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Hubert Laws


Daniel A

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No thread for Hubert Laws yet?

Laws was brought out of what seems to be semi-retirement for a concert in Stockholm yesterday in a packed Konserthuset (apparently his first time in Sweden!). And he still has his technique and that wonderful tone. They did a big band version of one of my favorite tunes by anyone, "Morning Star", which was a respectful update own Laws' own first recording of the tune.

Laws himself came out as a true gentleman, very humble and appreciative of both the audience and the other musicians and also shared personal reminiscenses in an honest fashion.

He made many great recordings, but I can't help thinking that some really great soloing is not getting the appreciation it deserves simply because it was on CTI.

Any thoughts on Hubert? 

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I think Hubert Laws is one of the many alumni of Mongo Santamaria's band who perfectly understood the balance of Cuban music, jazz, and rhythm & blues that Mongo wanted - he wrote quite a number of excellent examples during the seven years with the band, and played some mean Texas tenor along the way - that's Laws belting it out on Cold Sweat!

His early albums for Atlantic are nice and feature a similar mix - there was a Rhino CD combining two of them:

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https://www.discogs.com/Hubert-Laws-The-Laws-Of-Jazz-Flute-By-Laws/master/962886

Another example of that blend is his reunion with the Jazz Crusaders, one of my favourite Cuban Jazz albums:

R-4830659-1376842846-7802.jpeg.jpg

Edited by mikeweil
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Hubert's tenor playing came as a jolt to me when I first heard it, and put his flute playing into a different light. I always found him to be a little "light", not in chops, but in weight. The I heard his tenor playing and realized that he wasn't looking for that on flute, nor did he need to. He had plenty of that on tenor already. So, flute was a different trip for him than was tenor. Still not an excuse for those lame pseudo-disco records of the late 70s but oh well, that was just business, as they say.

I believe that he's been a lifelong Jehovah's Witness, which is apropos of nothing except that it's a strain of African-American culture that is both long-standing and under-looked. what with the emphasis on the Baptist/Sanctified churches and their influence on/in "jazz".

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I think some of Hubert's very best playing is on "The California Concert", and "Afro Classic".  The "Rite Of Spring" and "Morning Star" aren't bad either, used to have those on vinyl.  When I recently picked up Ron Carter's "Spanish Blue" in Japan, Hubert's playing on "So What" is quite nice.  "Romeo and Juliet" which I had on cassette as a kid, I still remember as being a disaster.

Edited by CJ Shearn
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Would love to know more about his beginnings.  Was he part of a group around Jack Wilson in LA?  And how did they intersect with the Horace Tapscott group?  And how did the Jazz  Crusaders fit into all this?

Edited by mjzee
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I think his solo on Morning Star is really good:

I dig the part when he activates the Octavider.

Yesterday, Laws said that he first played that tune with "Mongo Santamaria's Organization", like it was an enterprise rather than an orchestra, but maybe I misheard. 

Not that it matters, or is even plausible, but was he the first one to play flute with an Octavider on record? 

 

Edited by Daniel A
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Laws did not join his Jazz Crusaders friends on their move to California as he had been awarded a scholarship for Juiliiard in New York. He studied classical flute with Julius Baker there.

I find In The Beginning may be the best of his CTI efforts, as it has more coherence - Afro-Classic to me sounds like trying either to be classical or jazz, and doesn't find a real bridge between the two. 

Laws played some amazing solos as a sideman: Listen to his piccolo solo on Afro Blue on Mongo Santamaria Explodes At The Village Gate; Some great solos on Ron Carter's Uptown Concersation; free form playing on Chick Corea's Is Sessions; he was an excellent reader and extremely versatile.

No Laws solo here, but this is one of the pieces he wrote for the band:

 

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I remember seeing him on TV over here many years ago doing ‘Winter In America’ with Gil Scott-Heron. There were two flautists in the band - not sure about the other one.

I think my introduction to him was on various Quincy Jones albums such as ‘Smackwater Jack’. He’s also nicely featured on a couple of tracks on the Chick Corea ‘Inner Space’ 2LP set (left off the CD issue I think).

6 hours ago, mikeweil said:

Another example of that blend is his reunion with the Jazz Crusaders, one of my favourite Cuban Jazz albums:

R-4830659-1376842846-7802.jpeg.jpg

That one seemed to come and go pretty quickly, back to obscurity. Glad I got a copy.

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On 17.3.2018 at 7:17 PM, clifford_thornton said:

I think I've really only listened to him as part of early Chick Corea aggregations, but always enjoyed his playing (esp. on tenor) there.

Laws never played tenor sax on those early Chick Corea dates for Atlantic and Solid State, that was Joe Farrell or Bennie Maupin.

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More notable for Sonny playing some of the purest bebop of his post-1972 career, but Laws sounds good too.  

 

 

Have always preferred Laws with others rather than his own dates. He's excellent on McCoy's "Together," recorded in 1978 — an all-star date that gels quite nicely. This is Laws' tune.

 

 

Edited by Mark Stryker
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