Frank Lowe
b. 24 June 1943, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Although originally categorized as a ‘new thing’ (the US '60s free-jazz movement) player, Frank Lowe has grown into one of the most distinctive and thoughtful of contemporary tenor saxophonists. Growing up in Memphis, one of his first jobs was at the Satellite record shop and its offshoot label, Stax. A liking for the records of Gene Ammons developed into a fascination with the newer musics of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and the AACM. He attended the University of Kansas, then moved to San Francisco and studied with Rafael Garrett, Sonny Simmons and Bert Wilson. Moving to New York in the mid-60s, he worked with Sun Ra then, after a spell at the San Francisco Conservatory, he settled in New York, playing with numerous musicians from the jazz avant garde, including Rashied Ali ( DUO EXCHANGES), Alice Coltrane( WORLD GALAXY) and Don Cherry( RELATIVITY SUITE, BROWN RICE), while his own debut as leader— BLACK BEINGS—had Joseph Jarmanguesting. In the mid-70s he formed a group with Joe Bowie and Charles ‘Bobo’ Shaw, recording FRESH (which also featured Lester Bowie) and THE FLAM (with Leo Smith). While in San Francisco, he had met Lawrence ‘Butch’ Morris, who has become one of his most frequent collaborators ( CURRENT TRENDS IN RACISM IN MODERN AMERICA), as has Billy Bang, with whom he plays in the collective quartet Jazz Doctors ( INTENSIVE CASE) and in the violinist's own group ( VALVE NO 10). Always open to new ideas, Lowe has played with leftfield rock musicians such as Eugene Chadbourne and seems as comfortable with New York's '80s avant garde downtown scene as he does with '60s jazzers such as Cherry and Charles Moffett: indeed, his own recordings feature a diverse array of artists, from John Zorn ( LOWE AND BEHOLD) to Geri Allen and Grachan Moncur III ( DECISION IN PARADISE). As he told CADENCE magazine, ‘I've always tried to go in andout’, though adding that even when playing in, he likes to ‘experiment with time and colours’.