He was one of the truly unique voices of Jazz tenor. Have you heard the album "Light and Lovely"? Harry Edison on trumpet, it is a very special set.

 

Great stuff. Never managed to figure out what he was actually doing on the horn. Magic.

 

it is so true warp x. he plays a Link STM and doesn't sound like any of the noises i can create with a STM. Same with Ben Webster, some times i think, dam, how can these cats gets these sounds out of a Link. Back to the woodshed for me.

 

Truly unique!!! Not many Lockjaw transcriptions around.

 

There's no method of notation for what he does.

 

Indeed!!!

 

Even Johnny Griffin, who spent years playing with him, states in an interview that he could never find out how Lockjaw played and sounded the way he did.
Having seen him a couple of times, including in small venues where you could see him very closely, his embouchure was also very unusual: he seemed to blow into his horn like into a tin whistle, without any "bite". Certainly part of the magic. He was my favorite player long before I started to appreciate the usual big names like Dex, Sonny or Trane. One reason is I found all others lacking expression and articulation... The so called old school.

 

Thanks for sharing .

Indeed a unique tenor voice with a sound as big as can be (he played a 10* Florida Otto Link during that time). I've seen him live several times in that same period and uploaded some soundclips to youtube of him touring with Arnett Cobb and Johnny Griffin in the Netherlands in 1984 (posted before here on SOTW, but you can never share that kind of music enough IMO!):

- "Lester Leaps In":

- "Bag's Groove":

 

Those clips are awesome mrpeebee. Were you in the club or in front of the radio?

 

I was present in that club (Nick Vollebregts Jazz Cafe in Laren) and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot). The concert was also live broadcasted by TROS Sesjun, a Dutch live jazz radio show (I had my tape-recorder programmed at home to capture it). I visited the same group at a concert in Amsterdam in the same week, didn't want to miss one second of these giants performing live in my country .

 

Plus the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, he was self taught.
Wonderful player.

 

it goes with out saying really. No teacher would have taught him to do things like that.

 

I've always thought of Lockjaw as the perfect combination of Sonny Stitt and Archie Shepp. Everything he plays is super hip, and his sound is so tastefully abrasive...

 

This.

 

Man he could rock the house!!! Didn't look like he worked up a sweat while doing it. Too cool!!!

 

THE solo which got me hooked: 12 bars of plain blues in F. Everyone has that album, and knows it inside out. Just check Lockjaw's articulation on those 12 bars, and that tenor sound. Starts @ 1:00.

 

Awesome

 

Thanks for the videos guys.

Lockjaw is someone I discovered later, thanks in large part to SOTW.

 

I know!!! I think it's great. I worked with a lot of guys who worked extremely hard to make it look easy. Like a lot of guys who warm up before the gig and purposefully sound bad. Then the gig starts and they rip your head off. That is a part of the culture and I love it!!!

 

mascio //i know him on youtube by my frist time,,,,want more people click to view his video,,,he just very style and great,,,i found ben webster shadow on his video,,,