Just days before the annual jazz and heritage festival he organized was to start in Rock Island, Nate Lawrence died unexpectedly at his East Moline home Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. He was 80.
Co-founder of the influential Polyrhythms/Quad Cities Jazz Festival (with Rock Island’s Shellie Guy) in 2002, Lawrence was the longtime Polyrhythms director, organizing the monthly Third Sunday Jazz Series (first at Davenport’s Redstone Room, then at Bettendorf’s Rivermont Collegiate) and in August 2014, launched the Polyrhythms Jazz & Heritage Festival in Rock Island.
On Wednesday morning, Polyrhythms posted on Facebook that this weekend’s festival will go on as scheduled. This is its statement:
In 1997, Lawrence (a United Township High School alum) spoke of his plan then to start a jazz festival in Bill Bell’s name – which ended up happening after Bell’s death in 2017, when they renamed the Polyrhythms Jazz & Heritage Festival in his honor. The 9th-annual festival is Aug. 18-20, 2023 at the MLK Center and Park in Rock Island, and Rivermont Collegiate’s Becherer Auditorium in Bettendorf on Sunday.
Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931) and Louie Bellson (1924-2009) are Quad-Cities jazz legends who at one time both had annual local festivals named in their honor. The Bix jazz festival in Davenport celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021. Lawrence long wanted to elevate jazz pianist and East Moline native Bill Bell to that level of public consciousness.
“Bix and Bellson are wonderful events. We just want to add to that mix,” he said in 1997 of his plan for an August festival to recognize nationally celebrated jazz musicians who have come from East Moline.
Bell (known as “The Jazz Professor”) was head of the jazz department at the College of Alameda, Calif., and a composer and pianist who recorded and performed with Duke Ellington, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Benny Carter, Anita O’Day, Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls and Dizzy Gillespie.
Laurdine “Pat” Patrick (1929-1991) was a composer, arranger and saxophonist who was a longtime member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, a progressive jazz group, and also played with Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and Quincy Jones.
Donald Meade was a jazz educator, historian and former drummer who played with Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Jon Hendricks, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Johnny Griffin, Milt Jackson, Billy Taylor, and Charlie Parker.
“This is a unique area that has produced these musicians and nobody here knows about ’em,” Lawrence, a native of the Watertown neighborhood, said then. “We’re always looking for role models, people to emulate.
Polyrhythms is a longstanding grassroots non-profit group of community and cultural arts advocates that evolved from the Louie Bellson Festival.
“Community servant and leader”
Shellie Guy is among many friends and family of Lawrence who paid tribute to the man following his death.
“Nate Lawrence was the walking, living and breathing representation of a community servant and leader,” she wrote on Facebook, praising his “unwavering commitment to community and the belief that art, self-expression, music and the people who create, can uplift and change lives, no matter the age.”
Guy posted photos from a Rock Island school about a residency called the Jazz and Blues Restoration Project, which brought in musicians who were born in the Quad Cities.
“We believed that this music has the power to restore, and that children need to see and engage with artists who come from where they come from, who had made it to the top of their field,” she wrote. “I have heard it stated that ‘there will never be another Nate Lawrence,’ and while that is certainly true, we should remember that Nate’s tireless efforts are important because he emphatically believed we all have the capacity to contribute, change lives and restore hope.
“He led us all by example,” Guy said. “The road map has been laid and though the work can feel daunting, thankless at times, and never-ending, the work is necessary. We are making a difference. There is the greater good.”
Piano tuner Gene Taets said of Lawrence: “I can’t believe it. I’ve gotten to know him through tuning pianos for the events he was involved in. As everyone who knew his knows, he was very passionate about jazz music and human rights.
“When you were around him, the passion was infectious,” Taets said. “I’m proud to have participated in his efforts. He will be missed not only by his family and the people who knew him, but the whole community.”
Lawrence’s cousin Nina Nichole Little posted: “You have created a beautiful legacy. You have inspired. You have encouraged. You have mentored. You have fought. You have led. I hope our community and those whose lives you have touched continue the journey of bringing awareness to our culture, our music and our pride.”
Jazz pianist Laurence Hobgood, who performed May 28 at a Sound Conservatory concert in Rock Island, attended by Lawrence, posted:
“I am truly devastated to learn that my pal Nathaniel Lawrence has died; Nate was that rarest of humans — 100% REAL, 0% B.S. A man of and for his Quad Cities community, and brother did he love the music! The Polyrhythms concerts he produced were a gift to both audiences and artists. Very sad day.”
“There was a giant among us. He committed to his community, to his music, to his people,” musician Jimmy Cee posted. “With optimism, faith and tenacity, he made dreams come true. Always reaching, ‘why not?’ was his response to opportunities to help others learn and grow. In over 30 years of collaboration, Nate was always a clear-eyed supporter, a musician who didn’t need to play to make magic happen.
