Home » Jazz Musicians » Noah Howard

Noah Howard

One of free jazz's more enigmatic figures, alto saxophonist Noah Howard was documented so infrequently on record and spent so much time living in Europe that the course of his career and development as a musician remain difficult to trace, despite a late-'90s renewal of interest in his music.

Howard was born in New Orleans in 1943 and began playing music in church as a child. He started out on trumpet (the instrument he played in the military during the early '60s) but subsequently switched to alto, and got in on the ground floor of the early free jazz movement. Most influenced by Albert Ayler, Howard made his debut as a leader for the groundbreaking ESP label, recording a pair of dates in 1966 (Noah Howard Quartet and At Judson Hall).

Dissatisfied with the reception accorded his music and the avant-garde movement in general in America, Howard relocated to Europe, where he initially lived in France. He played with Frank Wright in 1969, and in 1971, he recorded with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink (among others) on Patterns, which was issued on his own AltSax label.

Howard recorded a bit for FMP in the mid-'70s, and in 1979 also did a track for France's Mercury division, "Message to South Africa," that went unissued due to its militancy. Howard flirted with jazz-funk sometime in the '80s and early '90s, a phase that went largely undocumented.

He returned to free jazz in the late '90s and began recording for labels other than AltSax, including CIMP (1997's Expatriate Kin), Cadence (1999's Between Two Eternities), Ayler (Live at the Unity Temple), and Boxholder (2001's Red Star). Thanks to the relative increase in visibility, Howard began to get more of his due as an early avant-garde innovator.

Gear


Tags

Album Review

Noah Howard: Quartet At Judson Hall Revisited

Read "Quartet At Judson Hall Revisited" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Avrebbe compiuto ottant'anni lo scorso 6 aprile, Noah Howard, nativo di New Orleans, se non fosse scomparso ormai da tredici anni, lasciando peraltro una cospicua mole di incisioni a proprio nome, fino alla fine, anche se è innegabile che la sua stella--se così possiamo definirla--ha avuto il suo periodo di maggior fulgore--o comunque visibilità, e pertinenza storica--tra la metà degli anni Sessanta e i primissimi Settanta. Questa preziosissima ristampa ce ne restituisce, riuniti in un unico CD, i primi due ...

8
Album Review

Noah Howard: Quartet To At Judson Hall, Revisited

Read "Quartet To At Judson Hall, Revisited" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Saxophonist Noah Howard is a musician deserving wider recognition. Born in New Orleans in 1943, like many black musicians he began playing music in the church. After a stint in the army, he settled on the West Coast where the avant-garde was progressing outside the purview of New York, which at the time was considered the center of all things jazz. The West Coast was also the origin of such as avant-gardists as Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and ...

2
Album Review

Noah Howard Quartet: The Bremen Concert

Read "The Bremen Concert" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Alto saxophonist Noah Howard was a key player in the free jazz movement of the 1960s. He moved into the realm of that decade--a time when the atmosphere was rife with saxophonists primed to the calling. Born in New Orleans, Howard characterized his approach with a distinctive sensibility for gospel music that unraveled enticingly in his explorations. His improvisations revolved on the turnstiles of a ripe imagination, and it was no surprise, then, that his first record as a leader, ...

340
Album Review

Noah Howard: The Black Ark

Read "The Black Ark" reviewed by Kurt Gottschalk


Noah Howard's 1969 album The Black Ark has, in an unintended way, lived up to its name in recent years. It has become, to free jazz obsessives, a sort of Ark of the Covenant, a fabled and much sought after grail and jazz message boards lit up when it was announced that the British label Bo'Weavil would be putting the album out on CD. Recent years have also shown a renewed interest in Howard's career, with new ...

237
Album Review

Noah Howard: The Black Ark

Read "The Black Ark" reviewed by Chris May


Like “rarely performed" operas, “hard to find" recordings are often obscure for a prosaic reason: they're no good. Here's a monumental exception to the rule. The Black Ark--released in small numbers on the Freedom label in 1969, out of print almost overnight, and a holy grail for collectors practically ever since--is forty minutes of passionate and thrilling music, new-thing free jazz as great as practically any that came out of the late 1960s without saxophonist John Coltrane's name on it. ...

449
Profile

Noah Howard

Read "Noah Howard" reviewed by Andrey Henkin


A move to Europe can often take a successful musician out of the tight focus of American listeners. Though the cross-pollination of Europe and America is now well established, ex-pat Americans often give up their native renown for the increased work and appreciation to be found across the pond. Though Noah Howard, once one of the young darlings of the new music scene in '60s New York, plays the city quite rarely, he has maintained a successful ...

83
Album Review

Noah Howard Quartet: At Documenta IX

Read "At Documenta IX" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The discovery (or rediscovery) of the music of Noah Howard is an experience in the most soulful avant gardist since Albert Ayler. Howard, born 1943 in New Orleans, participated in the New York free music scene of the 1960s recording for ESP and performing with Archie Shepp, Frank Lowe, Rashied Ali, and Sun Ra. He has lived as an American Expatriate in Europe for several decades.

His music from the 1960s and 70s, to the delight of fans, ...

Read more articles
195

Obituary

Noah Howard Funeral / Wake / Memorial Services Info: Free Jazz Alto Saxophonist Dies at 67

Noah Howard Funeral / Wake / Memorial Services Info: Free Jazz Alto Saxophonist Dies at 67

Source: JAZZzology by Richard Watters

American-born free jazz alto saxophonist Noah Howard has died at the age of 67 years early morning Friday, September 3rd, 2010...a free jazz artist of the 60s and 70s, Mr. Howard came to critical acclaim again after returning to free jazz in the 90s due to recorded efforts with Cadence Jazz among other labels...first recorded in 1966 and finding a lukewarm reception to his music he moved to Europe living in Paris then Brussels...(image of Noah Howard by Noah Howard) ...

392

Obituary

Noah Howard: Free Jazz Alto Saxophonist Dies at 67

Noah Howard: Free Jazz Alto Saxophonist Dies at 67

Source: JAZZzology by Richard Watters

American-born free jazz alto saxophonist Noah Howard has died at the age of 67 years early morning Friday, September 3rd, 2010 A free jazz artist of the 60s and 70s, Mr. Howard came to critical acclaim again after returning to free jazz in the 90s due to recorded efforts with Cadence Jazz among other labels...first recorded in 1966 and finding a lukewarm reception to his music he moved to Europe living in Paris then Brussels...(image of Noah Howard by Noah ...

Photos

Music

Videos

Similar

Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto
Albert Ayler
saxophone, tenor
Evan Parker
saxophone, soprano
Tim Berne
saxophone, alto
Steve Lacy
saxophone, soprano
Joe McPhee
woodwinds
Pharoah Sanders
saxophone, tenor
Sam Rivers
saxophone, tenor
David S. Ware
saxophone, tenor
Frank Wright
saxophone, tenor

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.