Born in the historic village of Bartonsville in Frederick County,
Maryland, Bowie grew up in St Louis, Missouri. At the age of five he
started studying the trumpet with his father, a professional musician. He
played with blues musicians such as Little Milton and Albert King, and
rhythm and blues stars such as Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, and Rufus
Thomas. In 1965, he became Fontella Bass's musical director and
husband.[2] He was a co-founder of Black Artists Group (BAG) in St
Louis.
In 1966, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a studio musician,
and met Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell and became a
member of the AACM. In 1968, he founded the Art Ensemble of
Chicago[1] with Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors. He
remained a member of this group for the rest of his life, and was also a
member of Jack DeJohnette's New Directions quartet. He lived and
worked in Jamaica and Africa, and played and recorded with Fela Kuti.[3]
Bowie's onstage appearance, in a white lab coat, with his goatee waxed
into two points, was an important part of the Art Ensemble's stage show.
In 1984, he formed Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, a brass nonet in which
Bowie demonstrated jazz's links to other forms of popular music, a
decidedly more populist approach than that of the Art Ensemble. With
this group he recorded songs previously associated with Whitney
Houston, Michael Jackson, and Marilyn Manson, along with other
material. His New York Organ Ensemble featured James Carter and
Amina Claudine Myers. In the mid 1980s he was also part of the jazz
supergroup The Leaders. Featuring tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman,
alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, drummer Famoudou Don Moye, pianist
Kirk Lightsey, and bassist Cecil McBee. At this time, he was also playing
the opening theme music for The Cosby Show.
Although seen as part of the avant-garde, Bowie embraced techniques
from the whole history of jazz trumpet, filling his music with humorous
smears, blats, growls, half-valve effects, and so on. His affinity for reggae
and ska is exemplified by his composition "Ska Reggae Hi-Bop", which he
performed with the Skatalites on their 1994 Hi-Bop Ska, and also with
James Carter on Conversin' with the Elders. He also appeared on the
1994 Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red
Hot + Cool. The album to raise awareness and funds in support of the
AIDS epidemic in relation to the African-American community, was
heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time.
In 1993, he played on the David Bowie album Black Tie White Noise,
including the song "Looking for Lester", which was named after him.
(Lester and David Bowie were not related - David Bowie's birth name
was David Jones.)
Bowie took an adventurous and humorous approach to music and
criticized Wynton Marsalis for his conservative approach to jazz
tradition.
Lester Bowie died of liver cancer in 1999 at his Fort Greene, Brooklyn,
New York house he shared with second wife Deborah for 20 years.[3]
The following year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of
Fame.[4] In 2001, the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded Tribute to
Lester.
Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999)
2005 -2022 AACM New York City Chapter, Inc