Byard Lancaster (right) with the late great Rufus Harley

Had a great experience recording and playing live with Byard Lancaster and supergroup last week.  Our recording for Porter Records came out beautifully, I’m looking forward to hearing the final mixes and Brian’s electronic re-fix as well.  Here are some thoughts I scribbled down about the man:

Check out Byard’s two-saxes-in-his-mouth-at-once action!    And his chanting and screeching like a wild bird. And his talk at the end of the set- you better go to the library and check out that number 9!  If you don’t believe him go look it up!  He is a beautiful, soulful,  66 year old man who is all about the music and the best way to get it to the people and make a living.  He played and lived with Sun Ra for 2 years, played with Elvin Jones, Mccoy Tyner, Sunny Murray, Archie Shepp, etc.  He also has been playing in Jamaica every year for the past 20 years and has given lessons to most major reggae horn players.  He played with Fela Kuti all over Africa in the 1970′s.  He is a music teacher in Philly and taught Stanley Clarke, Kevin Eubanks, and a bunch of others as young children.  He likes to take his penny flute with him on the way to the liquor store and play ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ for every child that he passes in the street.  The next time he goes out, all the children say, ‘Old man, where’s your flute? Play twinkle-twinkle!” He grew up with and is good friends with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright (Obama’s controversial black power pastor) and he loves to tell everyone he meets about what a great man Reverend Wright is and how he and Obama are still very close.   He also likes his steel reserve beer and women of all ages, sizes, and colors   He tends to fall asleep sitting up straight on the stage during the second set if it gets too late at night, still bobbing his head back and forth to the rhythm. They don’t make them like Byard anymore. I feel lucky to have shared a stage with him and gotten to share in the passing down of that Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, Elvin Jones lifeline.

Here is the lineup of the Byard Lancaster All-Stars that played live on Mar 1 in San Diego:

Byard Lancaster: tenor/alto/soprano saxophones, flutes, whistles, vocals, David Hurley: drums, Mike Hams: drums, Preston Swirnoff: fender rhodes, Kofi Andoh: percussion, Brian Ellis: Roland Ep-10, Rahsaan Davis: electric bass, Zach Hogan: electric bass.

Habitat Sound vs. Dub Traffik Control: MURDER ON GOLDEN HILL- SUPERMIX by Eddie Turbo

Porter Records continues it’s great collaboration series, matching current practitioners of jazz/hip hop/electronic music with obscure free jazz legends.  So far we’ve seen Odeon Pope with the Misled Children and Elliot Levin with Seesaw Ensemble.  Next will be Brian Ellis with Byard Lancaster- the release will be a double cd with the actual session recordings on disc 1 and Brian’s electronic/fusion refix version on disc 2.  I will be recording the sessions at The Habitat in the next few weeks and playing in the supergroup on Fender Rhodes and Ace Tone Organ, also playing with Byard and Brian will be David Hurley, Kofi Andoh, and many others.  Should be a good sound explosion. We’ll be playing a few live shows with Byard and the group in San Diego and Riverside- see flyer below.

Brian, Dave, and I also have a project that will be coming to light soon- AMAFUKU!- an electric trio that we tracked last year and have been sporadically working on in our busy schedules.  The tracks are coming out great and should be ready for light soon!

www.myspace.com/brianellis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byard_Lancaster