RIP Arnie Lawrence

[White Lightning]

The great Arnie Lawrence, a musician without boundaries, has died peacefully in Jerusalem yesterday. He was 67 years old.

You may know Arnie from his Chico Hamilton and/or Doc Sverinson collaborations, but for us Jerusalemites, he was a living legend - a great and beloved teacher of scores of talented young Jazzists.

He will be sorely missed.

RIP Arnie.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

DAMN!

Is there some gig in heaven that everyone is trying to make? This has been a hard week.

Mike

[sheldonm]

DAMN!

Is there some gig in heaven that everyone is trying to make? This has been a hard week.

Mike

...no kidding, what a week !

[Big Al]

DAMN!

Is there some gig in heaven that everyone is trying to make? This has been a hard week.

Mike

...no kidding, what a week !

What he said!

[sidewinder]

Very sad news. Fond memories of seeing Arnie with Louis Bellson's orchestra back in the 1970s. May he rest in peace..

[SGUD missile]

I remember Arnie from his 5tet w/ Doc S days back in the 60s ..

Great guy, great teacher, great open minded musician ..

RIP Arnie:

BTW: that makes three: NHOP, Stan Levey , and now Arnie L.

[mikeweil]

I only have his Children of All Ages LP, but who else did such a unique project on record?

God bless his soul.

[cannonball-addict]

He really started a lot of careers. I have heard numerous musicians talk about him as having helped them get their starts. Of course this was largely due to him starting the jazz program at New School in NYC.

RIP

[pasta]

Rest in Peace, Arnie, we will miss you.

[AllenLowe]

this is getting a little scary - and I'm not feeling so well myself -

[JSngry]

I only have his Children of All Ages LP, but who else did such a unique project on record?

I used to have an album on Project 3 Records that he led, Look Toward A Dream[/I]. The band was Lawrence, Larry Coryell, Richard Davis/Hal Gaylor/Carline Ray on basses, & Roy Haynes on drums. It was a big sloppy mess, but it certainly was also unique. I give him credit for taking the chance on something like this rather than making just another bop record that would have been neither here nor there. This one was THERE, if you know what I mean, but still, I admired the intent, and to tell the truth, it was Coryell's out of control caterwauling (on guitar and vocally) that made the album a lot worse than it would have been otherwise.

Probably doesn't sound like I'm trying to say something good about Lawrence, but I am. He wasn't afraid to go someplace out of the norm, and I respect the hell outta that.

[White Lightning]

I attended Arnie's funeral yesterday, here in Jerusalem. Scores were there, many young musicians.

Arnie was a true hero of the peace movement as well. He taught both Israeli and Palestinian student in the International Center for Creative Musict in Jerusalem which he founded. Often you'd find him playing with either Israeli musicians or Palestinian musicians or both.

A little anecdote that represents the man and his life:

A friend of mine saw him in his last days in Hadassa hospital in Jerisalem. He sat in his wheel chair in the IC unit, with his Alto hanging from its handle. Then, out of nowhere, a group of youngsters surrounded him. One could tell they were Ultra-Orthodox Jews by their cloths. The youngsters pull out some musical instruments and began playing for Arnie right in the corridor of the ICU. Arnie himself put the Alto sax to his mouth and joined in. My friend who witnessed that, said that an unusuall quietness emveloped the ICU. A truly magical moment.

That was Arnie.

He will be missed.

[catesta]

We have much to thank him for.

RIP

"A world without music would be truly a wasteland"

-- Arnie Lawrence