Noah Howard

"Noah Howard was born in 1943 in New Orleans, the heartland of Jazz. Growing up in a city vibrating with Gospel and Dixieland he lived music in all its forms and played music from his childhood in his church. Noah first learned to play the trumpet and later moved on to alto, tenor and soprano saxophone. Noah’s music evolved as he worked with different people in different places, working with Dewey Johnson in Los Angeles and later on in San Francisco, and playing with Sun Ra after moving to New York. As an innovator influenced by John Coltrane and Albert Ayler, he became a driver of the early Free Jazz movement and quickly developed into one of the world’s most celebrated alto saxophonists.

He recorded his first LP as a leader in 1965 and his second LP Noah Howard at Judson Hall in 1966 both for the groundbreaking ESP Records label. In 1969 he appeared on Frank Wright’s album One For John and on Black Gipsy with Archie Shepp. His third record, which he lead, working with Arthur Doyle was the internationally acclaimed Black Ark. With this, Noah entered the Jazz hall of fame as one of the most brilliant and innovative Free Jazz musicians.

In 1971 he created his own record label AltSax. During the same year he recorded Patterns in the Netherlands with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink. Having honed his style and explored many eclectic sounds, he became disenchanted by the lack of appreciation for musical avant-garde in the USA. He moved to Europe and Africa - Paris in 1972, Nairobi in 1982 and finally Brussels in late 1982, where he had a studio and ran a jazz club.

He recorded steadily through the 1970s and '80s, mostly with AltSax and continued to expand his repertoire, exploring funk and world music in the latter decade. In the 1990s Noah returned to his free jazz origins, infusing the many new influences and genres he had come across throughout the years into his inceptive passion.

Noah Howard’s joy of life and insatiable curiosity was the driving force for his travels and collection of music, but also what made his sound so rich and remarkable. He gave concerts and worked with poets, visual artists, composers and musicians in places as diverse as India, the Arab world, Africa and Europe. This characteristic open-mindedness let Noah constantly re-innovate his style by embracing the cornucopia of the world’s cultures, people and music. Noah Howard unexpectedly passed away September 3rd, 2010 while vacationing in Southern France. Just one day before finishing the first draft of his autobiography.

Live In Europe Vol.1 is the second Altsax production. These live recordings capture a series of the artist and his quartet’s performances throughout Europe in 1975. These gigs reflect Howard’s peculiar musical identity on the Free Jazz scene of that era. An uncanny and heavy atmosphere unifies the different compositions which are constructed with improvisations on disturbing repetitions. 45 years after its original release, Sconsolato is proud to offer an official reissue of the album.

Noah Howard: alto saxophone
Takashi Kako: piano
Kent Carter: bass
Muhammad Ali / Oliver Johnson: drums