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Author: Enid Francis, SmoothJazzTimes.com Print Version

SJT: I don’t think you’ll ever retire, but I’ll ask anyway; will you?

HL: How can I retire when I’m still growing musically? It’s the strangest thing; I used to spend so much time hoping to play classical flute perfectly. I realized that no one can do that but it didn’t stop me from trying to achieve the highest level of that skill. Little did I realize something that was inherent in me is the ability to improvise – to play jazz. It’s just like having a woman, a presence in your life, who is great for you and you don’t look at her that way. The “woman” was in my life from the beginning, but I just took her for granted. I felt I didn’t have to spend that much time on her – her being jazz improvisation, in my early years. That said I took my own ability to improvise for granted, but learned that this art of improvisation is a challenging one.

SJT: Tell me about your early exposure to music then.

HL: I went to church with my parents where I would hear people shouting and improvising with gospel music and there I learned to play gospel music. And right across the street from my childhood home was a honky-tonk named Ms. Mary’s Place, I’ll never forget it, so I’d hear people like BB King and Big Mama Willie Thornton. Through my window at night, I listened to all the artists that came through there. That’s how I learned to appreciate different music genres.

SJT: Did you get to indulge in jazz while at Julliard?

SJT: Improvising basically means you take a melody and you vary it, which is what I heard all my life. You don’t have that latitude with classical music – you play what’s written, and you can’t make it sound the way you want it to sound. Since the focus of my scholarship to Julliard was classical flute I guess what I did was to take on the attitude of the establishment, which was to look down their noses, in a sense, at jazz improvisation. Lucky for me, Chick Correa would grab a bunch of us to jam and improvise, because there was no jazz program, so that was the only jazz that was going on at Julliard at that time. That’s where I began to appreciate my skill and my freedom to improvise.

SJT: Why do you love jazz improvisation?

HL: I love it because it is something that is very personal and unique to each musician’s creativity.

SJT: So what musical genre brings out your deepest passion for playing the flute?

HL: It’s all the music that I hear on a daily basis that keeps me passionate, whether it’s classical or jazz. In jazz improvisation I’m trying to bring some content, or to make musical statements that will keep people listening. That’s the challenge.

SJT: To what do you attribute your longevity in the music world?

HL: Longevity? I think if I had stayed only with one idiom, like classical music, I’d be like some of those other fatalities, people who would not go beyond the boundaries of the orchestra. I can move from classical, to jazz or even to R&B if I have too. That and my interest in growing is what keep me relevant. A jazz musician produces on the spot. Just like an orator has to put his own words to a speech, jazz is like having to put meat on the bones, so to speak.

SJT: Who did you meet early in your career that you feel played a profound role in expanding your musical capabilities?

HL: I don’t think it was one individual. I think it runs the gamut from my mother, who was influential when she took me to church for gospel music, to the variety of highly achieving artists I’ve been blessed to share a stage with.

SJT: Do you write new music?

HL: I haven’t written a single note of music since I’ve been married. I’m telling you (laughing)! But I recently recorded Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concnerto No. 2, but adapted it for flute.

SJT: Are there recordings that you go back to listen to with a new appreciation for them?

HL: Of course! I listen to people who are very economical with notes. I think about Count Basie – he was a guy who didn’t play a bunch of notes, Miles Davis did the same thing, Coltrane – Coltrane played a lot of notes but he also was economical in a way, so all of those things influence me now. I’m in constant metamorphosis, there’s a change going on all the time, and that’s what keeps me so interested.

SJT: Where do you record?

HL: I have my own studio. I have recorded the last five albums on my own in my studio. I do the flute myself, but for other sounds, I depend on a man named Chris Brown. I love recording on my own.

SJT: What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve ever received about music?

HL: “Practice while you’re young because when you get older you’ll have less time!” Julius Baker, my flute teacher at Julliard, told me that. I apply that advice to whatever I’m doing, because time is valuable. I grab time. I grab space to continue to improve. And Baker was right, when you get older time just flies by you.

Article Resources:
]]> General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=14 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:51:30 -0700 http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=11
March 7, 2010 Bob James wrote:

I loved hearing you play last night. There were so many reminders of why I always knew you were the best! Superb musicianship, and total command of your instrument.

Hubert Laws on cover of Java Jazz Festival - 3-2010

]]> General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=11 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:01:17 -0800 http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=1 Jazz CD cover CD Title: Findin’ The Groove!

Year: 2007

Record Label: Jazzed Media

Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic

Musicians: Terry Gibbs (vibes), Hubert Laws (flute), Dan Faehnle (guitar), Tom Ranier (piano), Hamilton Price (bass), Gerry Gibbs (drums), Joan Carroll (vocals [4 & 9]).

