Coffee would be very nice for a Sunday: 
Lester Bowie this weekend. In concert from Berghausen Germany, recorded on March 24, 1994 and featuring James Carter on Tenor sax, Luis Bonilla on Trombone, Amina-Claudine Myers on Organ, Keyvin Bell on guitar and Don Moye on Drums – it was recorded at the 1994 International Jazz Week in Burghaussen.
Although seen as part of the avant-garde (Lester Bowie co-founded the legendary Art Ensemble Of Chicago), 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, which was produced 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 are 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.
Bowie died of liver cancer in 1999 at his Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York house he shared with second wife Deborah for 20 years. The following year, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 2001, the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded Tribute to Lester. In 2020, Bowie was featured in a mural painted by Rafael Blanco in his hometown of Frederick, Maryland.
Dive in – the music’s fine.
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