Biography

Hubert Laws, Jr. was born November 10, 1939, in the Studewood section of Houston, Texas, the second of eight children to Hubert Laws, Sr. and Miola Luverta Donahue. Many of his siblings also entered the music industry, including saxophonist Ronnie and vocalists Eloise, Debra and Johnnie Laws. He began playing flute in high school after volunteering to substitute for the school orchestra's regular flutist. He became adept at jazz improvisation by playing in the Houston-area jazz group the Swingsters, which eventually evolved into the Modern Jazz Sextet, the Night Hawks, and The Crusaders. At age 15, he was a member of the early Jazz Crusaders while in Texas (1954-60), and also played classical music during those years.

Winning a scholarship to New York's Juilliard School of Music in 1960, he studied music both in the classroom and with master flutist Julius Baker, and played with both the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (member) and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 1969-72. In this period his renditions of classical compositions by Gabriel Fauré, Stravinsky, Debussy, and Bach on the 1971 CTI recording Rite of Spring—with a string section and such jazz stalwarts as Airto Moreira, Jack DeJohnette, Bob James, and Ron Carter—earned him an audience of classical music aficionados. He would return to this genre in 1976 with a recording of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.

While at Juilliard, Laws played flute during the evenings with several acts, including Mongo Santamaría, 1963-67 and in 1964 began recording as a bandleader for the Atlantic label, and he released the albums The Laws of Jazz, Flute By-Laws, and Laws Cause. He guested on albums by Ashford & Simpson, Chet Baker, George Benson, and Moondog. He also recorded with younger brother Ronnie Laws album The Laws in the early 1970s. He also played flute on Gil Scott-Heron's 1971 album Pieces of a Man, which featured the jazz poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". During the 1970s he was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet. He can also be heard playing tenor saxophone on some records from the 1970s.

In the 1990s Laws resumed his career, playing on the 1991 Spirituals in Concert recording by opera singers Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. His albums on the Music Masters label—My Time Will Come in 1990 and, more particularly, Storm Then Calm in 1994—are regarded by critics as a return to the form he exhibited on his early 1970s albums. He also recorded a tribute album to jazz pianist and pop-music vocalist Nat King Cole, Hubert Laws Remembers the Unforgettable Nat King Cole, which received critical accolades. Among the many artists he has played and recorded with are Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Leonard Bernstein, James Moody, Jaco Pastorius, Sérgio Mendes, Bob James, Carly Simon, George Benson, Clark Terry, Stevie Wonder, J. J. Johnson, and The Rascals. In 1998, Laws recorded with Morcheeba for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

The 2006 video Hubert Laws Live 30-year Video Retrospective, available only at hubertlaws.com, includes "Red Hot & Cool" with Nancy Wilson, Performance in Brazil, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Appearance, The 1975 Downbeat Reader's Poll Awards, Performance in Japan, and Performance in Germany.

Awards and honors

In June 2010, Laws received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts in the field of jazz.

Laws is a recipient of the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award.

Hubert Laws Grammy Awards History
Year	Category	Title	Genre	Label	Result
1979	Best Rhythm & Blues Instrumental Performance	Land of Passion	Jazz	Columbia	Nominee
1974	Best Jazz Performance - Soloist	In the Beginning	Jazz	CTI	Nominee
1973	Best Jazz Performance - Soloist	Morning Star	Jazz	CTI	Nominee

Discography

As leader

Year	Title	Label	notes
1964	The Laws of Jazz	Atlantic
1966	Flute By-Laws	Atlantic
1968	Laws' Cause	Atlantic
1969	Crying Song	CTI
1970	Afro-Classic	CTI
1971	The Rite of Spring	CTI
1972	Wild Flower	Atlantic
1972	Morning Star	CTI
1973	Carnegie Hall	CTI
1974	In the Beginning	CTI
1975	The Chicago Theme	CTI
1975	The San Francisco Concert	CTI
1976	Romeo & Juliet	Columbia
1978	Say It With Silence	Columbia
1978	Land of Passion	Columbia
1980	Family	Columbia
1980	Hubert Laws and Earl Klugh: How to Beat the High Cost of Living	Columbia
1983	Make It Last	Columbia
1990	My Time Will Come	Music Masters Jazz
1994	Storm Then the Calm	Music Masters Jazz
1998	Hubert Laws Remembers the Unforgettable Nat "King" Cole	RKO/Unique
2002	Baila Cinderella	Scepterstein
2004	Moondance	Savoy Jazz
2005	Hubert Laws Plays Bach for Barone & Baker	Denon Records
2006	Hubert Laws Live - 30-year Video Retrospective	Spirit Productions
2009	Flute Adaptations of Rachmaninov & Barber	Spirit Productions

