Arnold Lawrence Finkelstein (July 10, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York – April 22, 2005 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

) was an American jazz saxophonist.

Career

Lawrence studied clarinet in his youth before switching to saxophone. He played from age 12 in clubs in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

, and by age 17 was performing at Birdland, at one point working a double bill with

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

. He played with

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Early life, family and education Thad Jones was born i ...

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American Swing music, swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948� ...

and Duke Pearson but did not make his first recordings until 1966, playing on

Chico Hamilton Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton (September 20, 1921 – November 25, 2013) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He came to prominence as sideman for Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, and Lena Horne. Hamilton became a bandleader, f ...

's '' The Dealer''. He worked for several years with Hamilton, and became a soloist on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'' from 1967 to 1972. His first records as a leader appeared in 1968. In the early 1970s Lawrence played with

Willie Bobo William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Willie Bobo, was an American Latin jazz percussionist and jazz drummer of Puerto Rican descent. Bobo rejected the stereotypical expectations of Latino m ...

, then joined

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and ...

in 1974. He did a world tour with

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...

in 1978–79, and released a few more records under his own name before touring with

Louie Bellson Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paolino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer ...

in the early 1980s. He composed a symphony entitled ''Red, White and Blues'', which was premiered by the Amor Artis Chamber Orchestra in

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...

; Lawrence,

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

, and Julius Baker all soloed in the performance. Lawrence had taught from the middle of the 1970s, working as an artist in residence in Kentucky and Kansas. In 1986, he stopped recording and touring and founded the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City; among the program's students were

Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved critical acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...

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Larry Goldings Lawrence Sam Goldings (born August 28, 1968) is an American jazz keyboardist and composer. His music has explored elements of funk, blues, and jazz fusion, fusion. Goldings has a comedic alter ego known as Hans Groiner. Life and career Golding ...

John Popper John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter, known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, and frontman of the rock band Blues Traveler. Early life Popper was born on March 29, 1967, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a ...

, Peter Bernstein and Spike Wilner of Smalls Jazz Club. He moved to Israel in 1997, where he founded the International Center for Creative Music, an education facility open to both Jewish and Arab students. He played regularly in Israel and owned his own nightclub called Arnie's Jazz Underground. He suffered from lung and liver cancer late in life, and died in Jerusalem in 2005.

Discography

As leader

* ''You're Gonna Hear from Me'' (Project 3, 1966) * ''Look Toward a Dream'' (Project 3, 1968) * ''Inside an Hour Glass'' (Embryo, 1970) * ''Unobstructed Universe'' (Adamo, 1976) * ''Renewal'' (Palo Alto, 1982) * ''Arnie Lawrence and Treasure Island'' (Doctor Jazz, 1983)

As sideman

With

* '' The Dealer'' (Impulse!, 1966) * '' El Exigente: The Demanding One'' (Flying Dutchman 1970) * ''

Peregrinations ''Peregrinations'' is an album by American jazz drummer Chico Hamilton featuring performances recorded in 1975 and originally released on the Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note, 1975)

References

*Jason Ankeny, Arnie Lawrenceat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Arnie 1938 births 2005 deaths Musicians from Brooklyn Jazz musicians from New York City American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists Musicians from New York (state) Palo Alto Records artists 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians The Tonight Show Band members