SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
WINTER, 2017
VOLUME FOUR NUMBER ONE
JILL SCOTT
DAVID MURRAY
(February 25--March 3)
OLIVER LAKE
(March 4–10)
GERALD WILSON
(March 11-17)
DON BYRON
(March 18-24)
KENNY GARRETT
(March 25-31)
COLEMAN HAWKINS
(April 1-7)
ELMORE JAMES
(April 8-14)
WES MONTGOMERY
(April 15-21)
FELA KUTI
(April 22-28)
OLIVER NELSON
(April 29-May 5)
SON HOUSE
(May 6-12)
JOHN LEE HOOKER
(May 13-19)
http://panopticonreview.blogspot.com/2013/09/oliver-lake-b-september-14-1942.html
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Oliver Lake (b. September 14, 1942):
Innovative Alto Saxophonist, Flautist, Composer, and Poet
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVER LAKE!
All,
OLIVER LAKE (b. September 14, 1942) is an outstanding alto saxophonist, flautist, arranger and composer who began his professional career in the early 1960s in St. Louis, Missouri and has gone on to become one of the seminal and most creatively versatile musicians and composers of the last 40 years. An original co-founder of the critically acclaimed and now legendary World Saxophone Quartet (along with his longtime cohorts and colleagues David Murray, Hamiett Bluiett, and the late, great Julius Hemphill) Lake has also led many ensembles of his own in duo, trio, quartet, quintet, septet, octet and large orchestral formats, as well as playing a pioneer role and excelling in solo improvisational settings. As a longtime devoted fan and supporter of Oliver's highly eclectic and always dynamic music(s) in both avant-garde and more traditional context, I have been fortunate to witness how Lake has played a pivotal role in the creative development and global expansion of contemporary black creative music in many different genres and styles that is always solidly rooted in Oliver's fierce and joyous commitment to the very highest standards of the music.
Lake's music was also integral to a twice weekly radio program that I founded, hosted and worked a number of years for as a DJ which featured contemporary black creative music on Detroit's public radio outlet WDET-FM called SOUND PROJECTIONS. My theme song for the program was none other than the title track's extraordinary composition "Heavy Spirits" by Lake that he played with his amazing ensemble of the mid and late '70s period. Produced on the Arista label this 1975 recording was played on every single program for the entire five year period of the show and never failed to elicit a wide range of deeply appreciative reactions and responses from listeners (especially painters, poets, other musicians, and dancers). Thus in the spirit of SOUND PROJECTIONS and all that it stood for (and tried to stand for) I share with you the following link to one of the tracks of the recording entitled "Owshet" as well as an image of the beautifully designed original artwork that adorned the cover of the Arista LP. ENJOY...
Kofi
TRIO 3:
Reggie Workman-bass
Andrew Cyrille-Drums
Oliver Lake--Alto saxophone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XLA8zYLkKj4
Reggie Workman-bass
Andrew Cyrille-Drums
Oliver Lake--Alto saxophone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XLA8zYLkKj4
OLIVER LAKE
(b. 1942)
(b. 1942)
Oliver
Lake: "It's all about choices," states modern Renaissance Man Oliver
Lake to explain his expansive artistic vision. An accomplished poet,
painter and performance artist, Lake has published a book of poetry
entitled Life Dance, has exhibited and sold a number of his unique
painted-sticks at the Montclair Art Museum, and has toured the country
with his one-man performance piece, Matador of 1st and 1st. But it's his
extraordinary talents as composer, saxophonist, flautist and bandleader
that have brought him world-renown. Although his greatest reputation
exists in the world of jazz, Lake's amazingly eclectic musical approach
is best expressed by his popular poem SEPARATION: put all my food on the
same plate!
Whether composing major commissioned works for the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra and the Brooklyn Philharmonic; creating chamber pieces for the Arditti and Flux String Quartets, the Amherst Sax Quartet and the San Francisco Contemporary Players; arranging for pop diva Bjork, rocker Lou Reed and rap group A Tribe Called Quest; collaborating with poets Amiri Baraka and Ntozake Shange, choreographers Ron Brown and Marlies Yearby, Native American vocalist Mary Redhouse, Korean kumongo player Jin Hi Kim, and Chinese bamboo flute player Shuni Tsou; doing unique performances with MacArthur Award recipients, actress/author Anna Devere Smith and writer/law professor/political commentator Patricia Williams; sharing the stage with hip-hop artist Mos Def and pop star Me'shell Ndegeocello; or leading his own Steel Quartet, Big Band and cooperative ensembles the World Saxophone Quartet and Trio 3; Oliver views it all as parts of the same whole: dixieland, be-bop, soul, rhythm & blues, cool school, swing, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, rock, jazz rock
WHAT KINDA MUSIC U PLAY? "GOOD KIND" (from Lake's poem SEPARATION)
Extremely few artists could embrace such a diverse array of musical styles and disciplines. Lake is not only able to thrive in all of these environments, but does so without distorting or diluting his own remarkable artistic identity. Part of this is due to his experience with the Black Artists Group (BAG), the legendary multi-disciplined and innovative St. Louis collective he co-founded with poets Ajule and Malinke, and musicians Julius Hemphill and Floyd La Flore over 35 years ago. But in reality, Oliver's varied artistic interests go back even further than that.
Born in Marianna, Arkansas in 1942, Oliver moved to St. Louis at the age of two. He began drawing at the age of thirteen (and paints daily, using oil, acrylics, wood, canvas, and mixed media), and soon after began playing cymbals and bass drum in various drum and bugle corps. At 17, he began to take a serious interest in jazz.
Whether composing major commissioned works for the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra and the Brooklyn Philharmonic; creating chamber pieces for the Arditti and Flux String Quartets, the Amherst Sax Quartet and the San Francisco Contemporary Players; arranging for pop diva Bjork, rocker Lou Reed and rap group A Tribe Called Quest; collaborating with poets Amiri Baraka and Ntozake Shange, choreographers Ron Brown and Marlies Yearby, Native American vocalist Mary Redhouse, Korean kumongo player Jin Hi Kim, and Chinese bamboo flute player Shuni Tsou; doing unique performances with MacArthur Award recipients, actress/author Anna Devere Smith and writer/law professor/political commentator Patricia Williams; sharing the stage with hip-hop artist Mos Def and pop star Me'shell Ndegeocello; or leading his own Steel Quartet, Big Band and cooperative ensembles the World Saxophone Quartet and Trio 3; Oliver views it all as parts of the same whole: dixieland, be-bop, soul, rhythm & blues, cool school, swing, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, rock, jazz rock
WHAT KINDA MUSIC U PLAY? "GOOD KIND" (from Lake's poem SEPARATION)
Extremely few artists could embrace such a diverse array of musical styles and disciplines. Lake is not only able to thrive in all of these environments, but does so without distorting or diluting his own remarkable artistic identity. Part of this is due to his experience with the Black Artists Group (BAG), the legendary multi-disciplined and innovative St. Louis collective he co-founded with poets Ajule and Malinke, and musicians Julius Hemphill and Floyd La Flore over 35 years ago. But in reality, Oliver's varied artistic interests go back even further than that.
Born in Marianna, Arkansas in 1942, Oliver moved to St. Louis at the age of two. He began drawing at the age of thirteen (and paints daily, using oil, acrylics, wood, canvas, and mixed media), and soon after began playing cymbals and bass drum in various drum and bugle corps. At 17, he began to take a serious interest in jazz.
Like
many other members of BAG and its Chicago-based sister organization,
the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Lake
moved to New York in the mid-'70s, working the fertile ground of the
downtown loft scene and quickly establishing himself as one of its most
adventurous and multi-faceted artists.
A co-founder of the internationally acclaimed World Saxophone Quartet with Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett and David Murray in 1977 (and recently celebrating its 26th anniversary with an album of Jimi Hendrix pieces for Justin Time Records), Oliver continued to work with the WSQ and his own various groups - including the groundbreaking roots/reggae ensemble Jump Up - and collaborating with many notable choreographers, poets and a veritable Who's Who of the progressive jazz scene of the late 20th century, performing all over the U.S. as well as in Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Africa and Australia.
While he has continued to tour regularly with his own groups, collaborations and guest appearances - in the last three months of 2003, he performed in Europe, Japan and various U.S. cities - Oliver recognized the changing trends and new challenges facing creative artists, especially those working in the jazz tradition. Always a strong proponent of artist self-empowerment and independence, in 1988 Lake founded Passin' Thru, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit, dedicated to fostering, promoting and advancing the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of jazz, new music and other disciplines in relation to music.
Under his artistic direction, Passin' Thru has commissioned new works, sponsored performances by emerging artists, documented works by prominent artists, and has established on-going educational activities not only in its home base of New Jersey and New York, but also in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona and Pennsylvania, along with occasional activities in other locales all over the U.S. The organization also operates Passin' Thru Records, which has recently issued its 12th recording (Dat Love by the Oliver Lake Steel Quartet). In addition to Oliver's albums, ranging from solo to big band, Passin Thru has also issued recordings by the late, legendary multi-reed master Makanda Ken McIntyre, piano great John Hicks and the first recording by Lake's mentor, St. Louis tenor sax giant Freddie Washington. A 13th album by renowned trombonist Craig Harris is scheduled for release in the spring of 2004.
A recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, Lake is one of the most heavily commissioned composers to emerge from the jazz tradition. He's the most-commissioned composer in the history of the eminently respected organization Meet The Composer, most recently completing a three-year project funded by its New Residencies Program that resulted in six new musical works, a theater piece, three dance pieces and extended educational residencies in New Jersey and Tucson, Arizona; along with the establishment of Common Thread, an annual series of concerts featuring gifted female artists.
Other commissions have been received from the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Foundation ASCAP, the International Association for Jazz Education, Composers Forum, the McKim Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Trust and the Lila Wallace Arts Partners Program. In addition to the ensembles mentioned earlier, others who have commissioned works are the Wheeling Symphony, New York New Music Ensemble, and Pulse Percussion Ensemble of New York. Oliver is often specially cited for his numerous endeavors with female artists and performers, to the extent of being called "The Feminist Composer" in an arts course taught at Wesleyan University.
Currently, in addition to performing and touring with his Steel Quartet, his Big Band, the WSQ and Trio 3, Oliver continues to collaborate with Mary Redhouse, Anna Devere Smith, Patricia Williams, Craig Harris and various artists in many disciplines. He is currently developing a symphonic piece that draws upon elements from his African, Native American and European heritage, and is in the midst of an extensive residency in Tucson, Arizona, partially sponsored by Chamber Music America, and a two-month multi-arts residency in Minneapolis.
https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/oliverlake
A co-founder of the internationally acclaimed World Saxophone Quartet with Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett and David Murray in 1977 (and recently celebrating its 26th anniversary with an album of Jimi Hendrix pieces for Justin Time Records), Oliver continued to work with the WSQ and his own various groups - including the groundbreaking roots/reggae ensemble Jump Up - and collaborating with many notable choreographers, poets and a veritable Who's Who of the progressive jazz scene of the late 20th century, performing all over the U.S. as well as in Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Africa and Australia.
While he has continued to tour regularly with his own groups, collaborations and guest appearances - in the last three months of 2003, he performed in Europe, Japan and various U.S. cities - Oliver recognized the changing trends and new challenges facing creative artists, especially those working in the jazz tradition. Always a strong proponent of artist self-empowerment and independence, in 1988 Lake founded Passin' Thru, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit, dedicated to fostering, promoting and advancing the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of jazz, new music and other disciplines in relation to music.
Under his artistic direction, Passin' Thru has commissioned new works, sponsored performances by emerging artists, documented works by prominent artists, and has established on-going educational activities not only in its home base of New Jersey and New York, but also in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona and Pennsylvania, along with occasional activities in other locales all over the U.S. The organization also operates Passin' Thru Records, which has recently issued its 12th recording (Dat Love by the Oliver Lake Steel Quartet). In addition to Oliver's albums, ranging from solo to big band, Passin Thru has also issued recordings by the late, legendary multi-reed master Makanda Ken McIntyre, piano great John Hicks and the first recording by Lake's mentor, St. Louis tenor sax giant Freddie Washington. A 13th album by renowned trombonist Craig Harris is scheduled for release in the spring of 2004.
A recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, Lake is one of the most heavily commissioned composers to emerge from the jazz tradition. He's the most-commissioned composer in the history of the eminently respected organization Meet The Composer, most recently completing a three-year project funded by its New Residencies Program that resulted in six new musical works, a theater piece, three dance pieces and extended educational residencies in New Jersey and Tucson, Arizona; along with the establishment of Common Thread, an annual series of concerts featuring gifted female artists.
Other commissions have been received from the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Foundation ASCAP, the International Association for Jazz Education, Composers Forum, the McKim Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Trust and the Lila Wallace Arts Partners Program. In addition to the ensembles mentioned earlier, others who have commissioned works are the Wheeling Symphony, New York New Music Ensemble, and Pulse Percussion Ensemble of New York. Oliver is often specially cited for his numerous endeavors with female artists and performers, to the extent of being called "The Feminist Composer" in an arts course taught at Wesleyan University.
