Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie (11 October 1941–8 November 1999 ) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Biography
Born in Frederick, Maryland, Bowie grew up in St Louis, Missouri. At the age of five he started studying the trumpet with his father, a professional musician. 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. He was a cofounder of BAG (Black Artists' Group) 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 with Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors. 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 Africa, 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 made popular by Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Manson, and the Spice Girls -- along with more "serious" material. His New York Organ Ensemble featured James Carter and Amina Claudine Myers.

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 to 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 again with James Carter on "Conversin' With The Elders")

Also 1994, Bowie appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant 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 Magazine.

Bowie took an adventurous and humorous approach to music, and criticized Wynton Marsalis for his conservative approach to jazz tradition.

Bowie died of liver cancer in 1999. The following year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 2001 the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded Tribute to Lester.

with The Leaders

 * Mudfoot (Black Hawk) 1986
 * Out Here Like This (Black Saint) 1986
 * Unforeseen Blessings (Black Saint) 1988

As sideman

 * Sound (Delmark) 1966 (Roscoe Mitchell)
 * Free Jazz No. 1 (Concert Hall) 1969 (1 track with Jimmy Lyons)
 * Funky Skull (Limelight) 1969 reissued 2006 (Melvin Jackson)
 * Sunshine (BYG) 1969 (Sunny Murray)
 * Homage to Africa (BYG) 1969 Sunny Murray
 * Yasmina, a Black Woman (BYG) 1969 (Archie Shepp)
 * Blasé (BYG) 1969 (Archie Shepp)
 * Pitchin Can (America) 1970 (Archie Shepp)
 * Coral Rock (America) 1970 (Archie Shepp)
 * Other Afternoons (BYG) 1970 (Jimmy Lyons)
 * Seasons (BYG) 1971 (Alan Silva and the Celestial Communication Orchestra)
 * Comme à la Radio (Saravah) 1971 (Brigitte Fontaine)
 * Funky Donkey Vol. 1 & 2 (Atavistic) (Luther Thomas & the Human Arts Ensemble)
 * Under the Sun (Universal Justice) 1974 (Human Arts Ensemble)
 * Streets of St. Louis (Moers Music) 1974 (Charles Bobo Shaw & the Human Arts Ensemble)
 * Fresh (Freedom) 1975 (Frank Lowe)
 * Funky Donkey 1977 (Circle) (Luther Thomas Creative Ensemble)
 * No Agreement (FAK) 1977 (Fela Kuti)
 * Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club (India Navigation) 1978 (David Murray)
 * New Directions (Black Saint) 1978 (Jack DeJohnette)
 * New Directions in Europe (Black Saint) 1979 (Jack DeJohnette)
 * Divine Love (ECM) 1979 (Wadada Leo Smith)
 * Free to Dance (Black Saint) 1979 (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)
 * "Zebra"(MCA) 1989 (Jack DeJohnette)
 * Environ Days (Konnex) 1991 (John Fischer)
 * Black Tie White Noise (Savage) 1993 (David Bowie; 5 songs, including instrumental Looking for Lester)
 * 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)
 * Conversin' with the Elders 1996 (James Carter)
 * 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)
 * 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)