Too many adjectives thrown into the descriptive mix of a jazz horn player and composer sometimes give the wrong impression of an artist’s body of work. Tenor saxophone player Quamon Fowler, performing this weekend at Bohemian Caverns, has no problem with his music being referred to as an assortment of jazz-fusion, gospel, soul groove, be-bop and easy listening.
“This is just a way to categorize me. Some common ground to draw [people] to the music, to check it out,” he said, without apology.
C. Michael Bailey from AllAboutJazz.com did check it out and noted of Fowler’s first release, “Introducing Quamon Fowler,” “Fowler is well-schooled in hard bop as well as R&B. [The music] is what hard bop would sound like had it waited 40 years to be born. [He is] a fine, young talent deserving of greater recognition.”
| IF YOU GO |
| Quamon Fowler Quartet |
| » When: Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Full menu available |
| » Info: $15 in advance, $20 at the door, 202-299-0800, bohemiancaverns.com, quamonfowler.com |
What is far more important to Fowler about the description of his work, however, is what he calls “liberating, instrumental music with a Christian focus.”
“The Holy Spirit moves in the music that I write and the music that I play,” he said, adding that “when I play with the right people, people that also believe, it’s so exciting and refreshing.”
And so it goes with the musicians he has chosen for his quartet: Quincy Phillips on drums, Eric Wheeler on bass and Allyn Johnson at the piano.
“We inspire each other,” Fowler said. “It’s like a marriage; we don’t have to force the music. Our backgrounds are along the same paths, like kindred spirits.”
The path of the music follows Straight Ahead Jazz playing. Audiences will hear songs from Fowler’s new CD, “A Soul’s Cry” just released in December. Songs include, “Ask Me Now,” “Shade of Joe” and “Angelic.”
No stranger to Bohemian Caverns, he said of his upcoming gig this weekend, “I love the Cavern. The more close knit the people are, the stronger the performance.”