Currently, in addition to performing and touring with his Steel Quartet, his Big Band, the WSQ and Trio 3, Oliver continues to collaborate with Mary Redhouse, Anna Devere Smith, Patricia Williams, Craig Harris and various artists in many disciplines. He is currently developing a symphonic piece that draws upon elements from his African, Native American and European heritage, and is in the midst of an extensive residency in Tucson, Arizona, partially sponsored by Chamber Music America, and a two-month multi-arts residency in Minneapolis.
https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/oliverlake
Oliver Lake
Born in Marianna, Arkansas in 1942, Oliver moved to St. Louis at the age of two. He began drawing at the age of thirteen (and paints daily, using oil, acrylics, wood, canvas, and mixed media), and soon after began playing cymbals and bass drum in various drum and bugle corps. At 17, he began to take a serious interest in jazz. Like many other members of BAG and its Chicago-based sister organization, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Lake moved to New York in the mid-'70s, working the fertile ground of the downtown loft scene and quickly establishing himself as one of its most adventurous and multi-faceted artists. A co-founder of the internationally acclaimed World Saxophone Quartet with Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett and David Murray in 1977 (and recently celebrating its 26th anniversary with an album of Jimi Hendrix pieces for Justin Time Records), Oliver continued to work with the WSQ and his own various groups - including the groundbreaking roots/reggae ensemble Jump Up - and collaborating with many notable choreographers, poets and a veritable Who's Who of the progressive jazz scene of the late 20th century, performing all over the U.S. as well as in Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Africa and Australia.
While he has continued to tour regularly with his own groups, collaborations and guest appearances - in the last three months of 2003, he performed in Europe, Japan and various U.S. cities - Oliver recognized the changing trends and new challenges facing creative artists, especially those working in the jazz tradition. Always a strong proponent of artist self-empowerment and independence, in 1988 Lake founded Passin' Thru, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit, dedicated to fostering, promoting and advancing the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of jazz, new music and other disciplines in relation to music.
Artist Biography by Chris Kelsey
Oliver Lake is an explosively unpredictable soloist, somewhat akin to Eric Dolphy in the ultra-nimble manner in which he traverses the full range of his main horn, the alto. Lake's astringent saxophone sound is his trademark -- piercing, bluesy, and biting in the manner of a Maceo Parker, it was a perfect lead voice for the World Saxophone Quartet, the band with which Lake has arguably made his most enduring music.
Lake began playing drums as a child in St. Louis. He first picked up the saxophone at the age of 18. Lake received his bachelor's degree in 1968 from Lincoln University. From the late '60s to the early '70s he taught school, played in various contexts around St. Louis, and led -- along with Julius Hemphill and Charles "Bobo" Shaw, among others -- a musicians' collective, the Black Artists' Group (BAG). Lake lived in Paris from 1972-1974, where he worked in a quintet comprised of fellow BAG members. By 1975, he had (along with most of his BAG colleagues) moved to New York, where he became active on what was called by some the "loft jazz" scene. In 1976, with Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett, and David Murray, he founded the World Saxophone Quartet. Over the next two decades, that band reached a level of popularity perhaps unprecedented by a free jazz ensemble. Its late-'80s albums of Ellington works and R&B tunes attracted an audience that otherwise might never have found its way to such an esoteric style.
Lake continued working as a leader apart from the WSQ, making excellent small-group albums in the '70s and '80s for Arista/Freedom and Black Saint. In the '80s, Lake led a reggae-oriented band, Jump Up, that had a significant degree of pop success, though its artistic appeal faded in comparison with his jazz work. In the '90s, Lake continued to stretch creatively; a duo album with classically trained pianist Donal Fox set him free to explore the more fanciful side of his musical personality. Late-'90s concerts with the WSQ, his own groups, and such duo mates as the hyper-dextrous pianist Borah Bergman showed that Lake was still on top of his game.
The saxophonist continued performing and recording as both a leader and collaborator into the 21st century, forming Trio 3 with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille (releasing such albums as 2002's Open Ideas on Palmetto and 2008's Berne Concert [in collaboration with pianist Irène Schweizer] and 2009's At This Time [in collaboration with Geri Allen] on Intakt); recording with the String Trio of New York (2005's Frozen Ropes on Barking Hoop); and issuing such recordings as Cloth by the Oliver Lake Big Band in 2003, Oliver Lake Quartet Live (featuring Dine' [Navaho tribe] vocalist and flutist Mary Redhouse) in 2006, and Makin' It by the Oliver Lake Organ Trio in 2008 (the latter three Lake-led sessions released by the Passin' Thru label).
http://archives.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2016/07/11/jazz-saxophonist-and-composer-oliver-lake-makes-music-filled-with-soul
Show To Know
Jazz Saxophonist and Composer Oliver Lake Makes Music Filled With Soul
by Elizabeth Costello
July 11, 2016
San Francisco Weekly
Saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake has been playing music for more than 50 years, but he’s never gotten used to visits from what he calls the Holy Ghost.
“Sometimes I’m playing and it’s not me, he says. “The Holy Ghost takes over and I think, ‘Where did that come from?’ ”
The 73-year-old Arkansas native helped found the internationally-acclaimed World Saxophone Quartet in 1977, with fellow luminaries Julius Hemphill, David Murray, and Harniet Bluiett. His list of jazz collaborators is long and stellar, and includes Donald Robinson, the great Bay-Area-based drummer, who will join him for a performance on Thursday, July 28, at The Outsound New Music Summit. The duo first met and played together in Paris in the early seventies.
Lake is a versatile and generous collaborator who has worked with poets, playwrights (he helped bring Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow is Enuf to Broadway), dancers, and a roster of musicians that includes the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Flux String Quartet, Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest, Bjork, and Lou Reed.
He calls his music contemporary because it is alive and responsive to the current moment, rather than avant-garde, which suggests it belongs to some elusive future.
“The music called jazz is at the forefront of a struggle that goes on and on,” Lake says. “We have an obligation to play from our hearts and have an honest exchange with the rest of the world. I think we can lead with our message, which is always world peace.”
He traces his creative origins to the seminal St. Louis-based Black Artists Group, which laid the foundation for his ever-expanding creative palette in the 1960s.
“B.A.G. led to experimentation and competition," he says. "We worked together one week writing music for a play, the next for a big band, then with a company of poets. It was a great school. I was inspired by poets such as Arjule Rutlin and the more well-known Amiri Baraka, and later, I began working with spoken word in my own performances.”
Over the last 15 years, he has developed a practice as a painter, and his work includes “talking sticks,” which he makes from pieces of vine from his wife’s native country of Guyana, and a “jazz house” in Pittsburgh as part of the City of Asylum, a project that provides public art and residencies for writers.
Lake’s current projects also include Passin’ Thru, a record label and non-profit organization, and his ongoing ensembles the Oliver Lake Organ Quartet, Oliver Lake Big Band, and Trio 3. He's also working on INTERRUPTION!, a musical/theatrical performance created in conjuction with the musician and producer Rob Reddy. Lake is writing the libretto and Reddy is creating the music for the project which is inspired by the US Supreme Court's partial strike down of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2013. Several states have since made changes to their election laws, and, as Lake says, “things need to be interrupted.”
Oliver Lake performs with Donald Robinson at 8:15 p.m., on Thursday, July 28 at The Outsound New Music Summit. More info here.
http://revive-music.com/2014/11/20/exclusive-interview-oliver-lake-heard/#.WLqozhByn5Z
http://www.jazzweekly.com/2015/01/oliver-lake-a-world-saxophone-soloist/
Oliver Lake is an explosively unpredictable soloist, somewhat akin to Eric Dolphy in the ultra-nimble manner in which he traverses the full range of his main horn, the alto. Lake's astringent saxophone sound is his trademark -- piercing, bluesy, and biting in the manner of a Maceo Parker, it was a perfect lead voice for the World Saxophone Quartet, the band with which Lake has arguably made his most enduring music.
Lake began playing drums as a child in St. Louis. He first picked up the saxophone at the age of 18. Lake received his bachelor's degree in 1968 from Lincoln University. From the late '60s to the early '70s he taught school, played in various contexts around St. Louis, and led -- along with Julius Hemphill and Charles "Bobo" Shaw, among others -- a musicians' collective, the Black Artists' Group (BAG). Lake lived in Paris from 1972-1974, where he worked in a quintet comprised of fellow BAG members. By 1975, he had (along with most of his BAG colleagues) moved to New York, where he became active on what was called by some the "loft jazz" scene. In 1976, with Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett, and David Murray, he founded the World Saxophone Quartet. Over the next two decades, that band reached a level of popularity perhaps unprecedented by a free jazz ensemble. Its late-'80s albums of Ellington works and R&B tunes attracted an audience that otherwise might never have found its way to such an esoteric style.
Lake continued working as a leader apart from the WSQ, making excellent small-group albums in the '70s and '80s for Arista/Freedom and Black Saint. In the '80s, Lake led a reggae-oriented band, Jump Up, that had a significant degree of pop success, though its artistic appeal faded in comparison with his jazz work. In the '90s, Lake continued to stretch creatively; a duo album with classically trained pianist Donal Fox set him free to explore the more fanciful side of his musical personality. Late-'90s concerts with the WSQ, his own groups, and such duo mates as the hyper-dextrous pianist Borah Bergman showed that Lake was still on top of his game.
The saxophonist continued performing and recording as both a leader and collaborator into the 21st century, forming Trio 3 with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille (releasing such albums as 2002's Open Ideas on Palmetto and 2008's Berne Concert [in collaboration with pianist Irène Schweizer] and 2009's At This Time [in collaboration with Geri Allen] on Intakt); recording with the String Trio of New York (2005's Frozen Ropes on Barking Hoop); and issuing such recordings as Cloth by the Oliver Lake Big Band in 2003, Oliver Lake Quartet Live (featuring Dine' [Navaho tribe] vocalist and flutist Mary Redhouse) in 2006, and Makin' It by the Oliver Lake Organ Trio in 2008 (the latter three Lake-led sessions released by the Passin' Thru label).
http://archives.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2016/07/11/jazz-saxophonist-and-composer-oliver-lake-makes-music-filled-with-soul
Show To Know
Jazz Saxophonist and Composer Oliver Lake Makes Music Filled With Soul
by Elizabeth Costello
July 11, 2016
San Francisco Weekly
Saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake has been playing music for more than 50 years, but he’s never gotten used to visits from what he calls the Holy Ghost.
“Sometimes I’m playing and it’s not me, he says. “The Holy Ghost takes over and I think, ‘Where did that come from?’ ”
The 73-year-old Arkansas native helped found the internationally-acclaimed World Saxophone Quartet in 1977, with fellow luminaries Julius Hemphill, David Murray, and Harniet Bluiett. His list of jazz collaborators is long and stellar, and includes Donald Robinson, the great Bay-Area-based drummer, who will join him for a performance on Thursday, July 28, at The Outsound New Music Summit. The duo first met and played together in Paris in the early seventies.
Lake is a versatile and generous collaborator who has worked with poets, playwrights (he helped bring Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow is Enuf to Broadway), dancers, and a roster of musicians that includes the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Flux String Quartet, Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest, Bjork, and Lou Reed.
He calls his music contemporary because it is alive and responsive to the current moment, rather than avant-garde, which suggests it belongs to some elusive future.
“The music called jazz is at the forefront of a struggle that goes on and on,” Lake says. “We have an obligation to play from our hearts and have an honest exchange with the rest of the world. I think we can lead with our message, which is always world peace.”
He traces his creative origins to the seminal St. Louis-based Black Artists Group, which laid the foundation for his ever-expanding creative palette in the 1960s.
“B.A.G. led to experimentation and competition," he says. "We worked together one week writing music for a play, the next for a big band, then with a company of poets. It was a great school. I was inspired by poets such as Arjule Rutlin and the more well-known Amiri Baraka, and later, I began working with spoken word in my own performances.”
Over the last 15 years, he has developed a practice as a painter, and his work includes “talking sticks,” which he makes from pieces of vine from his wife’s native country of Guyana, and a “jazz house” in Pittsburgh as part of the City of Asylum, a project that provides public art and residencies for writers.
Lake’s current projects also include Passin’ Thru, a record label and non-profit organization, and his ongoing ensembles the Oliver Lake Organ Quartet, Oliver Lake Big Band, and Trio 3. He's also working on INTERRUPTION!, a musical/theatrical performance created in conjuction with the musician and producer Rob Reddy. Lake is writing the libretto and Reddy is creating the music for the project which is inspired by the US Supreme Court's partial strike down of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2013. Several states have since made changes to their election laws, and, as Lake says, “things need to be interrupted.”
Oliver Lake performs with Donald Robinson at 8:15 p.m., on Thursday, July 28 at The Outsound New Music Summit. More info here.
http://revive-music.com/2014/11/20/exclusive-interview-oliver-lake-heard/#.WLqozhByn5Z
Avant-garde legend Oliver Lake stands apart from many jazz
musicians today, but not just because of his distinctive sound. He’s
an artist in every sense, pursuing painting and poetry as well as
music—an adherent to the collectivist vision that, in the 1960s and 70s,
guided organizations like Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians and St. Louis’s Black Artists Group (of which Lake
was a founding member). Of course Lake is also a prolific
instrumentalist, leading groups from the World Saxophone Quartet to big
bands of his own creation on alto, soprano, and flute.
Lake has been releasing music almost annually since 1971, collaborating with the biggest names in jazz as well as artists like A Tribe Called Quest, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Meshell N’degeocello. “What I Heard” is the second album from Lake’s Organ Quartet, featuring Jared Gold on the Hammond B3, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, and drummer Chris Beck. We had the chance to chat with Lake about his process, the new album, and where he finds inspiration 40 years into his career:
Revive: What was your main inspiration for “What I’ve Heard”?
