Robert Lowe

Distinct from the gospel performer sharing his name, Robert Lowe stands out as a jazz guitarist who plays with his thumb, echoing Wes Montgomery and George Benson yet weaving in sufficient originality to forge a sharply defined personal style. His initial public performances took place at age seven alongside a cluster of peers outside a Detroit shoe parlor, and he has remained active on stage ever since, logging time alongside Lyman Woodard, Lonnie Liston Smith, Charles Earland, and numerous other leading jazz figures.

Robert Lowe Jr. entered the world on July 2, 1948, at Henry Ford Hospital, the son of Robert and Velma Lowe. Velma maintained a record collection that filled their home with the voices of Fats Domino, Little Richard, Dinah Washington, Della Reese, and Little Sonny. Lowe’s fascination with the guitar ignited during a visit to a friend of his father’s, where the instrument hung on the wall beside the fireplace; after repeated admiring glances he finally touched it, triggering an immediate and lasting fixation.

That interest deepened at a children’s party for ages four to seven when Willie, an acquaintance of the host, arrived with a striking white guitar featuring a black fretboard and ivory inlays. Captivated by the youngster’s focus, Willie offered Velma lessons for her son, an opportunity she readily accepted. Lowe progressed quickly and soon persuaded his parents to purchase an instrument for twenty-six dollars and fifty cents—one-fifth of Robert Sr.’s hourly wage.

From those early sidewalk sessions with seven- to ten-year-olds at Smiley’s Parlor, he formed jazz ensembles during junior high and high school, among them the Royal Crusaders, named after the Jazz Crusaders, and the Bellhops; weekend engagements supplied pocket money for school supplies and clothing. In eleventh grade he joined a backing band for the local vocal group Stereophonics, which performed at hops and once at New York’s Apollo Theater. After graduating high school in 1966 he entered a nightclub band that worked four nights weekly, broadening his experience, while simultaneously absorbing Wes Montgomery’s melodic approach and, through the Jack McDuff Group, the playing of George Benson.

For nearly five years jazz took a secondary role as musical director for the Precisions, contributing to their Drew Records releases and co-writing “Instant Heartbreak (Just Add Tears),” the group’s final notable single. Those years included appearances at Washington, D.C.’s Howard Theater and Harlem’s Apollo, plus a tour with Moms Mabley alongside Solomon Burke, Patti Labelle & the Blue Belles, Johnny Taylor, J. J. Jackson, and other soul artists.

An intermittent association with the Lyman Woodard Band produced the album Don’t Stop the Groove; he also appeared on the live Eastbound Records set The Real Thing, recorded at Detroit’s Mozambique Club under Houston Pearson and featuring James Jamerson, Marcus Belgrave, Eli Fountain, Etta Jones, Jack McDuff, Grant Green, and additional notables. Relocating to New York, he joined Lonnie Smith’s band and performed on the organist’s Kudo Records album Mama Wailer. Upon returning to Detroit he taught guitar at Metro Arts alongside James Blood Ulmer; the two thumb-style players exchanged techniques, with Lowe imparting speed and Ulmer demonstrating the up-and-down stroke. Numerous emerging Detroit jazz musicians passed through the program before government arts-funding cuts ended it.

He rejoined Charles Earland’s group for a second New York period, recording the 1976 Mercury album Odyssey, then settled once more in Detroit to lead his own band on jazz and soul dates. Former employer Major Reynolds, for whom Lowe had worked at Tri-Sound Studio in 1965–1966, later hired him at a new facility, where he contributed to projects for producer Michael Stokes, including four compositions on Enchantment’s Journey to Enchantment. The experience also yielded an honorary master’s-level credential in studio technique and record-business practices.

Throughout the early 1980s Lowe accompanied Ronn Matlock, Marlena Shaw, Mary Wilson & the Supremes, Kim Weston, Richard “Groove” Holmes, and Spanky Wilson, while releasing material as a leader on Westbound and participating in sessions for CTI and Fantasy. In 1985 his Lowe Down label issued Double Dip, whose title track reached the local Top 20 in Detroit.

In 1997 he entered BET On Jazz’s Jazz Discovery instrumental contest by submitting a videotaped live performance from a prior television broadcast. The entry advanced through three judging panels, securing first place and prompting an all-expenses-paid trip for the band to tape four songs in New York, complete with airfare, hotel, limousine, and catered dressing-room service. Forty-four years after his debut outside Smiley’s Shoe Palace, Lowe appeared on Jazz Discovery—an unexpected turn that prompted the 1999 Lowe Down Records release In My Life, with further recordings anticipated from the still-active guitarist.