Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999)

Biography Born in the historic village of Bartonsville in Frederick County, Maryland, United States, Bowie grew up in St Louis, Missouri. His brothers, trombonist Joseph Bowie and saxophonist Byron Bowie, also became professional musicians. At the age of five, he started studying the trumpet with his father. He played with blues musicians such as Little Milton and Albert King, and rhythm and blues stars such as Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, and Rufus Thomas. In 1965, he became Fontella Bass's musical director and husband. Together they had four children: Ju'Lene Bowie Coney, Bahnamous Lee Bowie (a keyboardist and record producer who appeared as a featured guest on two Art Ensemble of Chicago recordings, Ancient to the Future (1987) and Coming Home Jamaica (1998)), Neuka Bowie Mitchell, and Larry Stevenson. He was a co-founder of Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis.

In 1966, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a studio musician, and met Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell and became a member of the AACM. In 1968, he founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago He remained a member of this group for the rest of his life, and was also a member of Jack DeJohnette's New Directions quartet. He lived and worked in Jamaica and Nigeria, and played and recorded with Fela Kuti. Bowie's onstage appearance, in a white lab coat, with his goatee waxed into two points, was an important part of the Art Ensemble's stage show.

In 1984, he formed Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, a brass nonet in which Bowie demonstrated jazz's links to other forms of popular music, a decidedly more populist approach than that of the Art Ensemble. With this group he recorded songs previously associated with Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Marilyn Manson, along with other material. His New York Organ Ensemble featured James Carter and Amina Claudine Myers. In the mid-1980s, he was also part of the jazz supergroup The Leaders, which included tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, drummer Famoudou Don Moye, pianist Kirk Lightsey, and bassist Cecil McBee. In 1991, Bowie recorded the opening theme for the eighth and final season of the television series The Cosby Show.

Although seen as part of the avant-garde, Bowie embraced techniques from the whole history of jazz trumpet, filling his music with humorous smears, blats, growls, half-valve effects, and so on. His affinity for reggae and ska is exemplified by his composition "Ska Reggae Hi-Bop", which he performed with the Skatalites on their 1994 Hi-Bop Ska, and also with James Carter on Conversin' with the Elders. He also appeared on the 1994 Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, which was produced to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African-American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time.

In 1993, he played on the David Bowie album Black Tie White Noise, including the song "Looking for Lester", which was named after him. (Lester and David Bowie were not related.)

Bowie took an adventurous and humorous approach to music,

Bowie died of liver cancer in 1999 at his Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York house he shared with second wife Deborah for 20 years. In 2001, the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded Tribute to Lester. In 2020, Bowie was featured in a mural painted by Rafael Blanco in his hometown of Frederick, Maryland.

Discography

As leader Title Year Label Numbers 1 & 2 1967 Nessa Gittin' to Know Y'All (features Bowie conducting the Baden-Baden Free Jazz Orchestra) 1970 MPS Fast Last! 1974 Muse Rope-A-Dope 1976 Muse African Children 1978 Horo Duet (with Phillip Wilson) 1978 Improvising Artists The 5th Power 1978 Black Saint The Great Pretender 1981 ECM All the Magic 1983 ECM Bugle Boy Bop (with Charles "Bobo" Shaw) 1983 Muse Duet (with Nobuyoshi Ino) 1985 Paddle Wheel

Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy Title Year Label I Only Have Eyes for You 1985 ECM Avant Pop 1986 ECM Twilight Dreams 1987 Venture Serious Fun 1989 DIW My Way 1990 DIW Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy (with the Art Ensemble Of Chicago) 1990 DIW The Fire This Time 1992 In & Out The Odyssey Of Funk & Popular Music 1999 Atlantic When the Spirit Returns 2000 (recorded Oct. 1997) Birdology

Lester Bowie's New York Organ Ensemble Title Year Label The Organizer 1991 DIW Funky T. Cool T. 1992 DIW

With the Art Ensemble of Chicago Title Year Label Old/Quartet - Roscoe Mitchell 1967 Nessa Numbers 1 & 2 - Lester Bowie 1967 Nessa Early Combinations - Art Ensemble 1967 Nessa Congliptious - Roscoe Mitchell 1967 Nessa A Jackson in Your House 1969 Actuel Tutankhamun 1969 Freedom the Spiritual 1969 Freedom People in Sorrow 1969 Pathe Marconi Message to Our Folks 1969 Actuel Reese and the Smooth Ones 1969 Actuel Eda Wobu 1969 JMY Certain Blacks 1970 America Go Home 1970 Galloway Chi-Congo 1970 Paula Les Stances a Sophie 1970 America Live in Paris 1970 Freedom Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass 1970 America Phase One 1971 America Live at Mandell Hall 1972 Delmark Bap-Tizum 1972 Atlantic Fanfare for the Warriors 1973 Atlantic Kabalaba 1974 AECO Nice Guys 1978 ECM Live in Berlin 1979 West Wind Full Force 1980 ECM Urban Bushmen 1980 ECM Among the People 1980 Praxis The Complete Live in Japan 1984 DIW The Third Decade 1984 ECM Naked 1986 DIW Ancient to the Future 1987 DIW The Alternate Express 1989 DIW Art Ensemble of Soweto 1990 DIW America - South Africa 1990 DIW Thelonious Sphere Monk with Cecil Taylor 1990 DIW Dreaming of the Masters Suite 1990 DIW Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy with Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy 1991 DIW Fundamental Destiny with Don Pullen 1991 AECO Salutes the Chicago Blues Tradition 1993 AECO Coming Home Jamaica 1996 Atlantic Urban Magic 1997 Musica Jazz