Oliver Lake: Well, I’ve had this group now for about 6 or 7 years, and this is our third CD (the second one that includes the trumpet), and I’m just excited about the virtuosity of my organ player Jared Gold and my trumpet player Freddie Hendrix. I originally wrote some of these tunes to accompany poets, and when I put them together for the organ group, I expanded the tunes and made them what you’re hearing on the CD. That’s kind of the way what you’re hearing came together.
R: When you say it was composed to accompany spoken word, did you initially envision yourself performing poetry with it (I know you’re a writer as well)?
OL: Yes, that’s true—but I’ve been curating this jazz poetry concert in Pittsburgh (it’s sponsored by the group City of Asylum), and every year for the last ten years I’ve been taking a different ensemble that I play with. Half of the concert is the ensemble doing a musical performance, and the other half is the same ensemble accompanying poets from all over the world. A lot of the concerts are all improvised, but one year I was commissioned to compose music specifically for each poet using the organ quartet and a string quartet, and this is some of the things that I came up with—but then I expanded on them. When I go to Pittsburgh, I do recite some of my poetry, and then we accompany the poets. I started accompanying poets while I was in the Black Artists Group, and then I eventually got the chance to begin reading my own poetry—now, I’ve written two books of poems.
R: That’s really impressive—just looking over your career as a whole, you’ve been so prolific for so long.
OL: Yeah, a long time!
R: Do you ever feel like you’ll run out of things to say? Do you have anything you do to get inspired?
OL: I think my experiences keep inspiring me–I have a great family and a great wife and that inspires me too. When I play with musicians that are of the caliber of the Organ Quartet, these young guys are very inspirational to me as well. So I don’t think I’ll ever run out, because I have various projects going on all the time…one thing leads to the next and one thing grows, and the inspiration is there always.
R: What draws you to the organ specifically, as an instrument?
OL: Well, I guess about 10 years ago there seemed to be a resurgence in the organ, in the Hammond B3 organ. I mean years and years ago, back in the 60s (late 60s-early 70s), there was a lot of organ groups—organ trios, Jimmy Smith and all those guys. It kind of faded, and then in the last 10 years there’s been a resurgence. So I thought, what would it be like to start a group with that particular sound? I kind of haphazardly ran into Jared Gold–I initially started with another organ player, and he couldn’t make the first gig, so he gave me Jared’s number. We hooked up and for me that was it. Like, this is the cat. It was also me not thinking in a traditional way about an organ quartet. I hope I’m breaking some ground with this sound, the way I’m using the organ, and having that kind of accompaniment for my alto sax.
R: You did a residency at the Stone a few weeks ago, showcasing a number of your different ensembles.
OL: That was a very interesting week for me—I have a lot of listening to do, because I had everything taped and videoed. There were 9 groups, and 12 sets. I had a ball, though.
R: Any particular highlights from the week?
OL: Well, on Saturday, the Organ Quartet performed the second set and Billy Harper sat in. That was very exciting for me because Billy and I hadn’t played together in years—we used to quite often, and so it was kind of a reunion. It was packed that night, and we really just went to a higher level.
There were so many nights though—the next night I played with the Flux String Quartet, and we had a fabulous set. The night I had the two drummers in my show—that went somewhere else, and made me really feel like I want to record that group. That was the third time that I had played with the two drummers—we’ve played together about once a year for the past three years—so now I feel like it’s time to record. I definitely want to record with the Flux String Quartet as well.
R: What do you look for in the musicians you play with?
OL: For me, one of the most important things is sound. I’m looking for musicians who have their own distinct sound—not necessarily about how great they improvise. That’s a big part of it, but I also want people who have their own signature sound.
R: To head back in time a little bit, I know you used to teach elementary school music back in St. Louis—how did that impact your music?
OL: I think all my experiences impact my playing—this was at the very beginning of my career, I taught for 3 years in St. Louis public schools, right after coming out of college. I had a degree in music education. It let me know that I wanted to move to New York and pursue music full-time, and not be trying to continue in St. Louis Public School system (laughs). But it taught me a lot, and there were some great students there who I still keep up with, I guess mostly through the advent of Facebook I can keep up with student who I taught 30 or 40 years ago.
R: Are any of them musicians now?
OL: Oh yeah, a couple of them. A couple that I run into in my travels—in Texas, a trumpet player who was one of my students came up to me after a show. Currently I do workshops at the universities and in high schools, but I’m not on any regular teaching staff or part of any school.
R: Do you think you ever would be?
OL: I think I’m past the age limit of getting hired as a regular school teacher—when they put out their feelers they don’t really look for a 72-year-old guy!
R: Your work with the Black Artists Group, which you mentioned—I find that era so interesting. Do you see that artistic collective mentality at all today, or do you think it’s kind of lost?
OL: I don’t know if you’d say it’s lost—the things that happened as a result of that period are still going on—but I don’t know if there are a lot of groups in the cooperative spirit that were happening in that particular time, in the late 60s-early 70s. It was during the Black Power movement, and there was a lot of ideas about “self-help” in the black community. The artists and musicians of the period were trying to reflect that same attitude of self-determination and choosing our own destiny—all that played into the formation of those groups. I think that experience still continues, but it doesn’t seem as prevalent in groups across the U.S. right now. The importance of groups like BAG and the AACM is still being felt though, and the AACM continues to do work in that same spirit (I just did a concert sponsored by them in New York a couple weeks ago).
R: Do you think there should be more groups like that today?
OL: I hadn’t really thought about it. I know the Black Artists Group was a powerful school for me, and I look at it as being my school (even though I went to college), because it was so practical. One weekend I was accompanying poets, and the next weekend I was writing music for a big band. The next weekend I’m writing music for a play, next writing music for dancers. All of that energy was going on on a weekly basis, and when I moved to New York, I just continued to do the things I had honed in the Black Artists Group.
R: Yeah, that spirit of self-determination and creating your own artistic path is definitely valuable.
OL: That’s why I feel so fortunate—I feel like I’ve been very successful, and by success I mean having an idea and carrying it through and watching it come to life. If there’s something I really love to do, and I get an idea, I’m able to implement that kind of group and make it happen.
R: This is a little random, but I know you’ve had your own record label (Passin’ Thru Records) for 25 years now—it made me think of this other jazz musician I wrote about recently named Douglas Ewart.
OL: Yeah he’s a great friend of mine! He does visual art as well as plays alto and clarinet and flute…
R: As I prepared for this interview, your story reminded me a lot of him.
OL: He’s been very inspirational to me. About 10 years ago, I wasn’t painting—I did a lot in high school, and then I never got around to it anymore…I was doing maybe one painting a year. Then about 10 years ago, I saw Douglas when he came to New York, and we were talking. I said, “Douglas, I really want to start painting again, but I don’t have time because I’m composing and travelling…” He looked at me and said, “Do you have 15 minutes?” I said, “Yeah, I got 15 minutes.” He said, “Well, you got time to paint!”
And that sentence right there made me get back to painting—I would literally set my timer for 15 minutes and go paint. It was his way of letting me know: don’t make an excuse. If you want to do something, budget some time and do it. I always tell that story—do you have 15 minutes? Yeah.
“What I’ve Heard” is available now on Amazon—and Oliver’s big band has a show coming up next week on November 28th at Trumpets in Montclair, NJ.
Lake has been releasing music almost annually since 1971, collaborating with the biggest names in jazz as well as artists like A Tribe Called Quest, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Meshell N’degeocello. “What I Heard” is the second album from Lake’s Organ Quartet, featuring Jared Gold on the Hammond B3, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, and drummer Chris Beck. We had the chance to chat with Lake about his process, the new album, and where he finds inspiration 40 years into his career:
Revive: What was your main inspiration for “What I’ve Heard”?
Oliver Lake: Well, I’ve had this group now for about 6 or 7 years, and this is our third CD (the second one that includes the trumpet), and I’m just excited about the virtuosity of my organ player Jared Gold and my trumpet player Freddie Hendrix. I originally wrote some of these tunes to accompany poets, and when I put them together for the organ group, I expanded the tunes and made them what you’re hearing on the CD. That’s kind of the way what you’re hearing came together.
R: When you say it was composed to accompany spoken word, did you initially envision yourself performing poetry with it (I know you’re a writer as well)?
OL: Yes, that’s true—but I’ve been curating this jazz poetry concert in Pittsburgh (it’s sponsored by the group City of Asylum), and every year for the last ten years I’ve been taking a different ensemble that I play with. Half of the concert is the ensemble doing a musical performance, and the other half is the same ensemble accompanying poets from all over the world. A lot of the concerts are all improvised, but one year I was commissioned to compose music specifically for each poet using the organ quartet and a string quartet, and this is some of the things that I came up with—but then I expanded on them. When I go to Pittsburgh, I do recite some of my poetry, and then we accompany the poets. I started accompanying poets while I was in the Black Artists Group, and then I eventually got the chance to begin reading my own poetry—now, I’ve written two books of poems.
R: That’s really impressive—just looking over your career as a whole, you’ve been so prolific for so long.
OL: Yeah, a long time!
R: Do you ever feel like you’ll run out of things to say? Do you have anything you do to get inspired?
OL: I think my experiences keep inspiring me–I have a great family and a great wife and that inspires me too. When I play with musicians that are of the caliber of the Organ Quartet, these young guys are very inspirational to me as well. So I don’t think I’ll ever run out, because I have various projects going on all the time…one thing leads to the next and one thing grows, and the inspiration is there always.
R: What draws you to the organ specifically, as an instrument?
OL: Well, I guess about 10 years ago there seemed to be a resurgence in the organ, in the Hammond B3 organ. I mean years and years ago, back in the 60s (late 60s-early 70s), there was a lot of organ groups—organ trios, Jimmy Smith and all those guys. It kind of faded, and then in the last 10 years there’s been a resurgence. So I thought, what would it be like to start a group with that particular sound? I kind of haphazardly ran into Jared Gold–I initially started with another organ player, and he couldn’t make the first gig, so he gave me Jared’s number. We hooked up and for me that was it. Like, this is the cat. It was also me not thinking in a traditional way about an organ quartet. I hope I’m breaking some ground with this sound, the way I’m using the organ, and having that kind of accompaniment for my alto sax.
R: You did a residency at the Stone a few weeks ago, showcasing a number of your different ensembles.
OL: That was a very interesting week for me—I have a lot of listening to do, because I had everything taped and videoed. There were 9 groups, and 12 sets. I had a ball, though.
R: Any particular highlights from the week?
OL: Well, on Saturday, the Organ Quartet performed the second set and Billy Harper sat in. That was very exciting for me because Billy and I hadn’t played together in years—we used to quite often, and so it was kind of a reunion. It was packed that night, and we really just went to a higher level.
There were so many nights though—the next night I played with the Flux String Quartet, and we had a fabulous set. The night I had the two drummers in my show—that went somewhere else, and made me really feel like I want to record that group. That was the third time that I had played with the two drummers—we’ve played together about once a year for the past three years—so now I feel like it’s time to record. I definitely want to record with the Flux String Quartet as well.
R: What do you look for in the musicians you play with?
OL: For me, one of the most important things is sound. I’m looking for musicians who have their own distinct sound—not necessarily about how great they improvise. That’s a big part of it, but I also want people who have their own signature sound.
R: To head back in time a little bit, I know you used to teach elementary school music back in St. Louis—how did that impact your music?
OL: I think all my experiences impact my playing—this was at the very beginning of my career, I taught for 3 years in St. Louis public schools, right after coming out of college. I had a degree in music education. It let me know that I wanted to move to New York and pursue music full-time, and not be trying to continue in St. Louis Public School system (laughs). But it taught me a lot, and there were some great students there who I still keep up with, I guess mostly through the advent of Facebook I can keep up with student who I taught 30 or 40 years ago.
R: Are any of them musicians now?
OL: Oh yeah, a couple of them. A couple that I run into in my travels—in Texas, a trumpet player who was one of my students came up to me after a show. Currently I do workshops at the universities and in high schools, but I’m not on any regular teaching staff or part of any school.
R: Do you think you ever would be?
OL: I think I’m past the age limit of getting hired as a regular school teacher—when they put out their feelers they don’t really look for a 72-year-old guy!
R: Your work with the Black Artists Group, which you mentioned—I find that era so interesting. Do you see that artistic collective mentality at all today, or do you think it’s kind of lost?
OL: I don’t know if you’d say it’s lost—the things that happened as a result of that period are still going on—but I don’t know if there are a lot of groups in the cooperative spirit that were happening in that particular time, in the late 60s-early 70s. It was during the Black Power movement, and there was a lot of ideas about “self-help” in the black community. The artists and musicians of the period were trying to reflect that same attitude of self-determination and choosing our own destiny—all that played into the formation of those groups. I think that experience still continues, but it doesn’t seem as prevalent in groups across the U.S. right now. The importance of groups like BAG and the AACM is still being felt though, and the AACM continues to do work in that same spirit (I just did a concert sponsored by them in New York a couple weeks ago).
R: Do you think there should be more groups like that today?
OL: I hadn’t really thought about it. I know the Black Artists Group was a powerful school for me, and I look at it as being my school (even though I went to college), because it was so practical. One weekend I was accompanying poets, and the next weekend I was writing music for a big band. The next weekend I’m writing music for a play, next writing music for dancers. All of that energy was going on on a weekly basis, and when I moved to New York, I just continued to do the things I had honed in the Black Artists Group.
R: Yeah, that spirit of self-determination and creating your own artistic path is definitely valuable.
OL: That’s why I feel so fortunate—I feel like I’ve been very successful, and by success I mean having an idea and carrying it through and watching it come to life. If there’s something I really love to do, and I get an idea, I’m able to implement that kind of group and make it happen.
