In 2005 I had the opportunity to interview the late, great Arnie Lawrence, teacher to countless musicians in Jerusalem. I met him at the Artel jazz club where he regularly performed, thinking this would be a simple interview about his days in Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show band, founding the New School jazz program in New York and how he ended up in Israel. It turned into a 2-hour live performance in which he brought ten musicians into the studio, from Russian immigrants to yeshiva students.
He and his diverse students crammed into the studio with sax, flute, violin, piano, drums, guitar, bass, harmonica and a candelabra which they lit live on air as they jammed.
Thank you to Nevo Castel, Meron, Elad Omer, Gil Asayas, Bob, Isaac Rosenbaum, Ben Simons, Ronit, Malkah Fleisher, Anna Immanuel, and all the people from 20 years ago who made this a memorial evening. To this day I still bump into people telling me what an influence Arnie had on their lives and I am glad I burned this on CD and can now upload it as a podcast.
For jazz fans, you may enjoy stories of Archie Shepp, Chico Hamilton, Roy Haynes, Larry Coryell, Carline Ray, Yang Jing, John Garcia Gensel and more. Hear how Arnie’s Judaism, spirituality and appreciation for humanity inspired countless youth in Israel and around the world in a conversation that ranges from Anne Frank to China, to Beit El and more.
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