Vol. 17, No. 11	Nov. 13, 1997

Jazz ensemble saxman plays gigs around the globe

"He's a quiet, unassuming guy, but you'd never know it from the hot sounds he gets from his horn," Elaine Brenchley, music, said.

A native Wilmingtonian, James first played the clarinet at Mary C. I. Williams Elementary School and began playing the alto sax while in high school, taking lessons at the Wilmington Music School and studying with Robert Boysie Lowery.

He was encouraged to continue his musical studies and graduated from the Berklee College of Music, majoring in instrumental performance. A versatile musician, James plays the flute and clarinet, in addition to the soprano, alto and tenor saxophone.

James, who has played for such bands as the Charles Sullivan Big Band and the Frank Foster Big Band, got his start in Wilmington where he played in the City Sights and Sounds Band during the summers, entertaining audiences in parks and community centers.

This led to auditions in New York for the Jazz Mobile Big Band where he tried out playing the clarinet, flute and alto sax. He was selected from 30 others to be one of the five saxophone players in the big band, sponsored by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

James played with the Jazz Mobile for three years, performing everywhere from parks to prisons in all of New York's five boroughs.

In the early 1980s, James was introduced to Gil Scott-Heron, a famed jazz vocalist and stylist, composer, poet, social activist and early rapper who has performed around the world. Scott-Heron is known for his music with a message. Civil rights, nuclear policy and apartheid all have been among his targets.

Scott-Heron was forming a new band at that time and invited James to join, beginning a long association that continues today. The band has made recordings and videos, including Black Wax, filmed at the wax museum in Washington, D.C. The band also was the opening act for Stevie Wonder in 1980. James has appeared on PBS in the U.S and on the BBC in Great Britain with the band.

Most recently, James joined the Scott-Heron band this summer to perform in clubs in Birmingham and London in England before moving on to the New Morning Club in Paris on his fourth European tour with Scott-Heron.

One of the reasons James likes being on the road with the band is connecting with old friends and making new ones. "On my first trip to Paris, I was surprised to hear from three musicians I had worked with in New York. They were playing in the show Ain't Misbehavin'," he recalled.

On a night off, he took a busman's holiday and visited another jazz club where he met another old friend who was playing there and was now living in Paris.

In the meantime James married his wife, Notre, and became a father. The family decided to move back from Brooklyn to Delaware, where he joined the UD music department as an audiovisual technician and now maintains the computers in the department.

His musical talents also have been recognized at UD. He is a member of the UD Faculty Jazz Ensemble and directs the student Jazz Chamber Ensemble, as well as teaching part-time at the Christina Cultural Arts Center. He also plays with area groups such as the Unit Circle in Washington, D.C.; the Insaciable, a local salsa band; and the United Brotherhood, a local jazz group.

But, during the summers, he packs his sax and is off and playing in faraway places.

-Sue Swyers Moncure