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Tom Lawton

Tom Lawton grew up in Arcola, PA and attended Methacton High School (remarkable only in that I attended the same school at that time), where he was a brilliant, but chronically truant student. He displayed great promise as a classical pianist, dabbled in British Rock and Roll, and eventually fell into Jazz. He was abbetted in his early education by Philly legend Gerald Price, who gave Tom his early pointers in the art.

He later began studies in Philadelphia with renowned pianist Bernard Peiffer, who had emigrated here from France. After Bernard's death, Tom began a long association with the late bassist Al Stauffer, who had accompanied M. Peiffer for several years.

Tom and Al were once among Philly's most visible proponents of free improvisation and were often seen at the Painted Bride and Khyber Pass back when those venues still supported the style. In ensuing years, they were seen playing more subdued (but no less creative) jazz styles at the Fountain Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel. Tom now just subs at the Four Seasons, but can be seen frequently at Chris' Jazz Cafe. He teaches at Bucks Community College, and is considered by many to be one of Philadelphia's brightest undiscovered talents. His playing is awe-inspiring. Tom defines "two handed" piano playing. In his younger years he destroyed a number of pianos at our high school. His power is now slightly more well-controlled.

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Album Review

Jim Levendis: The Big Band Project

Read "The Big Band Project" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Jim Levendis knew that time was running out. In his mid-seventies, the veteran Philadelphia-area trumpeter and educator had contracted ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), the effects of which were rapidly sapping his energy and ability to function. As the disease progressed, Levendis confided in Len Pierro, a band mate in the Ward Marston band, that there was one thing he would dearly love to do while he was still able: record some of the big-band arrangements he had written over the ...

7
Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Mark Corroto


If we alter President John F. Kennedy's 1962 moon spaceflight speech just a bit, it easily fits the big band adaptation of Muhal Richard Abrams' magnum opus Soundpath, “We choose to perform this composition not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept." Accepting the challenge was band leader Bobby Zankel and ...

2
Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala


Nel 2011 il sassofonista di Filadelfia Bobby Zankel, leader della big band The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound e promotore di laboratori di musica contemporanea, propose a Muhal Richard Abrams un lavoro compositivo che avrebbe dovuto essere affidato alla band, con la direzione dello stesso pianista. Operazioni di questo tipo erano già state realizzate da Zankel negli anni precedenti con le musiche per big band di Julius Hemphill, dirette da Marty Ehrlich, poi con composizioni di Rudresh Mahanthappa e Steve ...

10
Extended Analysis

Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017) was a revered pianist, composer and teacher of great capability and range who, in addition to his own achievements, inspired and influenced many jazz musicians in both the mainstream and avant-garde categories. Largely self-taught as a result of a personal decision to follow his own path, and early on pursuing church music, big band, blues, bebop and avant-garde jazz in his home city of jny: Chicago, he grasped music from its roots, and so was able ...

8
Interview

Tom Lawton: Not Less Than Everything

Read "Tom Lawton: Not Less Than Everything" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Not known, because not looked for But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Between two waves of the sea. Quick now, here, now, always-- A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything) --T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets; “Little Gidding" This poetic quotation captures the essence of pianist Tom Lawton. He is a musician who is listening “in the stillness" to serve the whole group, and he ...

10
Interview

Tom Lawton: Jazz and the Modern Art of Man Ray

Read "Tom Lawton: Jazz and the Modern Art of Man Ray" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


In his book, Jazz Modernism: From Ellington And Armstrong To Matissse And Joyce (Yale University Press 2004), author Alfred Appel depicts the numerous but easily overlooked parallels between jazz music and modern art and literature. Many jazz musicians are art aficionados, and many of the twentieth century's great artists loved jazz and often kept record collections. Jazz icons Miles Davis and Tony Bennett have exhibited their artwork at major galleries. There's only a small distance from the ears to the ...

9
Album Review

Michelle Lordi: Drive

Read "Drive" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


It's difficult to conceive how this wonderful album of restrained and subtly rendered ballads came to be called Drive, a term which leads the listener to expect a package of revved up swing or rock. However, you don't have to be a cryptologist to realize that it comes from the last track, “Drive," which contains the line “Who's gonna drive you home?" This sense of melancholy and hoped for love, like so much of the American Songbook, is the essence ...

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Performance / Tour

Tom Lawton Joins Keyboard Mania at the Colonial Theatre on November 14th

Tom Lawton Joins Keyboard Mania at the Colonial Theatre on November 14th

Source: Martin Weinberg

On Thursday November 14, Tom Lawton will appear in a benefit concert at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville for Keyboard Mania. All proceeds benefit the Kimberton Waldorf School Steinway Restoration Fund. Tom Lawton is a highly respected and gifted jazz pianist based in the Philadelphia area. His playing is “superbly performed, full of complex textures, exciting solos and imminent discoveries.” See Tom's All About Jazz interview for more. The concert features a range of exciting and diverse artists, covering classical, ...

1

Performance / Tour

Tom Lawton Special Concert In Old City Phila. On Thurs. 2/21!

Tom Lawton Special Concert In Old City Phila. On Thurs. 2/21!

Source: Jim Miller

Jazz Bridge in Old City Philadelphia! presents pianist Tom Lawton, appearing at the Arch Street Friends Meeting House — 320 Arch Street in Philadelphia, 19106 — on Thursday, February 21st. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $10, $5 for students, and are only available at the door. Information: 215-517-8337. Tom Lawton is one of the area’s most in-demand and most inventive players, composers and teachers. Lawton studied extensively with the famed French piano legend Bernard Peiffer, and is among ...

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Recording

Pianist Tom Lawton's 'Retrospective/Debut' CD Release Party

Pianist Tom Lawton's 'Retrospective/Debut' CD Release Party

Source: All About Jazz

Tom Lawton Quartet with Special Guest Norman David: Retrospective/Debut

Tom Lawton, a top jazz pianist and composer based in the Philadelphia area and Bucks/Montgomery Counties has just released a new CD on the Dreambox Media label consisting mostly of his original compositions written over three decades. The musicians include Tom (pianist, composer, leader), John Swana (trumpet), Ben Schachter (tenor and soprano sax), and special guest Norman David (clarinet).

This CD is rich with original ideas, stimulating and moving improvisations, and ...

"Philadelphia pianist Tom Lawton has been piling up the pieces on 'Retrospective/Debut' for a while...as well as honing a formidably two-handed approach to the piano that slips easily between mainstream and more outside styles. Recorded over three days, this double-CD set is almost too much music to handle, packed full of ambitious, unconventional charts and committed playing. Even when the music is in a mainstream Jazz idiom, Lawton’s interest in the long form ensures it’s never business-as-usual: these are some of the most elaborate heads on record since Mingus wrote 'Sue’s Changes.' These structures demand a lot of the musicians, and of the listener too...though repeated listening helps make things clearer. Lawton has assembled an excellent band to perform his music (of whom only trumpeter John Swana is especially well-known): they handle its fearsome complexities with impressive ease. Swana’s big moments mostly come on the first disc, notably the trumpet/piano duet 'Grey Matter Doesn’t;' on the second disc saxophonist Ben Schachter gets more of a spotlight on, and there are also two tracks for just piano and rhythm.

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Big Band Project

Self Produced
2022

buy

On Point

CoolCraft
2020

buy

Soundpath

Clean Feed Records
2020

buy

Restless

Jean Therapy Music
2019

buy

Drive

Self Produced
2015

buy

Tuesday Overture

From: At This Time
By Tom Lawton

Cameo

From: Retrospective/Debut
By Tom Lawton

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