron Blake. That same year he contributed to Cast the First Stone, the debut album by the jazz supergroup the Cookers, and to Like Someone in Love by vocalist and pianist Eden Atwood.
In 2014 Lawrence delivered The Seeker, a charting quartet recording for Sunnyside featuring Gonzalez, Essiet, and Watts. He also performed on pianist Franklin Kiermyer’s Further with Gonzalez and bassist Juini Booth. After another year of touring, club work, and sessions, Lawrence joined Canadian saxophonist Al McLean and his quartet to record the digital-only Conduit, consisting solely of standards by Coltrane, Tyner, Charlie Parker, and others. In 2016 they issued Frontiers with nearly identical personnel. Lawrence released Elementals on HighNote in 2018, a charting, stylistically wide-ranging program of post-bop and modal jazz. His collaborators on the date included Gonzalez, drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith, percussionist Munyungo Jackson, and guitarist Greg Poree.
After stepping back in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Lawrence introduced a new quartet in a January 2021 livestream from the World Stage, featuring drummer Tony Austin, pianist Robert Turner, and bassist Seoku Bunch. Late that year Light in the Attic remastered and reissued the 1985 jazz-boogie recording Shadow Dancing. Lawrence simultaneously launched his own Trazar label and recorded New Sky, which appeared in 2022. The personnel encompassed pianists and keyboardists John Beasley and Nduduzo Makhathini, bassist Bunch, drummer Austin, percussionist Jackson, guitarists James Saez, Greg Poree, and Gregory “GMOE” Moore, harpist Destiny Muhammad, and an array of vocalists.
Albums