With the Leaders

Mudfoot (Black Hawk), 1986 Out Here Like This (Black Saint), 1986 Unforeseen Blessings (Black Saint), 1988 Slipping and Sliding (Sound Hills), 1994

As sideman With David Bowie Black Tie White Noise (Savage, 1993) With James Carter Conversin' with the Elders (Atlantic, 1995) With Jack DeJohnette New Directions (ECM, 1978) New Directions in Europe (ECM, 1979) Zebra (MCA, 1989) With Brigitte Fontaine Comme à la Radio (Saravah, 1971) With Melvin Jackson Funky Skull (Limelight, 1969) With Fela Kuti Stalemate (Afrodisia, 1977) No Agreement (Afrodisia, 1977) Sorrow Tears and Blood (Kalakuta Records, 1977) Fear not for man (Afrodisia, 1977) With Frank Lowe Fresh (Freedom, 1975) With Jimmy Lyons Free Jazz No. 1 (Concert Hall, 1969) Other Afternoons (BYG, 1970) With Roscoe Mitchell Sound (Delmark, 1966) With David Murray Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club (India Navigation, 1978) With Sunny Murray Sunshine (BYG, 1969) Homage to Africa (BYG, 1969) With Charles Bobo Shaw Under the Sun (Freedom, 1973) Streets of St. Louis (Moers Music, 1974) With Archie Shepp Yasmina, a Black Woman (BYG, 1969) Blasé (BYG, 1969) Pitchin Can (America, 1970) Coral Rock (America, 1970) With Alan Silva Seasons (BYG, 1971) With Wadada Leo Smith Divine Love (ECM, 1979) With others Funky Donkey Vol. 1 & 2 (Atavistic) (Luther Thomas & the Human Arts Ensemble) Under the Sun (Universal Justice) 1974 (Human Arts Ensemble) Funky Donkey 1977 (Circle) (Luther Thomas Creative Ensemble) Free to Dance (Black Saint), 1978 (Marcello Melis) 6 x 1 = 10 Duos for a New Decade (Circle), 1980 (John Fischer) The Razor's Edge/Strangling Me With Your Love (Hannibal, 12"), 1982 (Defunkt) The Ritual (Sound Aspects), 1985 (Kahil El'Zabar) Meet Danny Wilson (Virgin), 1987 (Danny Wilson) Sacred Love (Sound Aspects), 1988 (Kahil El'Zabar) Avoid The Funk (Hannibal), 1988 (Defunkt) Environ Days (Konnex), 1991 (John Fischer) Cum Funky (Enemy), 1994 (Defunkt) Hi-Bop Ska, 1994 (Skatalites) Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool (Impulse!), 1994 (Various Artists) appears on one track with Digable Planets Bluesiana Hurricane (Shanachie), 1995 with Rufus Thomas, Bill Doggett, Chuck Rainey, Bobby Watson, Will Calhoun, and Sue Foley Buddy Bolden's Rag (Delmark), 1995 (Malachi Thompson & Africa Brass) Not Two (Biodro Records), 1995 (Miłość and Lester Bowie) No Ways Tired (Nonesuch), 1995 (Fontella Bass) Mac's Smokin' Section (McKenzie), 1996 (Mac Gollehon) Hello Friend: To Ennis with Love (Verve), 1997 (Bill Cosby) My Secret Life (Calliope), 1998 (Sonia Dada) Amore Pirata (Il Manifesto), 1998 (Lorenzo Gasperoni Mamud Band feat. Lester Bowie) Smokin' Live (McKenzie), 1999 (Mac Gollehon) G:MT – Greenwich Mean Time (Island Records), 1999 (Guy Sigsworth) Talkin' About Life And Death (Biodro Records), 1999 (Miłość and Lester Bowie) Test Pattern (Razor & Tie), 2004 (Sonia Dada) Hiroshima (Art Yard), 2007 (The Sun Ra All Stars Band) The Ancestors Are Amongst Us (Katalyst, recorded live at Jazzfestival Saafelden August 28, 1987 and released 2010) - with Kahil El'Zabar and the Ritual Trio