R: This is a little random, but I know you’ve had your own record label (Passin’ Thru Records) for 25 years now—it made me think of this other jazz musician I wrote about recently named Douglas Ewart.
OL: Yeah he’s a great friend of mine! He does visual art as well as plays alto and clarinet and flute…
R: As I prepared for this interview, your story reminded me a lot of him.
OL: He’s been very inspirational to me. About 10 years ago, I wasn’t painting—I did a lot in high school, and then I never got around to it anymore…I was doing maybe one painting a year. Then about 10 years ago, I saw Douglas when he came to New York, and we were talking. I said, “Douglas, I really want to start painting again, but I don’t have time because I’m composing and travelling…” He looked at me and said, “Do you have 15 minutes?” I said, “Yeah, I got 15 minutes.” He said, “Well, you got time to paint!”
And that sentence right there made me get back to painting—I would literally set my timer for 15 minutes and go paint. It was his way of letting me know: don’t make an excuse. If you want to do something, budget some time and do it. I always tell that story—do you have 15 minutes? Yeah.
“What I’ve Heard” is available now on Amazon—and Oliver’s big band has a show coming up next week on November 28th at Trumpets in Montclair, NJ.
http://www.jazzweekly.com/2015/01/oliver-lake-a-world-saxophone-soloist/
OLIVER LAKE: A WORLD SAXOPHONE SOLOIST
ONE OF THE MOST REPEATED LESSONS ANY SAGE OF JAZZ WILL TELL YOU IS TO “DEVELOP YOUR OWN VOICE.” MANY ASPIRE, FEW ATTAIN. EVEN MORE DIFFICULT IS TO THEN DEVELOP A UNIQUE STYLE AND APPROACH TO MUSIC, AN HONOR GIVEN TO VERY FEW. ALTO SAXIST OLIVER LAKE IS ONE OF THE LAST JAZZ GIANTS LEFT WHO DEVELOPED AN IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFIABLE SOUND, AND THEN USED IT TO CREAT A WHOLE NEW GENRE WHEN HE FORMED (WITH JULIUS HEMPHILL, HAMIETT BLUETT AND DAVID MURRAY) THE GROUND BREAKING “WORLD SAXOPHONE QUARTET.” HE HAD AN IMPRESSIVE CAREER BOTH BEFOR AND AFTER THAT BAND, AND EVEN NOW PUTS OUT A WIDE PALATTE OF SOUNDS RANGING FROM FREE FORM TO HIS MOST RECENT STRAIGHTAHEAD ALBUM WITH HIS ORGAN QUARTET “6 AND 3”.
WE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH THE CHEERFUL AND ENERGETIC MASTER TO LEARN ABOUT THINGS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INVOLVED WITH MUSIC?
I was first in the drum and bugle corps. I played the cymbals in the marching band. It wasn’t anything like trap drumming; it was more like stage drums and cymbals in a marching band.
HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED ON ALTO SAX AND JAZZ?
While I was in that marching band there were a lot of young aspiring jazz musicians in the band. They really piqued my interest in wanting to play the saxophone. I think that maybe the first things I heard were by Charlie Parker and Paul Desmond. Those were the first two alto sax players that I remember.
YOU THEN GOT INVOLVED WITH THE B.A.G. WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS BEHIND THAT?
That was a period during the so-called “Black Revolutionary” and “Black Power” times, and a lot of the impetus for it was self-determination. There were a lot of groups and black artists across the country who started organizations to determine their own destiny, and we were one of the groups that started in St. Louis. What was unique about us was that we had all of the arts incorporated in one group. We had music, dance, poetry…we had visual arts. Everything was involved in that particular group. Some of the other groups across the country were dedicated to singular arts. The AACM in Chicago was made up of all musicians, but our group was unique in that we had all of the art forms covered in that one particular group.
BESIDES MUSIC, DON’T YOU ALSO DO PAINTING AND POETRY?
That’s right, and I’d like to think of the Black Artist Group as my school for that, as during the course of a month during that time, one week I might be accompanying a poet, the next week I might be writing music for a theatre piece, the next week writing for a big band. So, I look at the Black Artist Group as my school, and I did do visual arts when I was in high school, so all of this became a part of what I had been doing throughout my career.
HOW DID YOU GUYS INITIALLY START UP WITH SOUL NOTE AND BLACK SAINT?
I moved to New York in 1974 and we were playing on the Lower East Side in the Village with a lot of people in the “loft scene” going on at that particular time. The Black Saint Italian guy, Giovanni Bonandrini was the owner at that time and he had heard of us and the World Saxophone Quartet, with David Murray, Julius Hemphill and Hamiet Bluiett. He started recording all of the guys who were in that movement in the downtown scene at the time.
He recorded a lot of people. He was very prolific at that particular time. Now, they release box sets from that period.
WHY DO YOU THINK THAT LABEL WAS SO POPULAR?
(Laughs) I don’t know how popular we were. They were the happy few that purchased those albums! When you look at the percentage of people who are listening to music that is called jazz, at one point I think it was as high as four or five percent. Now, it’s one or two percent, so I guess we were popular among that happy few.
WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS BEHIND THE WORLD SAXOPHONE QUARTET?
Actually, each one of us had our own individual groups and Kid Jordan, a saxophone player from New Orleans came to New York and heard each one of our groups and invited us all to New Orleans for a concert, but he couldn’t bring all of our individual groups. So, he asked the four of us, Hemphill, Murray, Bluiett and myself to come down and play in New Orleans with a New Orleans rhythm section. We did that first concert, and the reaction was so far beyond any of us could have imagined. When we came back to New York we said that we have to keep the group together. But, neither one of us could decide who would play piano, bass or drums. We had all sorts of arguments and then, I don’t remember who it was, but one of us said, “Look, let’s just do it with the four saxes.” That’s what started the World Saxophone Quartet.
We got pretty popular. We lived up to our name. We travelled all over the world and we had some very strong recordings that were able to sell a lot of albums at that time. We toured extensively for many years. That group is 37 years old. The Ellington album was our highest selling one.
DID YOU EVER WONDER WHY YOU FINALLY GOT POPULAR AND ASK YOURSELVES “WHY ARE WE FINALLY MAKING MONEY AT JAZZ?”
We didn’t ask it exactly that way (laughs). But, it was unique at that particular time. No one had really done that in the genre that we were playing in. There were saxophone quartets, like classical ones, but none like ours. The fact that Julius Hemphill, who was such a creative and wonderful composer, was writing most of the music for us, we had a unique sound and unique in the fact that it was a saxophone quartet. Also, each individual in the WSQ was a very strong individualist, yet we made it work together.
After Julius Hemphill died, we just added one other player from time to time. Arthur Blythe was part of the group, and James Carter later became part, so it just evolves. James Spaulding was also part of the group-a TREMENDOUS sax player. Currently, the group is still together, b but we’ve been taking a break for the last couple of years. But we’ll get back together later on.
THAT’S BRINGS UP ANOTHER POINT. DURING THAT TIME IT SEEMED THAT FREER JAZZ WAS GETTING A LOT OF POPULARITY, WITH ARHTUR BLYTHE AND HENRY THREADGILL EVEN GETTING CONTRACTS WITH MAJOR LABELS LIKE COLUMBIA. THEN, IT SEEMED LIKE THE BOTTOM FELL OUT. WHAT HAPPENED?
I can’t answer it specifically except to say that things go in cycles and that was one of the things that went through the cycle at that particular time. Hopefully it will come around again, but I can’t put a specific handle on why.
IT SEEMS THAT THESE GUYS LIKE MURRAY AND CHICO FREEMAN DON’T PUT OUT MUCH NEW MATERIAL ANY MORE.
Well, for that reason I put out my own record label now, Passing Through, which I’ve had for about 30 years. I’ve been putting things out 1-2 cds a year on my label, as well as recording for other labels as well. The group that I play with, Trio 3 with Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman has been recording on Intact Records based in Switzerland for the last 10-15 years.
HOW DID YOU GET IN TOUCH WITH REGGIE WORKMAN?
Oh, we were hiring each other and playing in each other’s group all the time here in New York. He’s such a strong player and I’ve always been such an admirer of his since when I first heard him with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers years ago. And then, when I had the opportunity to play with him, we just never stopped because we both fell in love with each other’s playing and then he became a part of my group and I was a part of his group. Eventually we decided to form a cooperative group called Trio3 with Andrew Cyrille, myself and Reggie.
DID HE TELL YOU ANY COLTRANE STORIES?
Oh, yeah! But you’ll have to talk to him to get those (laughs)
YOU HAVE A STATEMENT ON YOUR WEB SITE “IT’S ALL ABOUT CHANGES.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
I think it’s a double-edged sword. A lot of things change, but a lot of things remain the same. For me, I like having my saxophone with different accompaniments. Like, playing with the Sax Quartet, with strings. I recently did a collaboration with a string quartet called Flux. I just did a gig with them last week. I have a 17 piece big band that I work with, and then there’s the new cd with the organ quartet. I play solo in a solo context, I write things for orchestras. So, those kind of changes were kind of what I was referring to; gravitating towards things that I love to do and then making it happen.
YOU HAVE DONE DUETS WITH PIANISTS AS WELL
Yes, with Donal Fox and Borah Bergman.
YOU HAVE SO MANY PROJECTS. DO PEOPLE COME TO YOU OR DO YOU SEEK THEM OUT?
It works both ways, but in those two particular cases both of those pianists approached me and asked if I’d be interested in doing a duo with them. The ideas come from other musicians as well as ideas that I come up with. It was my idea to work with the string quartet, composing for them and working with them.
HOW ABOUT THE REGGAE ALBUMS?
That was a lot of influence from my wife. She’s from Guyana, South America, and that’s the kind of music they listen to there; reggae. At that particular time I was listening to steel pans and heard this great steel pan player , Lyndon Achee, who’s from Trinidad but now lives in New York. I was attracted to that sound and was listening to a lot of reggae and steel pans, and wanted to incorporate that into something with my saxophone sound. I had a group called the Oliver Lake Steel Quartet for several years. We did a couple of cds as well.
YOU’RE ONE OF THE LAST OF THE SAX PLAYERS TO HAVE A UNIQUE SOUND. WAS THAT SOMETHING CONSCIOUS THAT YOU STROVE FOR?
I think that it goes with the tradition of the music. When you put on a Coltrane cd, record, album or whatever you want to call it (laughs) and you play one note you know who it is. If you put on Miles Davis, after 1-2 notes you know who it is. So, for me, coming up one of the main things about this music was to have your own sound. It was something that was in my consciousness when I was practicing. While developing, I felt that I had to have my own voice and my own sound; that ended up being a part of me.
That goes back to the World Saxophone Quartet. Each one of those musicians in that group had their own very distinct sound. Sound is one of the main reasons I hire people for the different ensembles that I’ve had over the years. It’s generally not what or how they’re playing; for me it’s what the sound is. I mean, when I think of Reggie Workman, I think about SOUND. The sound that he gets from his bass is so unique. One note, and you know it’s Reggie Workman playing that bass. So, sound is a very important thing in this thing that we call jazz and today I’m fortunate to feel that I do have my own distinct sound.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET THAT DISTINCT SOUND?
I don’t know if I can put that into words. A lot of it is what you’re thinking while you’re developing and it happens while practicing the instrument. It can be something that you’re consciously developing; a thought that you’re holding in your mind to have your own unique sound. And of course the physical part of it; the setup, the mouthpiece, the reed and things like that play a part. But it’s transcendent; all the instruments are that way. There are people who play the piano and you put one piano player down and he plays a few notes, and then you have another piano player on the same piano but there are two different sounds.
YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO BE DESCRIBED AS “AVANT GARDE” OR “FREE JAZZ.” WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THOSE TERMS?
Well, I’m not excited about either one of them! I really relate to Duke Ellington in that aspect when he said “There’s good music and then there’s bad music.” I think of what I’m doing as good music. When you put those labels on the music it really shuns a lot of people away from that music. There are people who will say, “Oh, I don’t want to listen to free jazz. I don’t listen to avant garde.” And, they never give you a chance and hear what you’re doing.
“Avant Garde” means “ahead of your time.” I always like to think of myself as being contemporary. I am now. I want to be dealt with NOW. I’m not ahead of my time; I’m right now and contemporary. I’m today, so deal with me today. Don’t deal with me after I’m gone (laughs).
WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM BAND TO PLAY IN?
I’ve always wanted to do some work with Cecil Taylor. It’s never happened, but it’s still a possibility. He’s one of the players that I’ve always wanted to play with, but we’ve never had the opportunity.
WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED MENTALLY AND SPIRITUALLY?
Having a great family. My wife is a tremendous influence and inspiration. I have great kids. Family is one of the main things for me.
