Luqman Hamza
Luqman Hamza (formerly known as Larry Cummings) grew up in Kansas City’s fabled 18th and Vine district. “Charlie Parker lived two blocks from our house” and there were at least 50 clubs within a six-block area. “I was surrounded by music,” Hamza said, “it was part of my living room.” As a child, Hamza was getting pennies and nickels for singing near his boyhood home. From age eleven until he was seventeen, Luqman studied voice and piano under the tutelage of the Reverend John S. Williams, a native of Jamaica. Williams, a renowned minister and choir director at the Bethel Church and a music teacher at the famed Lincoln High School, is credited with educating many of Kansas City’s finest musicians. At the age of 12 Hamza, along with life-long friend Sonny Kenner, Lucky Wesley and various other artists, formed a group known as the Four Steps and later the Five Aces. This group would play several clubs in the 18th and Vine district including Scott’s Theater and the Chez Paris. In they won a statewide high school talent contest, which allowed them to play on the Bob Hope show at Municipal Auditorium Music Hall. The
Luqman Hamza
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Luqman Hamza: When A Smile Overtakes A Frown
by Dave Nathan
Indiana's Catalyst Productions continues to provide the platform for talented but well hidden Midwest jazz artists who seem to have fallen between the recording cracks. Now comes Luqman Hamza, long time Kansas City resident and well-known piano/vocalist (in local circles), with a distinguished recorded outing. Hamza is not new to this game by any means. At the age of 19, he was sitting in with Charlie Parker and at the ripe old age of 21, played with Miles Davis. He
Continue ReadingLuqman Hamza: When A Smile Overtakes A Frown
by Jim Santella
Kansas City singer Luqman Hamza hasn&#;t gotten much recognition around the world. Not yet. Accurate, articulate, pleasant-sounding, and a natural phraser, he communicates with his audience. Also a fine pianist, Hamza takes the piano chair on four tracks. The straight-ahead jazz session includes solos and fours from guitar, sax, piano & drums in support of the singer&#;s performance. Born in Kansas City as Larry Cummings, Hamza sat in with Charlie Parker when he was Two
LUQMAN HAMZA
The mythology of jazz is littered with artists who could have been superstars. So many talented jazz players have never had the chance to shine in the public spotlight, instead finding themselves relegated to obscurity in some smoky dive or trendy café. All pop music is fickle, but jazz seems even more heartlessly so, holding up such mediocrities as Dave Brubeck to lionization while many true geniuses fail to make an impression on the public consciousness.
To call Luqman Hamza a musical genius might be a stretch, but the pianist/vocalist is a fine example of a jazz voice that deserves to be heard. Hamza had a brief brush with fame in the &#;50s, with the success of his recording &#;When You Surrender,&#; but since then he has been a mainstay of the KC jazz scene, performing in bars and clubs around town for years. With his revelatory new recording for the fledgling Catalyst label, Hamza finally seems poised to receive some of the adulation he so richly deserves.
Hamza&#;s voice is a striking tenor, strongly reminiscent of late-period Nat &#;King&#; Cole. While hardly beautiful, it possesses a deeply knowledgeable, almost mournful quality. Hamza comes across as
Buzzbox
Growing up in the 18th and Vine district, Luqman Hamza saw such jazz legends as Charlie Parker and Joe Turner on a regular basis. Not satisfied to merely stargaze, Hamza sat patiently outside the clubs, too young to legally enter but mature enough to study the phrasing and delivery of the vocalists performing behind the closed doors. Hamza formed a harmony group called The Five Aces in the mid-&#;40s, then, after that group disbanded, landed on stage with Miles Davis and Ray Charles and held down prestigious stints at Chicago and St. Louis venues. With the exception of a few years spent in St. Louis in the early &#;90s, Hamza has remained based in his hometown since the &#;70s, playing sporadic high-profile engagements. His latest album, With This Voice, showcases his dazzling piano work and startlingly clear vocals, which he uses to express both inspiring sentiments and subtly downbeat regrets. Esteemed guitarist Sonny Kenner, who backed Hamza in The Five Aces and chose the singer as best man for all seven of his weddings, contributes his talents to this November release, but Hamza&#;s finest moment sees him alone with his piano, his voice gently trembling as his
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