[Michael Foster]

Frank Lowe has always been one of my favorite players out there... especially his tone. I know he used a florida link but I'm more curious about how open it was or what strength reeds he used... quite the sound.

 

[Tim Price]

More so in later years a Wolf Tayne.

I can't remember the tip opening. For reeds I remember the usual Hemkes and some other LaVoz things.

Check this too;

http://www.timpricejazz.com/articles/franklowe.html

 

[Michael Foster]

awesome tim! thanks a bunch! great interview!

im basically trying to get my head around his sound... was this guy using a 'hard' setup i.e. open mouthpiece/harder reeds or what? a really fantastic musician.

 

[Tim Price]

Frank Lowe....was Frank Lowe.

We'd hang...listen to music all day. He never said a bad word about anyone. EVER.

What a cool guy. He was not only one of my hero's...but a real friend to me.
A real friend I learned a lot from musically.We'd listen to Warne Marsh, Art Pepper or King Curtis with Chubby Checker. Frank loved it. He had these ideas on music...almost basic/ but refreshing compared to the intellectual dung that can get slung. He was fun, deep and street smart. I had a NY clinic with me and Mike Brecker and I brought Frank along to hang. The conversation between him and Brecker was amazing. Frank was asking him about the 2ed DREAMS record...and also when Mike saw Trane in Philly. Which was wild cuz- Mike told me this a lot. During the concert- Trane put the horn down & beat his chest. Frank had seen Trane do that as well. Not much later Trane passed. Odd but...I still wonder....:scratch:

Frank Lowe was the essence of hip. He had an essence...a respect for the music
that was contagious. I drew much knowledge and inspiration from him.
My life would have not been the same had I not known him. He hipped me to
things about jazz that I felt very, very fortunate to be involved
with.

Lowe even dedicated a song to me he composed called "Tims Whim." Written
on a series of notes and tones I laid on him once when practicing.

Things are notthe same without his vibe on 43ed St.
He could just make you want to practice and study...and LISTEN.
He loved everything... he was so open minded it just blew me away.
Kinda an end of an era IMHO.

To be honest- Frank also at the end had a Conn tenor.
He WAS the sound.
Nothing stopped it.

This music will never see a Frank Lowe again.
Hell, they didn't appreciate him when he was here. He was a beautiful guy and someone I think of a lot. Like I said 43st ain't the same.

 

[mephipps]

I met Frank in the early 80s.He was working at a book store(!) maybe Barnes and Noble midtown.Did they exist then?
I asked him about the tenor he was playing with Alice Coltrane at the Berkeley Jazz fest years earlier(with Archie Shepp!)
The Selmer looked white.He laughed, told me he had it sandblasted.Something he said Dave Liebman told him about....

 

[Rackety Sax]

...and also when Mike saw Trane in Philly. Which was wild cuz- Mike told me this a lot. During the concert- Trane put the horn down & beat his chest. Frank had seen Trane do that as well. Not much later Trane passed. Odd but...I still wonder....:scratch:
...

I think this (Trane beating his chest) is in one of the bios about him.

Val Wilmer (I think) took a photo of Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe in the 60s - at the back of a tow truck they appeared to be operating. Such was the free jazz scene at the time, I suppose.

 

[Tim Price]

enjoy ;

http://www.timpricejazz.com/articles/franklowe.html

I knew Frank, and miss him. Guys like Frank - or Rufus Harley...they were the REAL backbeat of reality in jazz.

 

[tinpalaceroach]

I met him once through a mutual friend drummer D. Sharpe and he was a cool cat who talked his butt off. this was at the old Soundscape loft on west 57 th st in NYC where many heavy experimental sessions took place. Lowe had one of the deepest most emotional sounds on tenor or for that matter any sax I ever heard live. I believe early on when he came over from California he was playing on a Berg Larsen piece but I am not sure now it was so long ago, if you check the photos on his early albums it looks like a Berg.

 

[Rackety Sax]

Found it, not a bio though:

 

[mephipps]

Frank Lowe told me about going to see Miles(at Carnegie hall?) with Bob Berg.
Said Miles came over to Bob and knocked the horn out of his mouth in the middle of his solo......