THE ETERNAL QUALITIES OF ALWAYS LEARNING FROM OTHER PEOPLE, ALWAYS BROADENING HORIZONS AND USING THE LOVE OF FAMILY AS AN INSPIRATION IMMEDIATELY CONFIRMS OLIVER LAKE’S MAIN ARGUMENT, THAT HE IS NOT “AHEAD” OF TIME, BUT “ON” TIME, SINCE THESE ARE CHARACTER TRAITS THAT HAVE BEEN PASSED DOWN FROM OUR ETERNAL GOD. LAKE’S MUSIC AND VISION IS AN INSPIRATION TO ALL FANS OF MUSIC THAT IS SIMPLY TERMED, AS ELLINGTON FAMOUSLY SAID, “GOOD.”
http://www.jazzspeaks.org/the-oliver-lake-big-band/
Jazz Speaks
A look inside The Jazz Gallery
The Oliver Lake Big Band
Photo via http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/
Big bands can be tough to maintain, but Lake’s has managed to stay afloat in various iterations since 2003; he’ll bring the newest version to The Jazz Gallery on November 15th and 16th. Their recent release, Wheels, features a cadre of established New York players, including altoist Darius Jones, tenor man Mike Lee, and trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, all of whom will be onstage at the Gallery. “This is a unit that should keep evolving,” JazzTimes said of the ensemble. We’re excited to welcome Lake and the band back to our stage, where our audiences can see this evolution in action.
The Oliver Lake Big Band performs this Friday and Saturday, November 15th and 16th, at The Jazz Gallery. The band features Oliver Lake, Darius Jones, Bruce Williams, Mike Stewart, Mike Lee, and Jason Marshall on saxophones; Terry Greene, Alfred Patterson, Stafford Hunter, and Aaron Johnson on trombone; Josh Evans, Greg Glassman, Nabate Isles, and Freddie Hendrix on trumpet; and Yoichi Uzeki on piano, Robert Sabin on bass, and Chris Beck on drums. Sets are at 9:00 and 11:00 p.m., $20 general admission and $10 for members. Purchase tickets here.
https://bells.free-jazz.net/bells-part-one/oliver-lake-heavy-spirits/
oliver lake | heavy spirits
Heavy Spirits (Arista Freedom 1008)
Oliver Lake / alto saxophone, Olu Dara / trumpet, Donald Smith / piano, Stafford James / bass, Victor Lewis / drums. Quintet (Side 1)Oliver Lake / alto saxophone, Al P. Jones. Steven Peisch, C. Panton / violins. With Violin Trio: (First 3 tracks, Side 2)Oliver Lake / alto saxophone, Joseph Bowie / trombone, Charles Bobo Shaw / drums. Trio (Last track, Side 2)Tunes: “While Pushing Down Turn,” “0wshet,” “Heavy Spirits” / “Movement Equals Creation,” “Altoviolin,” “Intensity,” “Lonely Blacks,” “Rocket.”Recorded: January 31 and February 3, 1975.
Oliver Lake, like
Anthony Braxton, seems interested in exploring that middle ground
between composition and improvisation. Though Braxton, I expect, is much
more the structuralist than Lake, it’s obvious that the dramatic
contours of the music here have been more or less set up in advance.
This is especially evident on the violin trio tracks and on “Pushing” and, to a lesser extent, on “Owshet,” “Spirits,” and “Rocket.” Even the solo piece, “Lonely Blacks,”
composed by Julius Hemphill, is in the first instance a composition
rather than simply a “line” or a starting point for an improvisation.
Lake thus tends to
define musical situations ahead of time rather than creating them
(spontaneously) in the act of improvising. In a sense, this is a
conservative avant-garde approach, generally working – here and in
Braxton’s music – to create more the illusion of freedom than the
conditions for its exploration. (The demands of freedom are somewhat
consciously avoided; or, at least, not confronted head on.) But this
concept is important in that it allows an artist to work toward more
specifically defined ends and to experiment with a wide variety of
expressive purposes and combinations of sounds. And, so far at least,
the synthesis of approaches has worked to set off rather than to envelop
the work of the improviser.
Lake’s music is largely successful on those terms, though the pieces for alto sax and violin trio are a bit overly reminiscent of that unwieldy hybrid known as “third stream” music. Lake’s playing, as throughout the LP, is strong and inventive but the strings set against this tend to sound dated and anti-climactic. More successful are the quintet pieces. These are flowing but fragmented compositions that seem to want to probe beneath the surface of every musical thought. The music unfolds within clearly defined boundaries but seems at every turn to want to burst beyond its confines. Unlike in many of Braxton’s pieces, all of the players stick to one instrument throughout; this emphasizes the connectedness of the sounds produced while at the same time making them appear a bit less fluid and expansive.
But Lake’s music is
probably closer to an orthodox jazz feeling than Braxton’s is anyway,
and this is as much the reason for this difference as the different
instrumental approaches. Braxton seems more willing to let a sound be a
sound, to exist in itself and be its own justification, while Lake seems
to want every sound to imply something more.
On “Rocket,”
the emphasis is less on form and more on spontaneity and individual
invention. Lake’s and Shaw’s playing is particularly striking, and Bowie
indicates that he is a potentially strong voice on his instrument as
well. Already his brusque, throaty sound is clearly his own, but I’m not
certain that his overall conception is as fully developed. Too bad we
could not have heard more of Bowie and more of this trio. In any case,
Lake has put together a solid and impressive collection of music for his
first LP as leader, and I hope we’ll hear more of his work in the
future.
Henry Kuntz, 1975
Oliver Lakes’s web page
selected Oliver Lake recordings:
Oliver Lake biography:
Oliver Lake, composer, saxophonist
and poet. Co-founder of the renowned World Saxophone Quartet. Guggenheim
fellow for composition, premiered orchestra piece in spring 94, “Cross Stitch“,
for the Wheeling Symphony, first African American to be commissioned by
Library of Congress and McKim Foundation for composition. His piece for
violin and piano,”Movements Turns & Switches”
premiered in fall of ’93 at Academy of Arts and Sciences Washington D.C.
Received numerous commissions composition from N.E.A. and Meet the
Composer of New York. His compositions are at the Smithsonian and were
on the recommended list of recordings by president Clinton. Various
artist have performed his works, such as Arditti String Quartet, World
Sax Quartet, Amherst Sax Quartet, Regina Carter, Brooklyn Philharmonic,
Wheeling Symphony, San Francisco Contemporary Players, New York New
Music Ensemble, and Pulse Percussion Ensemble of New York.
During the year Oliver Lake has been performing a solo theater piece that he created,”Matador Of 1st & 1st”
directed by Oz Scott. He has toured this work in the fall of ’96 on the
west coast of U.S. and Canada. Oliver’s latest quintet recording is
entitled “Dedicated To Dolphy” on the Italian label, Black Saint, and latest solo recording is the of above mentioned theater piece entitled “Matador Of 1st & 1st” recorded on the Passin’ Thru Label.
source
Oliver Lake is a
world renowned Jazz musician and composer. He is a Guggenheim Fellowship
recipient and has worked with contemporary pop icons including Bjork,
Lou Reed, Mos Def and Tribe Called Quest. His overnight success as a
visual artist was a mere 30 years ago in the making, with a body of work
that is as colorful and diverse as his music.
Oliver Lake - "Spirit" from Oliver Lake's "The Matador of 1st & 1st"
Recorded in Seattle, WA 1998.
Expandable Language 1985:
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Oliver Lake
THE MUSIC OF OLIVER LAKE: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MR. LAKE:
Oliver Lake - "Spirit":
Oliver Lake - "Spirit":
Oliver Lake - "Spirit" from Oliver Lake's "The Matador of 1st & 1st"
Recorded in Seattle, WA 1998.
Oliver Lake - 'Heavy Spirits' (1975):
Oliver Lake (1976) - NTU: Point From Which Creation Begins:
Oliver Lake Quintet - "Comous":
Expandable Language 1985:
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Oliver Lake
Bass – Fred Hopkins
Drums – Pheeroan AkLaff
Guitar – Kevin Eubanks
Piano – Geri Allen
Oliver Lake: Alto saxophone
Reggie Workman: Bass
Andrew Cyrille: Drums
At Vision Festival 17 - June 16 2012:
Oliver Lake on How to Find Your Voice in Jazz
Published on September 23, 2016:
Saxophonist Oliver Lake has been one of the most forward-thinking and creative voices in Jazz for decades. He joins us to share his thoughts on finding your own voice and developing exercises that allow you to find a unique sound!
Learn more at http://academy.jazz.org
Oliver Lake - Alto Saxophone
Eric Suquet - Director
Bill Thomas - Director of Photography
Richard Emery - Production Assistant
Seton Hawkins - Producer
Recorded May 28, 2013
Meet Oliver Lake:
The artistic scope of renowned saxophonist, composer, painter and poet Oliver Lake's half decade-long career is unparalleled. From collaborations with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Flux String Quartet, Bjork, Lou Reed, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def and Me'shell Ndegeocello, to his co-founding of the Black Artist Group (BAG) and the highly acclaimed World Saxophone Quartet, creation of his non-profit Passin' Thru organization, becoming a mainstay with Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, publishing two books of poetry and frequently having original artwork displayed in exhibitions across the country, Oliver Lake views it all as part of the same whole.
Lake has been a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and has received commissions from the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Foundation ASCAP, the International Association for Jazz Education, Composers Forum, the McKim Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Trust, the Lila Wallace Arts Partners Program, and in 2006, was honored to receive the Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award at the Kennedy Center. Most notably, Oliver was recently selected to receive the prestigious 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award, a multi-year grant awarded to only 19 American artists in the fields of jazz, theater and dance. As such, the coming years promise to be exciting and filled with bold new artistic endeavors.
Oliver continues to remain focused and immersed in his work with his Organ Quartet, Big Band, Trio 3 and a multitude of other performers and ensembles.
For more information, visit oliverlake.net & facebook.com/oliverlakejazz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Lake
Oliver Lake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.
| Oliver Lake | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information |
| Born | September 14, 1942 Marianna, Arkansas, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Saxophone |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Labels | Freedom, Passin' Thru, Black Saint, Arista Novus, Gramavision, Intakt |
| Associated acts | World Saxophone Quartet |
| Website | www |
Oliver Lake (born Marianna, Arkansas, September 14, 1942) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, and poet. He is known mainly for alto saxophone but he also performs on soprano and flute.[1]
During the 1960s Lake worked with the Black Artists Group in St. Louis. In 1977 he co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet with David Murray, Julius Hemphill, and Hamiet Bluiett. He has worked in the group Trio 3 with Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille.
Contents
Awards and honors
- Guggenheim Fellowship (1993)
- Melon Jazz Living Legacy Award (2006)
Discography
As leader
- 1971: Ntu: Point from Which Creation Begins (Freedom)
- 1974: Passin' Thru (Passin' Thru)
- 1975: Heavy Spirits (Freedom)
- 1976: Holding Together (Black Saint)
- 1978: Shine (Arista Novus)
- 1978: Life Dance of Is (Arista Novus)
- 1978: Buster Bee (Sackville)
- 1979: Zaki (Hat Art)
- 1980: Prophet (Black Saint)
- 1981: Jump Up (Gramavision)
- 1981: Clevont Fitzhubert (Black Saint)
- 1982: Plug It (Gramavision)
- 1984: Expandable Language (Black Saint)
- 1986: Gallery (Gramavision)
- 1986: Dancevision (Blue Heron)
- 1987: Impala (Gramavision)
- 1988: Otherside (Gramavision)
- 1991: Again and Again (Gramavision)
- 1992: Boston Duets (Music & Arts)
- 1992: Virtual Reality (Total Escapism) (Gazell)
- 1994: Edge-ing (Black Saint)
- 1996: Dedicated to Dolphy (Black Saint)
- 1996: Matador of 1st & 1st (Passin' Thru)
- 1996: Movements, Turns & Switches (Passin' Thru)
- 2000: Talkin' Stick (Passin' Thru)
- 2000: Kinda' Up (Passin' Thru)
- 2001: Have Yourself A Merry (Passin' Thru)
- 2003: Cloth (Passin' Thru)
- 2004: Dat Love (Passin' Thru)
- 2005: Oliver Lake Quartet Live (Passin' Thru)
- 2006: Lake/Tchicai/Osgood/Westergaard (Passin' Thru)
- 2008: Makin' It (Passin' Thru)
- 2010: Plan (Passin' Thru)
- 2011: For a Little Dancin' (Intakt)
- 2013: Wheels (Passin' Thru)
- 2013: All Decks (Intakt)
- 2015: To Roy (Intakt)
- Live in Willisau (Dizim, 1997)
- Encounter (Passin' Thru, 2000)
- Open Ideas (Palmetto, 2002)
- Time Being (Intakt, 2006)
- Live at the Sunset (Marge, 2008)
- At This Time (Intakt, 2009) with Geri Allen
- Berne Concert (Intakt, 2009) with Irene Schweizer
- Celebrating Mary Lou Williams (Intakt, 2010) with Geri Allen
- Refraction – Breaking Glass (Intakt, 2013) with Jason Moran
- Wiring (Intakt, 2014) with Vijay Iyer
- Visiting Texture (Intakt, 2017)
| Title | Year | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point of No Return | 1977 | Moers | ||
| Steppin' with the World Saxophone Quartet | 1979 | Black Saint | ||
| W.S.Q. | 1981 | Black Saint | ||
| Revue | 1982 | Black Saint | ||
| Live in Zurich | 1984 | Black Saint | ||
| Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music | 1986 | Black Saint | ||
| Plays Duke Ellington | 1986 | Elektra / Nonesuch | ||
| Dances and Ballads | 1987 | Elektra / Nonesuch | ||
| Rhythm and Blues | 1989 | Elektra / Nonesuch | ||
| Metamorphosis | 1991 | Elektra / Nonesuch | ||
| Moving Right Along | 1993 | Black Saint | ||
| Breath of Life | 1994 | Elektra / Nonesuch | ||
| Four Now | 1996 | Justin Time | ||
| Takin' It 2 the Next Level | 1996 | Justin Time | ||
| Selim Sivad: a Tribute to Miles Davis | 1998 | Justin Time | ||
| Requiem for Julius | 2000 | Justin Time | ||
| 25th Anniversary: The New Chapter | 2001 | Justin Time | ||
| Steppenwolf | 2002 | Justin Time | ||
| Experience | 2004 | Justin Time | ||
| Political Blues | 2006 | Justin Time |
As sideman
With Anthony Braxton- New York, Fall 1974 (Arista, 1974)
- For People in Sorrow (Cryptogramophone, 2013)
With Michael Gregory Jackson
- Karmonic Suite (Improvising Artists, 1978)
- Song of Humanity (Kabell, 1977) also released on Kabell Years: 1971-1979 (Tzadik, 2004)
With Mulgrew Miller
- Trio Transition with Special Guest Oliver Lake (DIW, 1988)
References
External links
https://ethaniverson.com/interviews/interview-with-oliver-lake-by-alex-lewis-and-jake-nussbaum/
Interview with Oliver Lake (by Alex Lewis and Jake Nussbaum)
This interview took place the morning of September 28th, 2013 at Oliver Lake’s home in Montclair, New Jersey.
