Doug Lawrence (jazz musician)


Doug Lawrence is an American jazz tenor saxophonist from Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Early life

Lawrence, the youngest of six children, was born into a musical family in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His father and two of his older three brothers were professional musicians who had worked and recorded with Jack Teagarden, Elvis Presley, Ike & Tina Turner, Edgar Winter, The Righteous Brothers, Louie Bellson, and others, and both of his sisters played musical instruments. His mother was a dancer and played piano. Lawrence graduated from Highland High School in Albuquerque and studied music at North Texas State University and the University of New Mexico and was a member of the Jazz Knights, a jazz ensemble of the West Point Band.

Career

Lawrence spent over 25 years in New York City, collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Roy Eldridge, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Teri Thornton, and Benny Goodman, among others. He has also recorded with many prominent jazz musicians such as Buck Clayton, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Wild Bill Davis, Hank Jones, Mel Lewis, Frank Wess, Grover Mitchell, Loren Schoenberg, Butch Miles, and Jimmy Cobb, as well as recording six albums as a leader: Soul Carnival, High Heel Sneakers, Big Band Swing, Street Wise, Doug Lawrence New Organ Trio, and Doug Lawrence and Friends. Lawrence served in the West Point Band's Jazz Knights in the early 1980s as the lead tenor saxophonist.
Lawrence has been a featured performer at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Village Vanguard, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and at the international concert halls and jazz festivals including the Sydney Opera House, the Moscow International House of Music, the Blue Note Tokyo, the Nice Jazz Festival, and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Since 1996, Lawrence has been, and is currently, the featured tenor saxophone soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra. In 2020, Lawrence began working in organist Joey DeFrancesco's band, Tenor Madness. After DeFrancesco's death in 2022, the band briefly continued on with Dan Trudell taking DeFrancesco's place on organ. This band featured longtime Harry Connick Jr., tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon, and Lawrence in a quartet or quintet setting. Lawrence also works regularly with pianist George Cables. Lawrence leads his own 3–6 piece combo as well as a Latin jazz band called Doug Lawrence y Su Nuevo Mexicanos. Lawrence frequently appears as guest clinician and artist-in-residence at universities and jazz camps around the world. In November 2023, Lawrence was inducted into the New Mexico Music Hall of Fame, and on February 4, 2024, the Count Basie Orchestra won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, an album that features Lawrence on numerous tenor saxophone solos.

Personal life

Lawrence lives in New Mexico, U.S. He has one daughter.

Discography

As leader

Soul Carnival High Heel Sneakers Big Band Swing Street Wise Doug Lawrence New Organ Trio
  • ''Doug Lawrence and Friends''

As sideman

With Buck ClaytonA Swingin' Dream Live at the Village Vanguard Swings The Village New York Ballads
With the Count Basie OrchestraLive in Japan Singing, Swinging, Playing A Very Swinging Basie Christmas All About That Basie Ella 100: Live At The Apollo Live At Birdland Late Night Basie The Count Basie Orchestra Swings The Blues
With Grover MitchellTruckin Live in Paris Hip Shakin
With Loren ShoenbergJust a Sittin' and a Rockin Time Waits for No One Manhattan Work Song Out of This World
With others'