As sideman

With Roy Ayers

• Stoned Soul Picnic (Atlantic, 1968)
• Daddy Bug (Atlantic, 1969)

With Chet Baker

• She Was Good to Me (1972)
• Studio Trieste (1982)

With George Benson

• Tell It Like It Is (A&M/CTI, 1969)
• The Other Side of Abbey Road (CTI, 1969)
• White Rabbit (CTI, 1972)
• Good King Bad (CTI, 1975)
• In Concert-Carnegie Hall (CTI, 1975)
• Pacific Fire (CTI, 1983)

With Kenny Burrell

• God Bless the Child (CTI, 1971)

With Ron Carter

• Uptown Conversation (Embryo, 1970)
• Blues Farm (CTI, 1973)
• Spanish Blue (CTI, 1974)
• Anything Goes (Kudu, 1975)

With Chick Corea

• The Complete "Is" Sessions (1969)
• Tap Step (1980)

With Paul Desmond

• From the Hot Afternoon (A&M/CTI, 1969)

With Charles Earland

• Intensity (Prestige, 1972)

With Gil Evans

• Blues in Orbit (Enja, 1971)

With Astrud Gilberto

• Gilberto with Turrentine with Stanley Turrentine (CTI, 1971)

With Grant Green

• The Main Attraction (CTI, 1976)

With Johnny Hammond

• The Prophet (Kudu, 1972)

With Eddie Henderson

• Mahal (Capitol, 1978)

With Freddie Hubbard

• First Light (CTI, 1971)
• Sky Dive (CTI, 1972)

With Bobby Hutcherson

• Highway One (Columbia, 1978)
• Conception: The Gift of Love (Columbia, 1979)

With Solomon Ilori

• African High Life (Blue Note, 1964)

With Jackie and Roy

• Time & Love (CTI, 1972)
• A Wilder Alias (CTI, 1973)

With Milt Jackson

• Milt Jackson and the Hip String Quartet (Verve, 1968)
• Goodbye (CTI, 1973)

With The Jazz Crusaders

• Chile Con Soul (Pacific Jazz, 1965)

With Quincy Jones

• Walking in Space (A&M, 1969)
• Gula Matari (A&M, 1970)
• Smackwater Jack (A&M, 1971)
• Body Heat (A&M, 1974)
• Mellow Madness (A&M, 1975)
• Sounds...and Stuff Like That!! (A&M, 1978)

With Harold Mabern

• Greasy Kid Stuff! (Prestige, 1970)

With Junior Mance

• I Believe to My Soul (Atlantic, 1968)

With Herbie Mann

• Glory of Love (CTI, 1967)

With Arif Mardin

• Journey (Atlantic, 1974)

With Gary McFarland

• America the Beautiful, An Account of its Disappearance (1968)
• Today (1969)

With James Moody

• Great Day (Argo, 1963)

With Airto Moreira

• Free (CTI, 1972)

With Alphonse Mouzon

• Morning Sun (1981)

With Milton Nascimento

• Courage (A&M/CTI, 1969)

With Jaco Pastorius

• Jaco Pastorius (Epic, 1976)

With Houston Person

• Broken Windows, Empty Hallways (Prestige, 1972)

With Dave Pike

• Manhattan Latin (Decca, 1964)

With Mongo Santamaría

• Mongomania (Colombia, 1967)

With Lalo Schifrin

• Black Widow (CTI, 1976)

With Don Sebesky

• Giant Box (CTI, 1973)

With Melvin Sparks

• Akilah! (Prestige, 1972)

With Leon Spencer

• Bad Walking Woman (Prestige, 1972)
• Where I'm Coming From (Prestige, 1973)

With Gábor Szabó

• Mizrab (CTI, 1972)

With Bobby Timmons

• Got to Get It! (Milestone, 1967)

With Stanley Turrentine

• Nightwings (Fantasy, 1977)
• If I Could (1993)

With McCoy Tyner

• Fly With The Wind (1976)
• Together (1978)
• La Leyenda de La Hora (1981)

With Walter Wanderley

• When It Was Done (A&M/CTI, 1968)
• Moondreams (A&M/CTI, 1969)

With Randy Weston

• Blue Moses (CTI, 1972)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]