Alex Lewis: Well, the first thing we ask is that you introduce yourself.
Oliver Lake: My name is Oliver Lake, musician, composer, and I happen to paint, and I happen to write poetry.
AL: Happen to…?
OL: Yeah, well I would never define myself as a painter. But I think of myself as a musician who also paints and writes poetry. And I guess when I say write poetry, I perform my poetry too. And a lot of the paintings in my house are paintings that I’ve done.
AL: I want to ask you about coming up in St. Louis and when you first started playing music. I understand you didn’t even start playing saxophone until a little bit later on?
OL: Yeah I got started when I was in high school. I think I must have been around 17. It would’ve been in the middle of my high school years. And I didn’t really get serious about playing the saxophone until after I flunked out of college. I graduated from high school and went to Harris Teachers College in St. Louis, Missouri. I wasmajoring in education and minoring in biology. And I’m looking through these microscopes and not recognizing anything. And I flunked out, and the rule was if you flunk out of college then you can’t go back, you have to stay out a semester. And when I stayed out that semester I had to decide what I
wanted to do. Then I said – I played a little bit of saxophone in high school when I was 17, now I’m going to really
dedicate my time to doing this. And I had friends like Lester Bowie who played trumpet in St. Louis and had started playing when he was, you know, 11 or 12 years old. And
I asked Lester, I said, “Man this is really late to start playing the saxophone.”
He said, “Well, in ten years no one will know when you started to play if you’re playing your ass off.”
I said “You’re right!”
So it was about how you apply yourself and your time. And because I felt that 19, 20 years old was a little bit late to pursue the saxophone, he inspired me to know that it wasn’t too late. And I feel like I’m still learning saxophone. That’s the thing – that’s one of the things that makes music exciting for me. It’s to know that every day when you wake up, you can learn some new music – there’s something that you can learn.
AL: Were you seeing a lot of music when you were growing up?
OL:
Yeah, well, I was in a drum and bugle corps when I was about 12 or 13.
The group that I was in was called the American Woodman. And I was
playing the bass drum and cymbals. And in that group there were older
musicians who were playing jazz. Some of them were 16, 17, 18 years old.
And I used to hang out with them and they kind of introduced me to young musicians trying to pursue jazz. So I went to a lot of jam sessions with those guys. And in that group I was introduced to Charlie Parker and Paul Desmond and Sonny Rollins, through one of the saxophonists who was
playing all of these Trane tunes, and all these other well known jazz heroes.
AL: So why did you choose the saxophone?
OL: When I was in the drum and bugle corps, the guy who introduced me to jazz was Fred Walker, and he played the tenor saxophone. He gave me his LP collection of the
saxophonists that he didn’t necessarily care for or that he had listened to enough. And so that was one of the first instruments I was presented with. And then I heard the alto sax and then the soprano sax. And I just have an affinity for the higher sound of the saxophones. The alto and the soprano. So those are the two that I play. I just don’t have
an affinity for the lower saxophones. I’ve tried to play tenor a little bit. I recorded a couple of Jump Up CDs where I played tenor and then eventually I just said I’m hearing the alto and I’m hearing the soprano. I’m gonna stick with those two.
AL: What do you think it is about the higher sounds?
OL: I don’t know. I have an affinity for the higher sounds. But I couldn’t put my finger on why or how I ended up choosing them. I know that I love Eric Dolphy and Jackie McLean and a bunch of other great alto saxophone players.
AL: So when you started to dedicate yourself to saxophone, did you have a specific teacher or mentor? Or were you kind of learning it on your own?
OL: There were a couple of guys who were helping me. There was a saxophonist there named John Norment. He passed away about five or six years ago. He was one of my early mentors. And another saxophonist named Freddie Washington, tenor saxophonist; he still lives in St. Louis. And he was one of my early mentors. And one of the interesting things for me was when I started my record label, Passing Thru Records, which has been going for over thirty years, I was able to record Freddie Washington on his first CD that he ever made and put him with the John Hicks rhythm section. And that was a very important milestone for me to be able to record one of my mentors. I brought him up to New York, he went into the studio, he recorded and then went back to St. Louis.
AL: I wanted to ask you about the record label. Is that one of the reasons why you started it – the
freedom to bring in people like that from your life?
OL: Well, that was one of the reasons. But I think the primary reason was the influence of the Black
Artist Group that started in St. Louis in 1968. And one of the primary reasons that group started was
to put forward the idea that musicians should be in control of their own destiny. And one way of
being in control of your destiny is owning your music. And if I own my music, I own my own label, I
don’t give up my publishing, I own my rights to it all. And that was really a seed that was planted by
the Black Artist Group. At that particular time around 1968 a lot of the community organizations were forming and it was all
about self-determination and about self-empowerment. There was a time period when we called that
the black power movement, and a lot of the arts organizations around the country were black arts
organizations. And for the artists in St. Louis, that was the lesson that we were trying to implement in
our daily lives by having our own theatre, our own place of presentation for our concerts on a weekly
basis.
The record label came from that idea. I wanted to have control of the music. And right now I think
we just released the twentieth CD for Passing Thru Records. It’s a cd that features Frank Lacy and
Kevin Ray and Kevin Drury. It’s a group called 1032K. So it’s not only a vanity label, it’s not all of
my CDs. I have put out other artists. My son Gene Lake has 2 CDs on the label. I put out a solo CD
of John Hicks who was from St. Louis also. We went to the same high school together. Unfortunately
John passed several years ago, but we were very close, dating all the way back to high school. John
had a tremendous career as a jazz pianist and in the history of the music.
Jake Nussbaum: Can you maybe describe the atmosphere of the Black Artists Group a little bit
more? What was the scene like? What was the lifestyle like?
OL: Well, we were into self-production. That was one of the big things about the group, the fact that
we were making things happen for us. And it wasn’t just musicians. It was a group of dancers, actors,
visual artists. It was approximately 50 artists.
We were very fortunate in our beginning. In the first year we formed we received a substantial grant
that enabled us to have our own space and have classes and present concerts. So in that atmosphere,
where we were salaried to teach and then present ourselves, there was a lot of creativity. And the fact
that we were all in that building.
So there were a lot of exchanges going on. One week I would be accompanying a poet, the next week
I would be writing music for a theatrical performance that the actors were putting on. Maybe in the
month after that I’m writing music for dancers and having that performed. And then we had a big
band and I was writing music for the big band. And it was just a high level of creativity going on and
an exchange of all the arts that were happening simultaneously.
And when I moved to New York in 1974 (or when I left St. Louis in 1972 and moved to Paris for 2 years), I tried to continue the lesson that I learned in St. Louis which was one of self-production, making things happen, not waiting for stuff to happen. And also dealing in these various multi-media areas. And Julius Hemphill was doing a similar thing. He always incorporated theater into this performances and spoken word and dance. All of that for me was a direct result of being in the Black
Artists Group.
JN: What was the BAG building like in St. Louis? Was it a big apartment building?
OL: No, it was a big factory space in downtown St. Louis. Matter of fact, when I was in St. Louis
about a year and a half ago, I went by that building and stood in front of it and had a photo taken.
And it’s vacant. It’s been vacant for years. But it was like a huge loft space, two stories. One floor
was where we did our performances and had classes. And the second floor there was a visual artist in
residence, Emilio Cruz. I have several of his paintings here. I’ll show them to you.
But the history of the Black Artists Group was very short. I mean, we were active around three and a
half to four years. And things just kind of fell apart. But we kept the name going when I moved to
Paris. I called the group of musicians that I had there the Oliver Lake Bag (B.A.G.). And that was –
Charles “Bobo” Shaw the drummer, Joseph Bowie on trombone, brother of Lester Bowie. Baikida
Carroll was trumpet and Floyd LeFlore also on trumpet. And that was a group that left St. Louis
when the Black Artists Group kind of disbanded in 1972. That group moved to Europe and continued
to do concerts and so forth.
JN: And some of those were AACM guys?
OL: No, but the AACM was an inspiration for starting the Black Artists Group. Every summer in St.
Louis in the late 60s, I would plan a trip either to New York or to Chicago. I had graduated from
Lincoln University in Jefferson City in music education, and I was teaching music in the elementary
schools in St. Louis. I did that for about 3 years and that was when the Black Artists Group was
going. One summer I went to Chicago. Lester had already moved there from St. Louis and was in the
AACM and in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. And I went there and saw what they were doing,
presenting themselves, and doing concerts and having classes and being a very vibrant part of the
creative scene.
And I came back to St. Louis and met with the musicians that I was associated with, Julius Hemphill,
Floyd LeFlore, and Baikida Carroll, and a lot of other players who were there. We were getting
together informally, having jam sessions. And what I noticed in Chicago, those guys were together
and they were organized and it was a group and they were presenting themselves.
So when I came back, I was like, “We got to be a branch of the AACM because we’re getting together but we don’t
have anything formally organized.”
And Julius said, “Why don’t we form our own group?”
Because we were at that particular time a part of a theater ensemble at Forest Park College that was
doing a musical play by Genet and the play was called The Blacks. And we were presenting,
performing the music, and there were actors and dancers and all this. And so that gave Julius the
inspiration to say why don’t we involve the actors, the dancers, the drummers in the formation of this
group instead of being a branch of the AACM? And all of us said okay and then that’s when we
started the Black Artists Group.
But we did exchange concerts with the AACM. A busload of Chicago guys came down to our
building and did concerts. A busload of us would go up to Chicago and present. We did that for a
couple years. So there was a direct connection between both groups, physically and inspirationally
and any way we could think of at that particular time. And actually, that inspiration has continued
throughout the years. I mean I just recently in August did a duo concert with Roscoe Mitchell. And
over the years I’ve been collaborating with them back and forth, kind of thinking of it as a Midwest
collaboration between Chicago and St. Louis. Even though a lot of us moved to New York, we still
have an association with that.
AL: So did the BAG disband when you decided to move to Paris?
OL: Yeah, that was it. There was a slight rift between the musician’s section of the Black Artists and
the actors section and we never really resolved that rift and the group kind of disbanded over that.
AL: Why did you decide to move to Paris?
OL: Well, again, it was the connection with the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. They had
just, I think, done two or three years living in Paris and doing concerts. And they had moved back to
the States. And our group was disbanding around that same time and we felt like we had played all of
the areas in the tri-state area and the Midwest between St. Louis and Kansas City and Chicago. And
we wanted to stretch out. And so fortunately for us that year we had final monies from one of the
grants that we received and instead of splitting up the money we said we’re going to go to Europe
and see what can happen on an international level.
So we were just coming out of the Midwest and going directly to Paris. It just felt like, if we wanted
to expand what we were doing and learn more and be a part of the international scene why not? I
always thought of New York as being the center of the music, which it is and was, and I knew
eventually I was going to move there, but I just took a different route. St. Louis, Paris, New York.
AL: You talk about this physical and spiritual exchange you had with the AACM in Chicago and St.
Louis. And then going to Paris. Has the spirit behind that what has carried you
through the present.
OL: Oh, definitely! Because I thought that in order for me to make some kind of mark in the music, the
route that the AACM had started was obvious. I was very excited about it and it was very creative.
And we were all around the same age and all of these guys were pursuing their own music, and that
was such an inspiration for all of the guys in St. Louis. The biggest inspiration was that it was an
organization of musicians and they had started it themselves.
Because traditionally in St. Louis and I guess around the United States, traditional jazz was being
played in the local jazz clubs, so there was really no outlet for us to play my original music, other
than one place where I lived called the Laclede Town, which was a housing complex where a lot of
the musicians in the Black Artists Group lived. Several of the musicians lived in that housing
complex at that time. And it was very near the building that we had for our classes and performances.
And there was a coffee house in that complex that was very open to whatever we did. Some of my
first performances of me doing my original music was in the Circle Coffeehouse in the Laclede
Town housing complex where Julius lived, I lived, Floyd LaFlore lived, and several other musicians.
And so in order to have other places, we were pushed into presenting ourselves. And we were very
successful at it at that particular time. We filled up that performance space every weekend…
AL: When you moved to New York was it difficult to start presenting your own work there?
OL: It was difficult up to a point. It took me about six months to realize I had to do the same
thing that I did in St. Louis. Because when I got to New York I was thinking that I was just gonna sit
in with different people and get hired and work and that didn’t really happen. And then I went back
home after about six months, back to St. Louis, and I was contemplating, thinking why wasn’t I
having any success in New York? And then it was like a light bulb went off. You have to do the
same thing you did here. You have to do that in New York.