Review: For me, however, it is Gibbs’ choice of “special guest” artist that really makes the date. Hubert Laws should be in the Down Beat Hall of Fame. Call me prejudiced if you wish, (I am a flutist!), but there is no performer who has gained more complete mastery of his instrument and the jazz idiom. But because the instrument in question is the flute rather than the trumpet or the saxophone, he is not well known to many jazz lovers. True, some of his own recordings have not been too well received by critics, but if you seek out his work as a sideman with McCoy Tyner, Milt Jackson, Ron Carter, Victor Feldman and a host of others, you will hear solos that are breathtaking in their technical mastery, harmonic sophistication and melodic inventiveness. He is also one of the handful of artists who are equally proficient in jazz and classical performance–which is evident across the board in the sound he draws from the instrument. He has a Lifetime Achievement award from the National Flute Association and flute players are generally in awe of him! If you have not heard Laws’ work this is as good a place as any to start as he gets plenty of solo space on every track. (If you like what you hear there is a discography of his work in my forthcoming book The Flute In Jazz.)

Tracks: 1. Bernie’s Tune 2. Wednesday at Two 3. Findin’ the Groove 4. But Not For Me 5. Teach Me Tonight 6. Killer Joe 7. Dance With The Brushes 8. Samba Wazoo 9. The House That Might Have Been 10. Four Brothers 11. Take My Blues Away 12. Wee 13. One Minute And 45 Seconds To Station Break

Record Label Website: http://www.jazzedmedia.com

Artist’s Website: http://www.terrygibbs.net

Reviewed by: Peter Westbrook
Copyright© 2007 JazzReview.com®. All Rights Reserved. ]]> General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=1 Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:40:00 -0700 http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=3 General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=3 Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:33:00 -0700 http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=5
Some of the players in that band were: John Faddis, trumpet, Jimmy Owens, trumpet, Antonio Hart, Saxophon. What an energizing experience to hear such artistry from so many fine musicians. New incentive was given me to embark on an intense study of chord reading to create linear lines. ]]> General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=5 Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:38:00 -0700 http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=4 General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=4 Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:35:00 -0700 http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=6 The Post-Standard

CNY Orchestra, Laws offer solid night of jazz
Sunday, October 22, 2006

By Chuck Klaus
Contributing writer

The start of the 11th season of the CNY Jazz Orchestra was a strong one, featuring skilled jazz flutist Hubert Laws.

Laws is deservedly well-known for a long series of albums stretching back to the 1960s, and he’s made mainstream jazz hits from “Amazing Grace” and his renditions of classical pieces, as well as original compositions. Although wonderfully at home in the recording studios, where he has contributed to projects by the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Roberta Flack and Claude Bolling, Laws is a graceful and ingratiating live performer.

Before Laws performed in the second half of the concert, the CNY Jazz Orchestra had a chance to shine, first with Michael Abene’s arrangement of the old Ray Noble tune “The Touch of Your Lips.” The smooth, cool version made for a mellow concert opener, and demonstrated the strength of the group: solid tone and technique, with a really strong spine of a rhythm section, featuring drummer and CNY Jazz Orchestra Executive Director Larry Luttinger.

Luttinger time and again provided just the right inventive and forward-pressing touch. Music director Bret Zvacek showed himself an able leader, and a polished composer and arranger, based on his “You Again” and several other charts played during the evening.

The most unusual and progressive work in part one of the concert was Bill Holman’s “More About Thirds,” a 10-minute-plus piece that gave some indication of what Stan Kenton might have sounded like had he lived another quarter century.

After intermission, Laws took the stage and raised the bar, first with a piccolo rendition of Zvacek’s “It Might Be You.” Immediately, one was struck not only by deep technical abilities, but also a musical sense that balanced bursts of virtuoso invention with beautifully played lyrical content.

That same high level of improvised balance came through in Frank Mantooth’s rather uptempo version of the Blackburn/Suessdorf ballad “Moonlight in Vermont.” Joe Newman’s “Midgets” was a wild little work, followed by Laws’ simple and effective “What a Night.”

“Family” was well sung by Cindy Miller, who exhibited both sustained power, a nice sense with a lyric and an impressive vocal range.

After a standing ovation, Neil Hefti’s ultra-smooth “Lil’ Darlin’ ” - well-known to “Tonight Show” fans of the Johnny Carson era, when it was used as a sign-off for many a broadcast - brought one more chance to savor the mellow approach and beautiful sound of the still-reigning master of the jazz flute.

© 2006 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.

Copyright 2006 syracuse.com. All Rights Reserved.
]]> General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=6 Sat, 9 Dec 2006 15:39:00 -0800 http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=7
This DVD is a compendium of performances that span more than thirty years. Many of these concerts were long forgotten until a friend made some of these videos available. Because of the continued evolution of video technology from early years until now, the quality viewed in this project is varied. However, these performances give a progressive mix of musical idioms, which gave me the opportunity to communicate. Jazz, Classical, Gospel, Latin and Blues are the idiomatic mediums that served as vehicles for such expressions.

I am most grateful for the musical talent leading to a livelihood that connects me with people and forming relationships.

Praise Jah for the gift of music.

Hubert Laws
]]> General http://hubertlaws.com/hubertblog/index.php?itemid=7 Thu, 2 Nov 2006 15:40:00 -0800