AKBAR
THE BEGINNING: ABOUT AKBAR MUHAMMAD, THE "MUSICIAN”
Too much to tell and too little time and space to tell it all, but in
the interest of being interesting, here is a little
history:
1958 — 1960
New York City - Played with George Wheeler in a sextet of tenor sax, trumpet, trombone and the traditional rhythm section of drums (George), piano and bass. Notable gigs: Small’s Paradise, Count Basie’s Bar, Apollo (talent show), Radio City Music Hall and countless parties, dances, and jam sessions. Still in high school and graduated from George Washington High in June 1960. Went to L.A. to attend college.
1960 — 1962
Los Angeles - Played with Al Williams and his Modern Jazz Majors while attending Compton College. Notable gigs: Lighthouse and the Hollywood Bowl (recorded live) and featured one of my compositions, entitled "Kimberly’s Suite," named for Al’s baby daughter, who is now a very beautiful woman. Al owned and operated the Jazz Safari in Long Beach , and later, the Birdland West jazz club in the same city. He is one of the prime organizers of the Long Beach Summer Jazz Festival (and from what I hear — in San Diego as well). During this period, I achieved certain honors: I was chosen as the Best Tenor Saxophonist in the College Jazz Series at the Lighthouse, headed by Howard Rumsey, and my composition (Children of the City) was voted the Best Original song. This got me mentioned in the Downbeat magazine that year, which I believe was around 1961 or 1962. I was known as Larry Williams during this period.
1962 — 1964
Got involved in the social issues of the time and joined the ranks of the Nation of Islam and dropped the slave name provided at my birth by my mother and pretty much stopped playing. I was called Larry 6X by the Nation of Islam and in using this name, it caused non-muslim musicians to avoid association with me. It seems that certain high minded people in the upper administration of the Nation, decided that playing in clubs where drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, loose men and women chasing each other down for sexual favors and using illegal drugs, would be too much temptation for the truly committed. I had been doing all of those things and I decided to step back a little and see if I was truly ready to become committed.
1964 — 1966 - Dropped out of college at Cal State Los Angeles and went on the road. The urge to play was too strong. I saw myself as one of the best around, but I toured with no-name people trying to make a name for themselves, while I was doing a lot of soul-searching about who I was and who I wanted to be. I had this belief and couldn’t let it go, but I couldn’t just stop being involved in music. This conflict within myself caused me to really look deep within. This trip, both internally and externally, took me through the Southern "chittling and greens" States, through the Midwest into Chicago, where I quit the band. I have forgotten the name of that band, but it was led by a saxophonist who hired me after hearing me play at a local jam session in Shreveport, LA. He and I got into a serious disagreement when I objected to his abusive treatment of his girlfriend, while he was driving us following a gig that night.. Naturally, that was the end of our relationship. Pretty soon, I grew restless during my stay in Chicago and moved on to New York City where I would find more familiar surroundings. Plus I believed I was ready for the BIG APPLE!
1966 — 1968
New York City - joined the Lefty Phillips band and played weekends in the mountain retreats upstate and some local gigs in the city. It was real special because I got to play with a real fine bass player whose name is John Orr, who did some gigs with the great Thelonius Monk. Lefty dropped me for Junior Cook, a very fine tenor sax man, who had played with Horace Silver. He told me that he owed him a favor, but the real truth was that he had a heavy drug habit and needed the gig more than I did. He also had name recognition while my name was "X." Who in fuck knew what that meant? Or even cared? My clean life style sometimes cramped the other guys groove, even though I tried to assure them that what they did was their business, but I don’t think saying it made very much difference.
1968 — 1974
Came back west to L.A. and joined up with the Horace Tapscott African Jazz Orchestra where I had some of my songs featured among his charts and played with some of the other young up and coming West Coast cats, including Arther "Black" Blythe! Nothing notable during this period though, because I was still hung up with the Muslim thing, you know…living clean and things. The good part about that was that one of the Captains of the famed FOI, just loved jazz music and was a high school buddy of Horace, when they had attended Jefferson High in South Central LA. This captain was a great fan of jazz and was consistently staging events that featured music and I got a lot of bookings for the many fund-raising bazaars all over the Southland from Santa Barbara to San Bernardino from this relationship, featuring small groups that I headed. Pretty soon, I did the worst thing a musician could do, I got a steady woman and my first son was born! Had to get a real job. I say that with tongue-in-cheek, but with truth.
1975 — 1994
Elijah Muhammad died and drastic changes took place within the religious organization I was affiliated with. I changed my name to Akbar Muahmmad and again, disappeared from the music scene. Had my own business for a while…"The ComeBack Snack Shop," and did pretty well, but that was the end of practicing and playing. Or so I thought. I closed the business after five years and got a job teaching music at John Adams Junior High for two years . Slowly, I moved back onto the music stage and played a few gigs at special events for the school, again using the small group format. From there, I hooked up with The Louis Burke 18-piece band, and he thought I was just the greatest and treated me that way too. I was his co-director and led the band at rehearsals and at gigs whenever he got sick. He was an old man then and was one of the most beautiful human beings God has ever blessed me to meet on this earth in my lifetime. We played for the rich and the poor and didn’t argue about money, because every member had another job and would often perform for free. The politicians loved it and so did many of the community organizations that couldn’t afford to pay what other groups were asking. After Louis died and I took over, I found out what a trip it was to try and keep that many people together. But it was not the same without Louis and the band slowly started drifting in many different directions. It was clear that it was over and I disbanded the band placing the charts and equipment in storage.
(2001 to Present)
I have completed my album, "Musician With a Day Job," and I am dedicating it to Louis Burke and all of the original band members who stuck with him until the end. He outlived some of them and those of us who are still around will never forget his influence upon our lives. I know that I won’t. It was Louis Burke who influenced my move from playing tenor sax all my life to picking up the alto as a first option. This album features only the alto sax, even though the photo on the front cover of the album shows me with a soprano sax. My graphic arts guy is the one who convinced me to find a recent picture with any connection to my music. The album also features songs from my songbook… all original music compositions that I have purposefully kept to myself, just so that I could be the first to record them. I have others and hope to record these very soon on my next album. But first, I need to get some valuable exposure for this album, "Musician With A Day Job." Admittedly, this music may not have broad appeal and take off like a rocket and now, I can definitely say that it has not lifted me to great fame and riches. It is not rap or rock, but there is a narrative included among the selections, that is focused on certain social issues which expressed my personal opinions. I don’t think an independent producer, representing independent money, would have allowed this piece on this album. I have some regret about it and about some of the other decisions that I am personally responsible for making against the advise of others. But I financed it entirely and I am entitled to make mistakes as long as I have not harmed or caused anyone to lose out but me. I am hoping that free-thinking people will really stop and listen and see the truth of the project someday.
FOR BOOKINGS, INTERESTED PARTIES MAY REACH ME AT:
(213) 280-2606