William B. "Prince" Lasha (or Lawsha)
born Fort Worth, TX, September 10, 1929
died Oakland, CA, December 12, 2008
Read his story on Sonny Simmons's website.
A leghty interview (by Clifford Allen) can be read on AAJ.
The recording below was up on dime a few years ago (likely shortly after it was made), it's in fairly good sound and of course it's a treat to hear anything by Prince Lasha!
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Prince Lasha Quartet
Philadelphia, PA (USA), Slought Foundation
April 10, 2005
Prince Lasha - soprano sax, alto sax, bass clarinet
Odean Pope - tenor sax
Tyrone Brown - bass
Craig McIver - drums
1. (12:23)
2. (15:59)
3. Saxphone Street (Tribute to Henri Selmer) 5:34
4. (18:07)
5. (8:31)
6. (19:21)
TT: 79:59
Sound: A-
Source: audience recording
No lineage info
6 comments:
a short obituary:
LAWSHA, William B.
Friday, December 19, 2008
William B. Lawsha Better known as Prince Lasha born September 10, 1929 in Wellington, TX passed away on December 12, 2008. Prince Lasha was well known by fellow musicians and fans for his creative and innovative works in Jazz music for over 6 decades. Prince Lasha wrote, performed and recorded his music all over the globe. Prince Lasha was currently engaged in a revival of his past works when he passed. William Lawsha (Prince Lasha) son of Amy Juanita and WB Lawsha leaves behind five sons and four daughters. Memorial Services are noon on Saturday December 20th at the Mountain View Cemetery, located at 5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA. Any charitable donations should be directed to the California Jazz Foundation or the Jazz Foundation of America (in memory of Prince Lasha). California Jazz Foundation, 1158 26th St., Suite 273, Santa Monica, Calif., 90403 Attn: Director Sue Townsley Jazz Foundation of America, http:// www.jazzfoundation.org/ 322 W. 48th St. 6th Flr, N.Y., NY 10036. 212-245-3999 x29. Attn: Amy Merrill Assoc. Director
This article appeared on page Z - 99 of the San Francisco Chronicle
FLAC + info:
http://rapidshare.com/files/179072691/Prince_Lasha_2005-04-10_Philadelphia.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/179072251/Prince_Lasha_2005-04-10_Philadelphia.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/179065935/Prince_Lasha_2005-04-10_Philadelphia.part3.rar
Thanks for this post. Rest In Peace, Prince Lasha.
Thanks for this post.
Have not seen anything else in blogland to mark his passing.
'congo call' from his album 'the cry' is one of my favourite pieces of music.
RIP Prince Lasha.
Thank you for the wonderful post, Ubu.
Here's what Odean Pope wrote me about P.Lasha. He gave me a permission to post it:
Dear Barak,
Thank you so very very much for your kind, warm and noble thoughts about
the passing of my very great friend Prince La Sha. Prince passed last Friday
morning December 12, 2008 at 1:25am.
Prince and I was very close friends, I spoke with Prince shortly before he passed
and we all knew that Prince were very sick unfortunately there wasn't any thing
that any one could do for him.
I met Prince in 1979 he was a very warm very special man. I would go to California
two or three times a year and Prince would insist that I stayed at his home we
would sometimes practice all night up into the next day. Durning this time was
when I composed and arranged the tribute composition "PRINCE LA SHA".
Prince played the Baritone Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, and Flute
and he played all of them very very good. Three weeks ago he called me up like
he would always do and played his Baritone Saxophone over the telephone
and we talked about musical concepts.
Prince was one of the true forerunner of this wonderful contemporary music that
we play. I feel very honored and very blessed to have shared band stands, concerts
dates and recording dates with this true forerunner.
Rest in peace Prince, we all love you.
Best,
Odean Pope
Barak, thanks so much for posting this here, too, it's wonderful! (I already read it but didn't dare to put it up here myself.)
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