And so I came back and I lived in the village and there were a lot of loft concerts that took place.
And a lot of musicians rented those spaces and presented themselves. Which is what I had been
doing all the time. So when I started doing that, I started having success.
One of the first groups I hooked up with was a Chicago group of Wadada Leo Smith. He lived in Connecticut,
but he was doing various concerts in Connecticut and New York and he was one of the first groups that hired
me. And between me presenting myself and playing with him, then I started having success.
But I mean, it was nothing for us to rent the space, make the posters, sell the tickets, rehearse the
band, you know? I had to do everything and a lot of musicians were doing that. And still, it still
happens now. On different levels, but it’s still happening.
JN: So you picked up saxophone later on in your high school years, you started a collective in St.
Louis, you started a collective in New York, you ripped the tickets and made the posters. Do you
consider yourself a self-starter? A self-made kind of guy?
OL: When I was in high school trying to decide what kind of career I wanted to have, even before I chose music,
I said I want to be in business. Somehow I want to be in business. So I guess it was kind of a way of combining the two things.
The non-profit that I have, Passing Thru – we have concerts and educational components and the record company.
So all of that has to do with mebeing a self-starter and a way for me to combine business and music.
And that combination is a very important part of longevity, in the music business that’s called jazz anyway.
You have to know something of the business of music in order to survive. And this was a way for me
to learn that. Between how to do a production, how to have a non-profit and make it sensible to
present your music. And how to use the non-profit to secure grants for composition. The big band recording
that I just did, that just came out last year, Wheels, on my label. It’s thesecond big band recording that I’ve done.
I received a recording grant from an association in New York to do that particular project.
JN: Is there a political dimension to that sort of autonomy too? Doing everything yourself – is there a
larger context for that?
OL: I don’t know. I haven’t thought of it as political but I think of it as a way of just being in control
of your destiny. So you can’t really cry in your beer. If there’s a musician who’s saying I don’t have
any work, well you can create some work. You keep reinventing yourself and you keep moving
forward and you keep making things happen. And you’re using all elements and educating yourself
from a business point to be able to present yourself musically.
AL: Do you think that’s a very important trait that you see in a lot of the successful musicians that you know? That they are good at the business side of things?
OL: Oh definitely. I think of somebody right now like Dave Douglas who has the business side of it
really together with his own record label, his website, his productions, and various ensembles that he has. And Vijay Iyer, he has several groups going on and several different projects. And an important part of self-production is having these various projects going on. Things that you like to do. And you end up doing them and you find a way to make it happen.
And I used to hang out with them and they kind of introduced me to young musicians trying to pursue jazz. So I went to a lot of jam sessions with those guys. And in that group I was introduced to Charlie Parker and Paul Desmond and Sonny Rollins, through one of the saxophonists who was
playing all of these Trane tunes, and all these other well known jazz heroes.
AL: So why did you choose the saxophone?
OL: When I was in the drum and bugle corps, the guy who introduced me to jazz was Fred Walker, and he played the tenor saxophone. He gave me his LP collection of the
saxophonists that he didn’t necessarily care for or that he had listened to enough. And so that was one of the first instruments I was presented with. And then I heard the alto sax and then the soprano sax. And I just have an affinity for the higher sound of the saxophones. The alto and the soprano. So those are the two that I play. I just don’t have
an affinity for the lower saxophones. I’ve tried to play tenor a little bit. I recorded a couple of Jump Up CDs where I played tenor and then eventually I just said I’m hearing the alto and I’m hearing the soprano. I’m gonna stick with those two.
AL: What do you think it is about the higher sounds?
OL: I don’t know. I have an affinity for the higher sounds. But I couldn’t put my finger on why or how I ended up choosing them. I know that I love Eric Dolphy and Jackie McLean and a bunch of other great alto saxophone players.
AL: So when you started to dedicate yourself to saxophone, did you have a specific teacher or mentor? Or were you kind of learning it on your own?
OL: There were a couple of guys who were helping me. There was a saxophonist there named John Norment. He passed away about five or six years ago. He was one of my early mentors. And another saxophonist named Freddie Washington, tenor saxophonist; he still lives in St. Louis. And he was one of my early mentors. And one of the interesting things for me was when I started my record label, Passing Thru Records, which has been going for over thirty years, I was able to record Freddie Washington on his first CD that he ever made and put him with the John Hicks rhythm section. And that was a very important milestone for me to be able to record one of my mentors. I brought him up to New York, he went into the studio, he recorded and then went back to St. Louis.
AL: I wanted to ask you about the record label. Is that one of the reasons why you started it – the
freedom to bring in people like that from your life?
OL: Well, that was one of the reasons. But I think the primary reason was the influence of the Black
Artist Group that started in St. Louis in 1968. And one of the primary reasons that group started was
to put forward the idea that musicians should be in control of their own destiny. And one way of
being in control of your destiny is owning your music. And if I own my music, I own my own label, I
don’t give up my publishing, I own my rights to it all. And that was really a seed that was planted by
the Black Artist Group. At that particular time around 1968 a lot of the community organizations were forming and it was all
about self-determination and about self-empowerment. There was a time period when we called that
the black power movement, and a lot of the arts organizations around the country were black arts
organizations. And for the artists in St. Louis, that was the lesson that we were trying to implement in
our daily lives by having our own theatre, our own place of presentation for our concerts on a weekly
basis.
The record label came from that idea. I wanted to have control of the music. And right now I think
we just released the twentieth CD for Passing Thru Records. It’s a cd that features Frank Lacy and
Kevin Ray and Kevin Drury. It’s a group called 1032K. So it’s not only a vanity label, it’s not all of
my CDs. I have put out other artists. My son Gene Lake has 2 CDs on the label. I put out a solo CD
of John Hicks who was from St. Louis also. We went to the same high school together. Unfortunately
John passed several years ago, but we were very close, dating all the way back to high school. John
had a tremendous career as a jazz pianist and in the history of the music.
Jake Nussbaum: Can you maybe describe the atmosphere of the Black Artists Group a little bit
more? What was the scene like? What was the lifestyle like?
OL: Well, we were into self-production. That was one of the big things about the group, the fact that
we were making things happen for us. And it wasn’t just musicians. It was a group of dancers, actors,
visual artists. It was approximately 50 artists.
We were very fortunate in our beginning. In the first year we formed we received a substantial grant
that enabled us to have our own space and have classes and present concerts. So in that atmosphere,
where we were salaried to teach and then present ourselves, there was a lot of creativity. And the fact
that we were all in that building.
So there were a lot of exchanges going on. One week I would be accompanying a poet, the next week
I would be writing music for a theatrical performance that the actors were putting on. Maybe in the
month after that I’m writing music for dancers and having that performed. And then we had a big
band and I was writing music for the big band. And it was just a high level of creativity going on and
an exchange of all the arts that were happening simultaneously.
And when I moved to New York in 1974 (or when I left St. Louis in 1972 and moved to Paris for 2 years), I tried to continue the lesson that I learned in St. Louis which was one of self-production, making things happen, not waiting for stuff to happen. And also dealing in these various multi-media areas. And Julius Hemphill was doing a similar thing. He always incorporated theater into this performances and spoken word and dance. All of that for me was a direct result of being in the Black
Artists Group.
JN: What was the BAG building like in St. Louis? Was it a big apartment building?
OL: No, it was a big factory space in downtown St. Louis. Matter of fact, when I was in St. Louis
about a year and a half ago, I went by that building and stood in front of it and had a photo taken.
And it’s vacant. It’s been vacant for years. But it was like a huge loft space, two stories. One floor
was where we did our performances and had classes. And the second floor there was a visual artist in
residence, Emilio Cruz. I have several of his paintings here. I’ll show them to you.
But the history of the Black Artists Group was very short. I mean, we were active around three and a
half to four years. And things just kind of fell apart. But we kept the name going when I moved to
Paris. I called the group of musicians that I had there the Oliver Lake Bag (B.A.G.). And that was –
Charles “Bobo” Shaw the drummer, Joseph Bowie on trombone, brother of Lester Bowie. Baikida
Carroll was trumpet and Floyd LeFlore also on trumpet. And that was a group that left St. Louis
when the Black Artists Group kind of disbanded in 1972. That group moved to Europe and continued
to do concerts and so forth.
JN: And some of those were AACM guys?
OL: No, but the AACM was an inspiration for starting the Black Artists Group. Every summer in St.
Louis in the late 60s, I would plan a trip either to New York or to Chicago. I had graduated from
Lincoln University in Jefferson City in music education, and I was teaching music in the elementary
schools in St. Louis. I did that for about 3 years and that was when the Black Artists Group was
going. One summer I went to Chicago. Lester had already moved there from St. Louis and was in the
AACM and in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. And I went there and saw what they were doing,
presenting themselves, and doing concerts and having classes and being a very vibrant part of the
creative scene.
And I came back to St. Louis and met with the musicians that I was associated with, Julius Hemphill,
Floyd LeFlore, and Baikida Carroll, and a lot of other players who were there. We were getting
together informally, having jam sessions. And what I noticed in Chicago, those guys were together
and they were organized and it was a group and they were presenting themselves.
So when I came back, I was like, “We got to be a branch of the AACM because we’re getting together but we don’t
have anything formally organized.”
And Julius said, “Why don’t we form our own group?”
Because we were at that particular time a part of a theater ensemble at Forest Park College that was
doing a musical play by Genet and the play was called The Blacks. And we were presenting,
performing the music, and there were actors and dancers and all this. And so that gave Julius the
inspiration to say why don’t we involve the actors, the dancers, the drummers in the formation of this
group instead of being a branch of the AACM? And all of us said okay and then that’s when we
started the Black Artists Group.
But we did exchange concerts with the AACM. A busload of Chicago guys came down to our
building and did concerts. A busload of us would go up to Chicago and present. We did that for a
couple years. So there was a direct connection between both groups, physically and inspirationally
and any way we could think of at that particular time. And actually, that inspiration has continued
throughout the years. I mean I just recently in August did a duo concert with Roscoe Mitchell. And
over the years I’ve been collaborating with them back and forth, kind of thinking of it as a Midwest
collaboration between Chicago and St. Louis. Even though a lot of us moved to New York, we still
have an association with that.
AL: So did the BAG disband when you decided to move to Paris?
OL: Yeah, that was it. There was a slight rift between the musician’s section of the Black Artists and
the actors section and we never really resolved that rift and the group kind of disbanded over that.
AL: Why did you decide to move to Paris?
OL: Well, again, it was the connection with the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. They had
just, I think, done two or three years living in Paris and doing concerts. And they had moved back to
the States. And our group was disbanding around that same time and we felt like we had played all of
the areas in the tri-state area and the Midwest between St. Louis and Kansas City and Chicago. And
we wanted to stretch out. And so fortunately for us that year we had final monies from one of the
grants that we received and instead of splitting up the money we said we’re going to go to Europe
and see what can happen on an international level.
So we were just coming out of the Midwest and going directly to Paris. It just felt like, if we wanted
to expand what we were doing and learn more and be a part of the international scene why not? I
always thought of New York as being the center of the music, which it is and was, and I knew
eventually I was going to move there, but I just took a different route. St. Louis, Paris, New York.
AL: You talk about this physical and spiritual exchange you had with the AACM in Chicago and St.
Louis. And then going to Paris. Has the spirit behind that what has carried you
through the present.
OL: Oh, definitely! Because I thought that in order for me to make some kind of mark in the music, the
route that the AACM had started was obvious. I was very excited about it and it was very creative.
And we were all around the same age and all of these guys were pursuing their own music, and that
was such an inspiration for all of the guys in St. Louis. The biggest inspiration was that it was an
organization of musicians and they had started it themselves.
Because traditionally in St. Louis and I guess around the United States, traditional jazz was being
played in the local jazz clubs, so there was really no outlet for us to play my original music, other
than one place where I lived called the Laclede Town, which was a housing complex where a lot of
the musicians in the Black Artists Group lived. Several of the musicians lived in that housing
complex at that time. And it was very near the building that we had for our classes and performances.
And there was a coffee house in that complex that was very open to whatever we did. Some of my
first performances of me doing my original music was in the Circle Coffeehouse in the Laclede
Town housing complex where Julius lived, I lived, Floyd LaFlore lived, and several other musicians.
And so in order to have other places, we were pushed into presenting ourselves. And we were very
successful at it at that particular time. We filled up that performance space every weekend…
AL: When you moved to New York was it difficult to start presenting your own work there?
OL: It was difficult up to a point. It took me about six months to realize I had to do the same
thing that I did in St. Louis. Because when I got to New York I was thinking that I was just gonna sit
in with different people and get hired and work and that didn’t really happen. And then I went back
home after about six months, back to St. Louis, and I was contemplating, thinking why wasn’t I
having any success in New York? And then it was like a light bulb went off. You have to do the
same thing you did here. You have to do that in New York.
And so I came back and I lived in the village and there were a lot of loft concerts that took place.
And a lot of musicians rented those spaces and presented themselves. Which is what I had been
doing all the time. So when I started doing that, I started having success.
One of the first groups I hooked up with was a Chicago group of Wadada Leo Smith. He lived in Connecticut,
but he was doing various concerts in Connecticut and New York and he was one of the first groups that hired
me. And between me presenting myself and playing with him, then I started having success.
But I mean, it was nothing for us to rent the space, make the posters, sell the tickets, rehearse the
band, you know? I had to do everything and a lot of musicians were doing that. And still, it still
happens now. On different levels, but it’s still happening.
