Noah Howard was a Free-Jazz and alt saxophone legend. He was born in 1943 in New Orleans, the heartland of Jazz. Growing up in a city vibrating with Gospel and Dixieland he lived music in all its forms and played music from childhood in his church. Noah first learned trumpet and later switching to alto, tenor and soprano saxophone. Noah first studied with Dewey Johnson in Los Angeles and later on in San Francisco. When he moved to New York he started playing with Sun Ra. As an innovator influenced by John Coltrane and Albert Ayler he became a driver of the early Free Jazz movement and quickly developed into one of the world's most celebrated alt saxophonists. He recorded his first LP Noah Howard Quartet as a leader in 1965 and his second LP Noah Howard at Judson Hall in 1966 both for the groundbreaking ESP Records label. In 1969 he appeared on Frank Wright's album One For John and on Black Gipsy with Archie Shepp. With his third record as leader, internationally acclaimed Black Ark, together with Arthur Doyle, Noah entered the Jazz hall of fame as one of the most brilliant and innovative Free Jazz musicians. In 1971 he created his own record label AltSax and published most of his music under that label. In the same year he recorded Patterns in the Netherlands with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink. Disenchanted by the lack of appreciation for musical avant-garde in the USA, Noah moved to Paris in 1972, lived in Nairobi in 1982 and finally moved to Brussels late 1982, where ...

• published: 13 Jul 2011
• views: 1668
• author: MegaLamka