Alto saxophonist and flute player Loren Pickford, who over the last 40 years has been part of the music scenes in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, NYC, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Louisville, Amsterdam, Paris, New Orleans and Kansas City, will visit St. Louis for a performance at Brandt's at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 28.Most recently, Pickford has been living in Kansas City after being forced last year to evacuate New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina. His St. Louis gig is part of a "Going Home To New Orleans Tour" that will take him back to the Crescent City, where he's spent most of the last decade, via here, Memphis, Little Rock, and other points south.
Early in his career, Pickford worked on the road with R&B and blues legends Jackie Wilson, Ray Charles and T-Bone Walker, The Righteous Bros, The Chi Lites and Randi Crawford. He has also performed as a sideman with jazz artists such as Chet Baker, Cecil McBee, Andrew Hill, Frank Rosolino, Shorty Rogers, Nicholas Payton, Brian Blade, George Cables, Billy Higgins and many others, and has been a member of various traditional New Orleans jazz groups including the Tuxedo Jazz Band, the New Orleans All Stars of Jazz and the New Orleans Giants of Jazz. Pickford has also composed numerous scores for theater, dance, film, TV and radio.
Though they also draw on blues and New Orleans standards, Pickford's own quartet gets much of its current repertoire from the compositions of pianist John Brewer, who is joined in the rhythm section by bassist Micah Herman and drummer Brandon Draper. Tickets for Pickford's St. Louis show will be $10. For more information, visit Brandt's Web site.
1 comment:
For me, when Loren was in New Orleans, he was the musical leader there. Loren is a rare talent. Though he plays great sax and flute, I love him on piano. His compositions are always full of magic and spirit. Few people realize that this person is a wonderful visual artist, sculptor, prose writer, and all around artist a la Da Vinci, and renaissance Europe. Loren is the truly a rare spiritual conduit for a lot of light brought into this world. What a great service he does for us all. He's a big loss to New Orleans but the music biz there and some musicians aren't swift enough to realize it. Please welcome him in Kansas City all the bigness of your hearts. I hope you won't consider him just another saxophone player. Loren is much more than just another musician. He contributes so much ... I hope y'all can see it, and appreciate him for all the gifts and treasures he openly shares. Please honor him and treat him great as he deserves.
Thanks for allowing me this post.
Charlie Miller
New Orleans Trumpeter jazzhorn@gmail.com
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