Hubert Laws

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Hubert Laws at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2010

Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939 in Houston ) is an American flautist of modern jazz and classical music . In the early 1970s, he was repeatedly recognized as a leading jazz flutist in the Down Beat polls .

life and work

Laws was one of 8 children and grew up in a musical environment (grandfather was a harmonica player / entertainer, mother a gospel pianist). He started out playing the piano and alto saxophone, and learned the flute in high school. From 1954 to 1960 he was a member of the Jazz Crusaders , which he founded with Joe Sample and a few other friends and with whom he went to Los Angeles in 1958 . He can still be heard on the first LP of the Jazz Crusaders , but then went his own way. He was already playing classical music in Texas after studying at Texas Southern University , for example in the Houston Youth Symphony Orchestra after taking private lessons with the flutist Clement Barone. From 1960 to 1964 he continued his studies with a scholarship at the Juilliard School in New York City with the classical flautist Julius Baker . Since the scholarship was not enough to make a living, he also worked as a flautist, for example in the Sugar Ray Lounge in Harlem . Between 1964 and 1966 he made his first own recordings (for Atlantic); he also played u. a. with Pucho Brown , Mongo Santamaría (1963), Sérgio Mendes (1965), at Tanglewood (Summer Festival of the Boston Symphony Orchestra), John Lewis , Gil Evans , the Lloyd Prince Big Band, Clark Terry , Benny Golson and James Moody . Since 1969 he has recorded a number of albums that appeared on CTI Records . He arranged compositions by Fauré , Stravinsky , Debussy and Bach for his album Rite of Spring . Arrangements by Bizet , Satie and Rimski-Korsakow followed on later albums . In 1969 he was involved in Chick Corea's "Is" sessions ; with Roland Hanna , Ron Carter and Billy Cobham he was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet until 1974 .

From 1969 he was employed at the New York Metropolitan Opera as the first flutist; later he appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta . As a classical flautist he also played with numerous other orchestras (e.g. Los Angeles, Cleveland, Dallas, Amsterdam, Japan, Detroit). There were other collaborations with George Benson , Deodato , Weather Report , Miles Davis , Chick Corea , Herbie Hancock , Grant Green , Quincy Jones and the Modern Jazz Quartet as well as with Paul McCartney , Paul Simon , Sarah Vaughan , Roberta Flack , Ella Fitzgerald , Lena Horne , Aretha Franklin , Carly Simon . He taught at the California Institute of the Arts . In 1982 he performed with the Modern Jazz Quartet at the Hollywood Bowl . There he also performed with the French flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal . Some of his albums appear on his own label, Hulaws Music and Golden Flute Music, founded in 1976.

He moves with considerable versatility in jazz, classical music, rhythm and blues , as well as pop music.

His sister Debra Laws can also be heard as a singer on some of his records . Another sister, Eloise Laws, is also a well-known singer and Broadway actress. His brother Ronnie Laws (* 1950) is a tenor saxophonist.

Laws also worked on film scores, for example with Quincy Jones in California Suite from 1978 based on Neil Simon (directed by Herbert Ross ) and for the film Color Purple by Steven Spielberg in 1985.

Recordings (selection)

Hubert Laws 2007
  • The Laws of Jazz, 1964, Atlantic
  • Flute by Laws 1965, Atlantic
  • Laws Cause 1969, Atlantic
  • Afro Classic, 1970, CTI
  • The Rite of Spring, 1971, with Bob James , Ron Carter, Airto and Jack DeJohnette
  • The Chicago Theme, 1975, CTI
  • The San Francisco Concert, 1977, CTI
  • Romeo and Juliet, Columbia 1977
  • Say it with Silence 1978
  • Land of Passion 1979
  • Family 1980 (with Eloise, Debra and Ronnie Laws)
  • New Earth Sonata (with Quincy Jones, Chick Corea, Harold Blanchard , 1983)
  • Word of Mouth (with Jaco Pastorius )
  • Amazing Grace (classical music, but with Quincy Jones on the desk and Chick Corea), 1990
  • Hubert Laws plays Bach for Barone and Baker (that was the name of his flute teachers)
  • My Time Will Come, 1990
  • Storm Then the Calm, 1994
  • Hubert Laws Remembers the Unforgettable Nat King Cole, 1998
  • Baila Cinderella, 2002
  • Moondance, 2004

literature

  • Laws, Interview Down Beat, May 1977

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ the first since 1961 so were called and initially The Modern Jazz Sextet , Swingsters and Nite Hawks called
personal data
SURNAME Laws, Hubert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz flutist, classical flautist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Houston , Texas