For My Brother Prince Lasha

Prince Lasha and Chuck Fishman – September 2008

I was just reading the recent “Jazz Issue” of Wax poetics magazine. I was touched by reading in depth and very personal articles on jazz producers Joel Dorn and Creed Taylor. The memories of sessions and players gone by, the way the writers capture the “in the studio” or “on the road” stories – well it’s the kind of stuff I want to convey here, I’ll try, it’s a little more difficult for me to do it. So I’ll point you to some other blog posts that do particularly well in capturing the story of the “mystery” of Prince Lasha.

Prince Lasha Biography + Thoughts

Sax and reed man Prince Lasha (born William Lasha, Texas 1929, died December 12, 2008, Oakland, CA) inspires the kinds of stories you read in Wax Poetics. Prince Lasha entered my life in 2008 before he passed on in December. We lost so many musicians last year, especially sax men (for instance David ‘Fathead’ Newman), therefore I understand why you may have not yet read about Prince Lasha in a magazine like Wax Poetics, or in any other related blog, jazz thang, etc.

So I can’t even begin to explain who Prince Lasha is and why he is so special to me. He was a teacher to me, a person who had all the special insights on life. Here is a guy that could just make you laugh and laugh. Upon hearing I was Jewish, then he would go the other direction – go deep with me on the importance of Judaism and Jewish people (uh, ok Prince, I’m listening to your hustle). Prince’s long time collaborator, saxophonist Sonny Simmons – has a detailed time line about Prince’s career right here, with the most detailed discography to date.

My colleague over at Undercover Black Man points out the important beginnings of Prince Lasha’s career:

A teenage friend of Ornette Coleman’s in Fort Worth, Texas, Lasha started out on alto. He befriended Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane early in his career. Lasha would record with Eric Dolphy and, perhaps most notably, with Coltrane’s rhythm section on the 1963 LP “Illumination!”

All About Jazz has a wonderful interview with Prince Lasha written by Clifford Allen (here). I also saw that Clifford Allen wrote about his time spent interviewing Prince Lasha, and this quote from that time nails the essence of Prince:

One thing which really struck me about getting to know someone as deep in the music as Lasha was how listening to his records became like another conversation with him – the cadences in his solos were exactly like that of his speech. Bubbly, vibrant and overflowing with joy and poetry, they were like a long laugh and more than a few gentle prods in the direction of a complexity far greater than earthbound thought. Lasha had the habit of giving everyone he befriended a new name; he said it went back to his friendship with Ornette Coleman in Fort Worth in the Forties, when Ornette was “Captain Hornblower” and he was “Peasant Prince.” I became “Allen’s Alley” for Allen Eager, and my then-girlfriend was “Trolley for Molly.” My mom, Susan, was “Sweet Sue.” And so on. When he had musician friends over, he would pass the phone to them so that we could meet, and I always felt invited to the party, even though I could never be there in person – Lasha lived in Oakland, California and as a funds-short writer and student, I never seemed to have the bread together to buy a plane ticket out there. I figured it would happen eventually, but it never did.

By the way, he didn’t have a crazy nickname for me – Prince Lasha just called me “Brother Chuck” upon our first meeting. In 2008, I asked my friend Byard Lancaster (another great sax + reed man, I blogged about him for Earfuzz.com earlier) to introduce me to musicians in the Bay Area who I could work with. Oh man, Byard told me, well “Prince Lasha!” – a suggestion with great exclamation. I had already heard about Prince’s colleague Sonny Simmons from some beatniks in on the “North Beach” – San Francisco scene. Some of these cats had played with Sonny Simmons, but when I mentioned I was going to try and hook up with Prince, they were like “nah, he’s crazy! he carries a gun! he’s nuts!”.

Look, I called up Byard Lancaster and I was like, should I really call Prince Lasha? Byard says, “Call him!”.

So after assured I went and listened to the only Prince Lasha track I could find, “Congo Call” from the record – “Prince Lasha Quintet feat. Sonny Simmons : The Cry”. This song is really powerful, and I didn’t post it because it’s one of his most blogged about songs. Ubiquity even re-released the song on their “Jazz-Dance Classics, Volume 4″. There was something I heard that was really different in this song “Congo Call” – all the riffs I could memorize. I don’t listen to a lot of jazz, but there was just something here, I had never ever heard before in jazz. I can’t even quantify it, it’s some deep funk straight out of Texas with a spiritual jazz twist. But I also have told Prince Lasha directly, “there are only certain, very particular songs in your catalog like ‘Congo Call’ that are straight ahead enough for me to get connected to” … some of them are above at the top of the post. I delve into why I connect with them here in a bit.

Prince Lasha, being the amazing man he is, totally got what I was talking about – like he knew exactly why I liked certain songs from his catalog and disliked others. He knew my tastes!

Nat Hentoff liner notes for the album “Prince Lasha + Sonny Simmons : Firebirds” ; signed by Prince Lasha

So obviously I found no such “craziness” only warmth when I did finally catch up with Prince Lasha. Sonny Simmons, though, explains why people were put off by Prince Lasha’s honesty and warmth. I think only people like myself who are cut from the same weird funky cloth could get it. I’m going to get into breaking down the music here that I posted above, but first you should listen to Sonny Simmons’ recollections on first meeting Prince Lasha. The recollections Sonny shares with Odean Pope also go into Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons’ time in the 1960’s in New York City. These recollections from Sonny Simmons and Odean Pope are from Wanda Sabir’s tribute radio show to Prince Lasha recorded in January 2009.

