{"title":"Frank Lowe","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eFrank Lowe grew up two worlds away from free jazz. He was raised in Memphis in the early 1960s in a neighbourhood shared by Charles Lloyd, Hank Crawford and Carla Thomas, learned saxophone from Packy Axton, a co-owner of Stax Records who also played the instrument, and worked as a teenager in the Stax studio and record store fetching coffee for Booker T. and the MGs. His early influences were Gene Ammons and King Curtis. What happened next is one of the more unusual trajectories in free jazz: he moved to San Francisco, studied with Donald Rafael Garrett, Bert Wilson and Sonny Simmons, and ran into Ornette Coleman, who told him he should go to New York. He went, began playing with Sun Ra from 1966 to 1968, and recorded with Alice Coltrane on \"World Galaxy\" (Impulse!, 1971) and with Rashied Ali on the duo album \"Duo Exchange\" (1973). He had had no long apprenticeship in standard jazz: by the time he was recording, he was playing with John Coltrane's former rhythm section. His debut as a leader, \"Black Beings\" (ESP-Disk, 1973), recorded with Joseph Jarman from the Art Ensemble of Chicago and a young William Parker on bass in what was Parker's recording debut, announced a saxophonist of ferocious commitment and direct lineage from the second wave of free jazz. \"The Flam\" (Black Saint, 1975) followed with Leo Smith, Joseph Bowie and Charles \"Bobo\" Shaw, recorded at Generation Sound Studios in New York. Lowe spent his later years moving between Paris and New York, working with Don Cherry, Eugene Chadbourne and Joe McPhee, and recording for CIMP until his death on 19 September 2003, aged 60.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"frank-lowe-the-flam-1976-italian-black-saint-bsr-0005-vinyl-lp","title":"Frank Lowe - The Flam (1976 Italian Black Saint BSR 0005 Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrank Lowe - \u003cem\u003eThe Flam\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - Italian Black Saint (BSR 0005, Harmony S.R.L. distribution)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLowe had an unusual entry into the music. He grew up in Memphis singing in church and hearing blues on Beale Street, picked up the tenor at twelve, and moved to San Francisco, where a chance meeting with Ornette Coleman led to Coleman suggesting he try New York. There was no long apprenticeship. He went from amateur to playing with Sun Ra, and by 1971 he was recording with Alice Coltrane on \u003cem\u003eWorld Galaxy\u003c\/em\u003e, working alongside the surviving members of John Coltrane's rhythm section. His leader debut \u003cem\u003eBlack Beings\u003c\/em\u003e came out on ESP-Disk' in 1973 with Joseph Jarman of the Art Ensemble of Chicago in the front line and William Parker making his recording debut on bass. By 1975 Val Wilmer was describing him as impossible to avoid on the New York scene, turning up at every session, rehearsal and sit-in across the city. He had also just spent time as a sideman with Don Cherry. \u003cem\u003eThe Flam\u003c\/em\u003e catches him at exactly that point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe band is drawn from two of the most important Black musicians' collectives of the era. Bowie and Shaw were both founding-generation members of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, and Leo Smith came out of the AACM in Chicago. That gives the session its character: three horns operating as equals rather than as a leader plus support, with Blake moving between abstract bowed lines and slapped electric funk and Shaw keeping the whole thing upright without ever pulling focus. \"Sun Voyage,\" Bowie's piece, opens the record. \"Flam\" is Lowe's and the longest thing here at fourteen minutes. \"Be-Bo-Bo-Be\" is Shaw's. \"Third St. Stomp\" is credited to all five. \"U.B.P.,\" Smith's contribution, is under a minute and closes the album. Scott Yanow's assessment for AllMusic was that the performances are better heard than described, which is a reasonable thing to say about a record this physical.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the Italian pressing on Black Saint BSR 0005, distributed by Harmony S.R.L., with lacquers cut at Phonoster.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Black Saint","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43819995496507,"sku":null,"price":100.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_7826.jpg?v=1784505184"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/frank-lowe.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}