Alex Henderson

Encore:
Hubert Laws

By Alex Henderson

More than half a century has passed since Hubert Laws featured a young Chick Corea as a sideman on his debut as a leader, The Laws of Jazz (Atlantic), back in 1964. If Laws’ long recording career teaches us anything about the veteran flutist (who turned 76 on Nov. 10th), it is that he has never been comfortable playing one type of music exclusively. Laws is one of the most influential jazz flutists of the last 50 years—young flutists in jazz often cite Laws and the late Herbie Mann as primary influences—yet he also has a long list of classical credentials. Over the years, the Houston native (who now lives in Los Angeles) has turned his attention to everything from
John Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice” and The Beatles’ “Let It Be” to the works of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart
and Stravinsky. In 2015, Laws’ relationship to both jazz and classical music was underscored when arranger Steve Barta employed him on an orchestral reworking of French pianist Claude Bolling’s "Suite for Flute and
Jazz Piano Trio." When Bolling produced the original version of the
seven-movement suite in 1975, only four musicians were included: himself, flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal
(the well-known classical musician from France), bassist Max Hédiguer and drummer Marcel Sabiani. For Barta’s 2015 remake, a jazz quartet (Laws, pianist Jeffery Biegel, bassist Mike Valerio and drummer Michael Shapiro) joined forces with a string quartet and a full orchestra.

“Steve decided that he would revisit this piece by Claude Bolling, but he wished to do it with an orchestral
arrangement,” Laws explains. “So when Steve conceived this, he asked me to participate and to
replace Jean-Pierre Rampal—who was the original flutist. Jean-Pierre did not improvise. All the parts for
the flute were actually written out with the exception of some places where I took the liberty to improvise.
It was written as a suite for flute and jazz piano and it’s really the piano that’s doing most of the jazz playing.
The flute is playing all the written parts. So when I was asked to do it, I think that what Steve Barta had in
mind was taking it to a different level as far as adding some jazz inflections to the flute part—which I tried to do.”

Laws embraced "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio" long before Barta recruited him for the 2015 remake:
in the ‘70s, he performed it live with Bolling himself. “I played some concerts with Claude in New York and San Francisco during that period of time,” Laws recalls.
“That was without any orchestral accompaniment: it was just me with piano, bass and drums. And we
played one of the movements on The Johnny Carson Show, as I recall.”

Laws continues: “Of course, I was familiar with the piece in the ‘70s. But I had to reorient myself. It had
been some years since I’d played it. The piece is demanding because you’re following a script. It’s difficult because it’s like someone has written the script for you and you try to deviate from the script and add
your own personality. When you have a lot of notes already written, it makes it very difficult. In jazz, you
have an outline, but you put the meat on the bone yourself, so to speak. But here, the meat’s already on the bone—and you have to follow the pattern as given.”

Laws’ relationship with the European classical tradition goes back to his youth. As a student at the Juilliard School of Music in the early ‘60s, Laws studied with the famous classical flutist Julius Baker. But when he recorded The Laws of Jazz in 1964, it was evident that he was quite capable of playing straightahead jazz. Along the way, Laws stresses, he has learned how blessed he was to have the ability to improvise proficiently.

“When I went to the Juilliard School of Music, I was preparing myself to play in a symphony orchestra,” Laws explains. “I thought that by going there, I could learn to play classical music. But I have an innate gift for improvisation that’s very special and I just took it for granted. I spent a lot of time working
out the difficulties in playing flute sonatas and flute concerti, but I would have spent more time on
improvising if I’d had the realization that I have now: being able to improvise is a very special gift.”

During the ‘70s, Laws was known for playing everything from jazz to classical to funk and hasn’t
grown any less eclectic in recent decades. Laws (brother of  saxophonist Ronnie Laws and singers Debra and Eloise Laws) paid homage to the iconic singer/pianist Nat King Cole in 1998 on Hubert Laws Remembers
the Unforgettable Nat King Cole, and was mindful of the
European classical tradition on Hubert Laws Plays Bach
for Barone and Baker in 2005 and Flute Adaptations of Rachmaninov and Barber in 2009. Laws stresses that as the music world enters 2016, his main concern will continue to be not the style or genre of the music, but the quality.

“To me, music is just music,” Laws asserts. “What appeals to me in the jazz idiom or the classical idiom—
or any idiom—has to be the spirit of the music or the music itself. Music is like people in that it incorporates
cultures and I think that people from various cultures have validity. Doing the music from these different
cultures shows that you have a broad-range view of the world and you are not narrow-minded. It shows that you don’t think that one type of music is superior
and that’s all you’re going to do. I never did feel that way. I get quite a bit of enjoyment out of playing and
presenting various music to and from different cultures.”

For more information, visit hubertlaws.com. Laws is at
Baruch Performing Arts Center Jan. 10th as a guest of the
New York Flute Club in its tribute to Harold Jones. See
Calendar.

Recommended Listening:

• Hubert Laws—The Laws of Jazz/Flute By-Laws
(Atlantic-Rhino, 1964)
• Hubert Laws—Crying Song/Afro-Classic/The Rite of Spring (CTI-BGO, 1969-71)
• CTI All-Stars—California Concert: The Hollywood
Paladium (CTI-Sony Masterworks, 1971)
• Milt Jackson—Goodbye (with Hubert Laws) (CTI, 1973)
• Hubert Laws—In the Beginning
(CTI-Columbia/Legacy, 1974)
• Stanley Turrentine—If I Could (MusicMasters, 1993)