Biography
An alto saxophonist named Loren Pickford has frequently delivered an assertive, high-energy approach that echoes the bold tone of Jackie McLean and Phil Woods. At the same time he harbors a deep affection for cool jazz and devoted greater attention to its gentler, more introspective qualities during the late 1990s. In addition to alto saxophone he performs on flute and piano. Born in New Orleans and raised in Fresno, California, he has also resided in Kansas City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, New York, and Chicago. While immersed in jazz listening during the 1960s and aspiring to earn a living through bop, he often supported himself through R&B engagements. Those included touring with Jackie Wilson and supplying horn arrangements for the soul singer, followed by work alongside Percy Sledge, the Chi-Lites, Tyrone Davis, Clarence Carter, and additional R&B figures of the 1960s and 1970s. During the same decade he performed with Van Morrison and served as bandleader for the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
His commitment to acoustic jazz endured, leading to a notable opportunity in the mid-1980s when trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker engaged him for piano or alto duties on various live performances. Although those collaborations with Baker, who passed away in 1988, required measured dynamics suited to cool jazz, Pickford adopted a more vigorous stance for his 1986 debut, Song for a Blue Planet, issued by Cexton. The equally intense Dancing in the Spirit Fires appeared on the same label in 1990, followed by Elysian Fields on Dinosaur. Settling once more in New Orleans during the late 1990s, he maintained a straight-ahead jazz focus encompassing hard bop and cool jazz as well as Dixieland while also taking on zydeco, Cajun, funk, R&B, and world-music performances. Into the new millennium he continued leading and supporting ensembles, issuing three albums on his Earth Spirit imprint: Mid City, River Spirits—which highlights his flute on a world-music-oriented program—and Arcturus, captured shortly before Hurricane Katrina compelled him and his wife Sheila to depart their long-time New Orleans residence for Kansas City, Missouri. Pickford subsequently played a central role in the Kansas City jazz community until he and his wife returned to New Orleans in January 2010.
His commitment to acoustic jazz endured, leading to a notable opportunity in the mid-1980s when trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker engaged him for piano or alto duties on various live performances. Although those collaborations with Baker, who passed away in 1988, required measured dynamics suited to cool jazz, Pickford adopted a more vigorous stance for his 1986 debut, Song for a Blue Planet, issued by Cexton. The equally intense Dancing in the Spirit Fires appeared on the same label in 1990, followed by Elysian Fields on Dinosaur. Settling once more in New Orleans during the late 1990s, he maintained a straight-ahead jazz focus encompassing hard bop and cool jazz as well as Dixieland while also taking on zydeco, Cajun, funk, R&B, and world-music performances. Into the new millennium he continued leading and supporting ensembles, issuing three albums on his Earth Spirit imprint: Mid City, River Spirits—which highlights his flute on a world-music-oriented program—and Arcturus, captured shortly before Hurricane Katrina compelled him and his wife Sheila to depart their long-time New Orleans residence for Kansas City, Missouri. Pickford subsequently played a central role in the Kansas City jazz community until he and his wife returned to New Orleans in January 2010.
Albums