The Music of Prince Lasha – 3 Songs for Your EarFuzz

1) “The Trane”

Ok here’s the review of the songs I posted. I told you about “Congo Call”. One of my other favorites is “The Trane” from Prince Lasha’s second album release “It Is Revealed”. I barely know anything about this album. Anyone got insights? Please share below in the comments.

Prince Lasha : It Is Revealed(Zounds L71863)

recorded. 63.05.??
pressed. 1963

Songs: Lost Generation – The Trane – Prelude To Bird.

Prince Lasha : flute. Sonny Simmons : alto sax. Clifford Jordan : tenor sax. Don Cherry : trumpet. Fred Lyman : fluegelhorn. Bill Wood, Orwille Harrisson : bass. Charles Moffett : drums. Rec. in NYC, USA. Producer : Fred Lyman.

“The Trane” to me is just otherworldly, like it is just so tight and loose all at the same time. The band creates so much space in the music and it lumbers along for almost 10 minutes. Lasha’s childhood friend Charles Moffett, here on drums, is just doing some next level things. Moffett plays with the beat so much but yet staying in pocket. Again this is another Lasha track where the opening riff is so memorable, that even at the most improvisational moment of the song, the main riff sticks in your head. The horn section is great. And sometimes Lasha almost is not there on ‘The Trane’ yet he’s like the glue holding all the horns together here – playing the flute as if it were keyboard sustaining chords. Lasha’s flute is really not prevalent in the mix, but it’s there doing it’s thing, listen! More prominent on ‘The Trane’ is trumpeter Don Cherry – which is so cool, because I didn’t check the session notes first – I was just like who is this trumpeter – I need to know! You hear Prince yelling a lot in this track at the band, just catching vibes with the group. What a discovery ‘The Trane’ is .. My mind is blown.

2) “Kwadwo Safari”

Prince Lasha : Inside Story (CBS unreleased; Enja 3073)
recorded. 65.??.??
pressed. 1974

Songs: Ethereal – Flight – Kwadwo Safari – Inside Story – Mary.

Prince Lasha : flute, alto sax. Herbie Hancock : piano. Cecil McBee :
bass. Jimmy Lovelace : drums.
Rec. in NYC, USA. Producer : Prince Lasha.

Prince Lasha with Herbie Hancock. Who knew? Prince hadn’t mentioned this record to me, the first few times we spoke. I found it on iTunes. “Kwadwo Safari” is the stand out track for me. Just the nice samba vibe, with Prince’s flute leading us through. I read somewhere that Hancock felt uncomfortable on the session. I also love that Prince did the saxes. I mean this is all Prince. This record was not released after its 1965 recording and was not heard until the 1970s for the first time. I called Prince Lasha in early December of 2008 to profess my love for “Kwadwo Safari” – and that was the last time we spoke. He said he was going in for surgery, he was really not as sharp as usual, but he did pick up on the fact that I had just found this song and that I really liked it. There are some great chants in the background.

3) “Just Us Blues”

Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison Sextet – Illumination ! (Impulse AS-49) recorded. 63.08.08
pressed. 1963

Songs: Nuttin’ Out Jones – Oriental Flower – Half And Half – Aborigine Dance In
Scotland – Gettin’ On Way – Just Us Blues.

Prince Lasha : clarinet, flute. Sonny Simmons : alto sax, English horn.
Charles Davis : baritone sax. McCoy Tyner : piano. Jimmy Garrison :
bass. Elvin Jones : drums. Rec. in NYC, USA. Producer : Bob Thiele.

At my first lunch meeting with Prince Lasha, he informed me of the
album ‘Illuminiation’ which is essentially the John Coltrane rhythm
section led by Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. I couldn’t find this one online for purchase, though Prince Lasha did show me that it has been re-released on CD. My favorite on this set is “Just Blues”. It just is such a nice blues-jazz piece. The song is heart warming. And the drums by Elvin Jones just keep this one moving so well. Just love this one. What’s kind of cool about the Prince Lasha songs that I do really get into, I remember the riffs so well. I can sing you the melody line to “Just Blues” anytime. It’s very similar to what Clifford Allen wrote earlier – “the cadences in his solos were exactly like that of his speech.” I can hear Brother Prince Lasha still talking to me in that way, just in that way man.

Honoring Prince Lasha

Oh yeah, I’m sure if you dig around the blogosphere, you will find more solved “mysteries” and more about Prince Lasha. For instance, I found this live concert in Philadelphia Prince Lasha recorded in 2005. I haven’t listened yet. Also Bill Leikam wrote a last note about Prince Lasha over at All About Jazz.com. Finally, I see a post here about the California Jazz Foundation and how their donations saved Prince Lasha’s teeth and allowed him to record a final record in 2008 which I hope to hear one day. Please make charitable donations in the honor of Prince Lasha to the California Jazz Foundation:

California Jazz Foundation,
1158 26th St.,
Suite 273,
Santa Monica, Calif., 90403
Attn: Director Sue Townsley

I was also working directly with Prince Lasha on some work for my group fONKSQUISh with producer G Koop. G Koop also told me he has some of his own tracks with Prince Lasha upcoming – so let’s hope for some posthumous Prince Lasha releases. Some pictures of the fONKSQUISh – Prince Lasha sessions can be found in this photo album, and also some pictures of our lunches at Prince Lasha’s favorite spot – we spent hours talking here at the Breads of India.

I knew those lunches with Prince Lasha were special. Good wine, good Indian food, and good friends. We’ll miss you Brother Prince. At one of those lunches at Breads of India, I asked Prince Lasha about my favorite song of his of all time, the “Congo Call”: