Happy Birthday, Loren Pickford! Grammy nominated saxophonist, flutist, pianist, vocalist, composer, and recording artist, Loren Pickford, has had a multifaceted career as his travels have led him through a virtual tour of American music ranging from modern jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, Brazilian music and New Orleans rhythm and blues. Loren has performed in jazz festivals, special concerts, hotels and a host of other professional venues world-wide, and has wowed critics with his musical abilities. He has composed and performed scores for movies (Warner Bros.), documentaries (PBS-Public Broadcasting Service), CBS, radio presentations (NPR-National Public Radio), Broadway, and modern classical impressionistic dance scores for world renowned dance troupes. He has recorded seven CDs which have garnered him high critical praise. He has been an active working member of the musical scenes in Kansas City, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Louisville, Amsterdam, and Paris. These range from his early on the road stints on the Southern “chitlins” circuit, playing saxophone with R&B blues legend Jackie Wilson, The Chi Lites, and Percy Sledge, to membership in the bands of Van Morrison, The Righteous Brothers, and on to later engagements with blues legends T Bone Walker, The Ray Charles Orchestra, Etta James, Albert Collins, Randi Crawford and others. In the modern jazz scene he has been a sideman in the bands of Chet Baker, Cecil Mcbee, Andrew Hill, Frank Rossolino, Shorty Rogers/Bud Shank, Bill Hardaman, George Cables, Nicholas Payton, Billy Higgins and many others. During his Los Angeles years, he was bandleader for the CBS TV shows “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Rhoda,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “The Paul Sand Show,” and “Doc.” Loren was also musical director for five seasons of The Improvisational Theatre Project at The Los Angeles Music Center, which was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Loren made a place for himself in the book “Who’s Who in American Theatre” as composer of scores for the Tony Award winning Broadway plays “Paul Sills Story Theatre” and “Metamorphosis,” Sam Shepard’s play “Angel City” (Los Angeles Mark Taper Forum), “American Folk Tales” (JFK Center for the Performing Arts), and a Chicago production of “Arabian Nights.” He has composed dance scores for Twyla Tharpe and The Portable Dance Troupe, and more recently, scores for NPR’s “A New Orleans Christmas” (traditional New Orleans piano), the PBS documentary “Master of Light,” (classical), as well as work contributing to the scores of the Warner Bros. movies “A Rat’s Tale,” “A Time to Kill,” and “A Perfect World.” As a jazz recording artist, leader and alto saxophonist, flutist, pianist and vocalist, international prominence came with his 1989 CD “Song for a Blue Planet,” featuring the rhythm section of George Cables, John Heard and Billy Higgins. His second Cexton Records release “Dancing in the Spirit Fires,” enjoyed similar high critical praise, twelve weeks on the charts, and a nomination for the 1991 Jazz Grammy Award. He toured France as guest soloist with The Paris Jazz Repertory Orchestra after which he returned to settle in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was signed to the Dinosaur label, and was producer and head of A&R. He recorded the acclaimed CD, “Elysian Fields,” featuring Brian Blade and Leroy Jones, which was followed by three more CDs on his own Earth Spirit label, “River Spirits,” “Mid City,” and the recent “Arcturus,” all earning critical high praise from reviewers from Jazz Times, Saxophone Journal, LA Jazz Scene, Cadence, JAM, OffBeat and other publications. After residing and working in New Orleans for fifteen years, Loren evacuated the city due to Hurricane Katrina, and relocated to Kansas City, Mo, in search of the musical roots of Charlie Parker, Jay McShann and other K.C. greats. He traveled from Kansas City on a tour of Germany and has been a travelling member of traditional New Orleans jazz groups, The Tuxedo Jazz Band, and the New Orleans All Stars of Jazz. Loren has also been devoted to musical education as a jazz educator. He was Director of Jazz Studies at Fresno City College. He received a grant from the American Jazz Foundation to work in the Kansas City schools playing and talking about music and music history, and was on the faculty of the KC Youth Jazz Camp. He is also an active watercolor artist, a sculptor, and a published poet (City Lights Journal and Epistrophy). Dennis and his wife moved back to NOLA in 2010 and he continues to be an integral component of the Crescent City Jazz Scene.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 12:00:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015