JN: So you picked up saxophone later on in your high school years, you started a collective in St.
Louis, you started a collective in New York, you ripped the tickets and made the posters. Do you
consider yourself a self-starter? A self-made kind of guy?
OL: When I was in high school trying to decide what kind of career I wanted to have, even before I chose music,
I said I want to be in business. Somehow I want to be in business. So I guess it was kind of a way of combining the two things.
The non-profit that I have, Passing Thru – we have concerts and educational components and the record company.
So all of that has to do with mebeing a self-starter and a way for me to combine business and music.
And that combination is a very important part of longevity, in the music business that’s called jazz anyway.
You have to know something of the business of music in order to survive. And this was a way for me
to learn that. Between how to do a production, how to have a non-profit and make it sensible to
present your music. And how to use the non-profit to secure grants for composition. The big band recording
that I just did, that just came out last year, Wheels, on my label. It’s thesecond big band recording that I’ve done.
I received a recording grant from an association in New York to do that particular project.
JN: Is there a political dimension to that sort of autonomy too? Doing everything yourself – is there a
larger context for that?
OL: I don’t know. I haven’t thought of it as political but I think of it as a way of just being in control
of your destiny. So you can’t really cry in your beer. If there’s a musician who’s saying I don’t have
any work, well you can create some work. You keep reinventing yourself and you keep moving
forward and you keep making things happen. And you’re using all elements and educating yourself
from a business point to be able to present yourself musically.
AL: Do you think that’s a very important trait that you see in a lot of the successful musicians that you know? That they are good at the business side of things?
OL: Oh definitely. I think of somebody right now like Dave Douglas who has the business side of it
really together with his own record label, his website, his productions, and various ensembles that he has. And Vijay Iyer, he has several groups going on and several different projects. And an important part of self-production is having these various projects going on. Things that you like to do. And you end up doing them and you find a way to make it happen.
I mean, for me, I have a seventeen-piece big band. We don’t work a lot, but it’s been going now for
more than twenty years. And I have the Organ Quartet that I’ve been working with for like the last
seven or eight years, and I continue to do solo concerts. And the World Saxophone Quartet
continues. We happen to be on a little break right now, but we’ve been going for more than 35 years.
Trio 3 has been going for more than 25 years: Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille and myself. So I
mean the co-ops are an important part, but all these various projects, and being involved in the
business of the music, and knowing that you can be in charge of what you do… there’s no excuse.
AL: You do a lot of teaching in Montclair, NJ. How does that fit in?
OL: I’m not actually associated with any university and I’m not on any
faculty and haven’t been for years. What I have been doing over the years is artist residencies and
private lessons. So I continue to do that. Last December I did a two week residency in a jazz music
school in Austria. And also in Switzerland, I’ve gone there for several workshops and residencies. So
that’s an important part of what I consider Passing Thru to be about.
So I will continue to have individual students and do these residencies in various colleges and anywhere that’ll have me to spread the word.
And you know it was exciting for me because a lot of
the things that I give to the students are non-traditional. I mean they kind of deal with the make up of the style that I play. And a lot of times the saxophone jazz styles are more traditional and people like myself or Roscoe Mitchell or players like that will have another angle to approach the instrument with and this is important for the students as well. There’s a group here in Montclair too called Jazz House Kids, which is run by Christian McBride and his wife Melissa Walker. And they had me in last year to do a workshop for the kids. And they had kids from 12 years old to like 18 and they’re just learning the traditional style. Which is a great basis for what you learn about jazz, but when I played for them they were all like, “Wait a minute!
What’s he doing?” [Laughs]
And so I was there talking about what I did and it’s just to give a different
take or different look at where the music can go. Different possibilities.
JN: What is your approach as a teacher to talking about those other things? Is it playing for your students? Is it communicating it with language? I mean how do you go about presenting that alternative study?
OL: I mean, it’s about playing, but it’s also about telling them to remain open and look at all the different ways you can go. All the different possibilities that you have for putting things together…
more than twenty years. And I have the Organ Quartet that I’ve been working with for like the last
seven or eight years, and I continue to do solo concerts. And the World Saxophone Quartet
continues. We happen to be on a little break right now, but we’ve been going for more than 35 years.
Trio 3 has been going for more than 25 years: Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille and myself. So I
mean the co-ops are an important part, but all these various projects, and being involved in the
business of the music, and knowing that you can be in charge of what you do… there’s no excuse.
AL: You do a lot of teaching in Montclair, NJ. How does that fit in?
OL: I’m not actually associated with any university and I’m not on any
faculty and haven’t been for years. What I have been doing over the years is artist residencies and
private lessons. So I continue to do that. Last December I did a two week residency in a jazz music
school in Austria. And also in Switzerland, I’ve gone there for several workshops and residencies. So
that’s an important part of what I consider Passing Thru to be about.
So I will continue to have individual students and do these residencies in various colleges and anywhere that’ll have me to spread the word.
And you know it was exciting for me because a lot of
the things that I give to the students are non-traditional. I mean they kind of deal with the make up of the style that I play. And a lot of times the saxophone jazz styles are more traditional and people like myself or Roscoe Mitchell or players like that will have another angle to approach the instrument with and this is important for the students as well. There’s a group here in Montclair too called Jazz House Kids, which is run by Christian McBride and his wife Melissa Walker. And they had me in last year to do a workshop for the kids. And they had kids from 12 years old to like 18 and they’re just learning the traditional style. Which is a great basis for what you learn about jazz, but when I played for them they were all like, “Wait a minute!
What’s he doing?” [Laughs]
And so I was there talking about what I did and it’s just to give a different
take or different look at where the music can go. Different possibilities.
JN: What is your approach as a teacher to talking about those other things? Is it playing for your students? Is it communicating it with language? I mean how do you go about presenting that alternative study?
OL: I mean, it’s about playing, but it’s also about telling them to remain open and look at all the different ways you can go. All the different possibilities that you have for putting things together…
One time I had a group called Jump Up, that I called Oliver Lake Jump Up. And I had synthesized reggae rhythms with jazz. And I was doing lots of vocals with that group. And for me that’s an example of being open to various ways of approaching the music.
One of my sons, Jahee, is a DJ and I did a duo recording with him DJing and me playing saxophone and reading my poetry. Another example of being open, and I notice that a lot of the younger musicians are open to everything.
And so when I’m talking to students, not only am I playing to say that there are other possibilities, that you don’t have to resolve this chord to that chord. You can, but you don’t have to. The main thing is communication in this music. My goal is to make a direct communication, an honest, direct
communication with my audience. And in return the audience gives me energy and there’s an exchange that happens between the audience and the musician. And if I’m very honest, then it doesn’t matter what resolution I use from this note to that note. It’s just a matter of whether I’ve made a direct, clear and honest communication. And I try to impart that to the students when I’m talking.
JN: Does improvising fuel that relationship between the audience and performer?
OL: Oh definitely. I mean improvisation is in the moment and the audience is there with you and you
go on your journey.
AL: You mentioned the tradition. What was your relationship with jazz tradition when you were
learning how to play? I mean, do you feel like what you’re doing is a logical step? Or do you feel
embattled with it at all?
OL: [Laughs] I guess embattled. No, you know when I started out Charlie Parker was someone I was
trying to emulate. And as I got further and further into it, I realized that I couldn’t do it. I realized I
was not going to be successful at emulating Charlie Parker. And then when I heard players like Eric
Dolphy, that opened me up to some other possibilities and other ways to travel with the saxophone.
And I felt I should put my emphasis on that particular way of approaching the music and that’s what
I’ve done over the years.
And I also loved the traditional sound, the traditional styles. Jackie McLean is one of my favorites
and I always kind of felt like if I could be a synthesis of Jackie McLean and Eric Dolphy – that’s
kind of where I’ve been trying to go. And when I did this concert in August with Roscoe Mitchell, one of the reviewers – I don’t know if he read that’s what I wanted to do — but he put that in the review! He sounds like Eric Dolphy and Jackie McLean. [Laughs] I said, did I say that and he knew it? Or he actually heard that? I said, okay! I’m a success because that’s what I was going for.
JN: In one of Amiri Baraka’s essays about jazz he describes the music as a constant interpretation of new surroundings. And at the same time a changing interpretation of the same thing over and over. He gets at that idea of that weird space between always looking forward and looking back at the same time.
OL: Well you know I totally agree with that because I always feel that whether I’m playing with the
string quartet, which I’m going to be doing in a couple days, or whether I’m playing with my big band, or whether I’m playing solo, that the blues is a constant thread through my saxophone. So here’s a link to what happened before, but it’s open to the possibilities of whatever might happen– in the audience at that particular time or in the music that I’ve written or in things that happen spontaneously.
JN: The blues – can you talk a little more about what you mean by the blues?
OL: Well there’s a sound that you know. And I don’t know how to put words on that. But there’s a blues sound. I don’t necessarily mean playing twelve bar form and doing the blues scale all of the time. But I think if someone listens to when I play, that the thread of the blues, the soul of the blues sound is going through my saxophone all the time, all the way through. And you can tell that I’m kind of linked and locked to that particular sound. Regardless of my musical surroundings, whether it’s a string quartet, saxophone quartet, I think I’m linking straight to the blues. I don’t know how to put it in direct words, but I think it’s something you have to listen to.
JN: You have an album called Expandable Language. And to me when I think of your music I think that phrase is just so appropriate. Expandable language.
OL: I looked at that as being music – music as a language. And it’s expandable and it’s a play on words. And it’s up to the audience to take it wherever they want to go. I didn’t have a specific thing. But for me it implied music.
JN: It’s a brilliant title and it’s a lot of good music.
Community is obviously a really important idea to you and an important thread through this conversation. Is jazz specifically good for keeping alive that sense of community? Is it specifically jazz that allows you to do that? Or is it something else?
OL: I think it’s just music in general. I mean there’s so much turmoil going on in the world, I can’t even imagine what it would be like without music and whether it’s jazz music or funk music or classical music or just music in general, it’s a way of keeping the sanity and keeping the peace and keeping world peace, and us striving to be a better people.
JN: I remember one quick question I wanted to ask on that note. You are really active on Twitter. Kind of more than many, many jazz musicians are. And you talk a lot about this idea of community. I’m just wondering if there’s a connection between that and –
OL: Well, you know what happened was my youngest kids – Maya Lake, she is going to be thirty in a couple months, and her brother, my youngest son, Jahee, is 34. They came to me and said, Dad you gotta be on Facebook. I said what is Facebook? And they joined me up to it. And a couple months later, Dad, you’re not on Twitter. You gotta be on Twitter. And I said what is Twitter? So then I realized how important it is as a musician to have a social identity in this social network that’s going
on.
JN: Do you find yourself connected more to certain people because of social media?
OL: It’s been amazing. The thing with Ethan Iverson – these tweets were going up and I knew Ethan.
But we had never really met and he kept re-tweeting things that I said. And then I ran into him at a gig, at one of my gigs, and he’s like, “Okay, what about us doing a concert together?”
I think that’s a direct result of all this interaction that we were having on Twitter. And a couple of other incidences like that where people saw things that I had tweeted or put on Facebook, and we started a conversation and it ended up with me doing a performance somewhere that didn’t exist prior to that. So I think it has a positive effect not only for relationships, but also for my performances too.
JN: Aside from twitter, how did you start to fall in with these younger guys?
OL: Well, you know music is about music. I don’t think there’s an age discrepancy in terms of that. If we’re of like minds I think we gravitate towards each other. And some of those guys, because of my age, have said well I heard you 30 years ago and I wanted to get the opportunity to play with you. So it’s a big inspiration to me. It ends up being a two-way street where they say that I’ve inspired them and then when I hear them I get inspiration. And then we start playing together and there’s an exchange that happens. There’s a group that I’ve been collaborating with called Tarbaby, which is Eric Revis on bass, Orrin Evans on piano, and Nasheet Waits on drums. And that group is guys in their early 40s, and I’m 71 as of about a week ago. laughs They called me about 3 years ago and asked me would I do a guest appearance on their upcoming CD, and I said of course, and as a result of doing that one record date with them they asked me to do some concerts, so we’ve been collaborating the last three and a half years.
That question comes up time and again, how did I get with the younger guys? But I have recorded with Nasheet Waits’ father, Freddie Waits, who was a fabulous drummer who passed away many years ago. And when Nasheet came to me and wanted me to be on the recording – he wanted to
record the same piece that I had written and recorded with his father. And I thought that was funny.
So it’s a circle – the musical circle goes on.
AL: Do you go out and see a lot of these people play?
OL: Well, it varies. I guess generally I don’t get out a lot, but I run into people or musicians when we’re on the same performances. Or I’m on tour and we’re in the same festivals. And I end up getting a lot of CDs when I’m out and I check them out on their latest CDs and so forth. Vijay and I had actually gotten together a couple of years ago for the first time and did a duo concert in uptown New York. So our history goes a couple years back. With Trio 3 we play every year at Birdland and every year we’ve had a guest pianist – Geri Allen and then Jason Moran last year and this year Vijay Iyer. And next year we may just start the circle again. You know it might be Geri Allen, we’re not sure who will be our guest next year. But we’re always trying to keep some young fresh artists involved – who keep evolving the music and keep it vibrant.
oliverlake.net
Alex Lewis is an independent radio producer and musician living in Philadelphia.
Jake Nussbaum is a musician and writer. He is currently an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT.
This interview is part of an ongoing project focusing on the production and communication of knowledge and value in jazz and improvisational music. Look for more soon.