“To say Nate will be missed is an understatement and yet, as he would have it, the show will go on,” Cee wrote. “Sunday will be difficult without you standing in the back listening and appreciating, camera at the ready. We will play with hearts heavy with loss and joy for having known you.”
Andrzej Kozlowski, owner of Sound Conservatory, is among many in the QC shocked at the news. He said Wednesday morning he and Lawrence shared a passion for bringing people and their community together through great music.
“Nate was a force, one where great energy and mood swept through anyone around him,” Kozlowski said. “His energy has been a big inspiration and motivation behind our success. We spoke extensively in the past week with huge plans for Polyrhythms and Sound Conservatory, and we could feel the incredible energy of what was to come.
“Nate was there through all of our tough moments and he always knew how to put your head back in the right place,” he added. “I began to see a true friend in Nate over the last few months and I can’t begin to imagine our future without him at our side and us at his. I will miss him greatly but I will never forget the impact he has had on me, my business and all those around us. I hope he’s somewhere where music is waiting for his golden touch. Goodbye Nate, hope to see you again one day.”
Celebrating the arts
Rivermont Music Academy director Edgar Crockett (a jazz trumpeter) said Wednesday that Lawrence connected with him in the early ’90s to bring a jazz concert at Black Hawk College (when Crockett taught there).
“I thought Nate was going to invite some area musicians to perform. To my surprise, the concert featured Ed Thigpen, the longtime drummer with the world-renowned Oscar Peterson trio,” he said, noting that Wille Pickens joined on piano, Marlene Rosenberg on bass, and Orbert Davis on trumpet. “All of these musicians were first-rank pros who played internationally with the best in the business,” Crockett recalled. “It was an amazing concert.”
“He absolutely loved this community and wanted to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to celebrate the arts,” he said by e-mail. “Nate was not just involved with our community. He attended many events and conferences across the country and represented Polyrhythms at the annual JEN (Jazz Education Network) Conference.”
In addition, Polyrhythms sponsored the Donald Meade Jazz Griot Award, which celebrated the lifetime achievements of legendary jazz musicians and educators.
“Through Polyrhythms, Nate has enriched the lives of countless individuals,” Crockett said. “He did so much to advocate music, art, dance, and literature in our community! But beside all of this, Nate was a dear friend to me. His humor and toothy grin would always brighten up the room. We could talk about anything and would often go on for hours.
“I will miss our breakfasts and the concerts together. I will miss our discussions on the arts and ways to foster jazz education in the schools. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for serving our community and making the Quad Cities a wonderful place to live.”
“Tireless work”
Cath Bolkcom posted on Facebook: “For decades, Nate and Shellie Moore Guy and their tireless band of helpers have brought us an understanding of black jazz and its roots in our own community.
“With not enough appreciation, with challenges getting media attention, with relentless fundraising and undeniable persistence and hard work, Nate devoted his life to community building, to educating all of us and to developing pride in the black community of its rich roots and leading role in developing American culture. The jazz fest will go on this weekend. At the moment, it’s impossible to imagine this community without Nate Lawrence.”
“Nate’s tireless work promoting jazz music in our community created opportunities for both local and touring musicians, and rare opportunities for audience members to enjoy live jazz,” said Tyson Danner, executive director of Common Chord (home of the Redstone Room). “His dedication made it all possible, and he will be sorely missed in our local music scene.
“Common Chord was honored to provide a venue for the Third Sunday Jazz Series for many years,” he said.
Lawrence said in an interview with this reporter in December 2021:
“A lot of people in our shoes would have put up their hand and gave up, but we’re still here,” he said with pride, noting Polyrhythms outlasted the COVID pandemic. Survival is due to sheer persistence, grant support and not wanting to be driven off the cultural scene, he said.
“You don’t get to decide if I get to do this,” he said. “We get to do this because our community needs somebody like us to do this.”
Polyrhythms’ philosophy is not only to demystify jazz as an art form, but to expose more people to jazz – a fundamental American art form, Lawrence said. “If you don’t know the fundamentals, you don’t get to play,” he said. “We could have picked a more popular thing, but this forced people to learn the fundamentals.
“It’s like reading and writing – once you learn how to read, ain’t nobody can stop you,” Lawrence said. “It’s the same way with music – once you learn how to read, there’s nobody can stop you from understanding what you understand. We could have done smooth jazz, which is cool, but it’s full of shortcuts. We said from the beginning, we’re not trying to drive people to Carnegie Hall.
“We’re just trying to give some alternatives to the nothing alternatives our kids have as an option,” he said. “It’s a positive alternative; we swear by it; we believe in it, and that’s why we did it.”
For the complete 2021 interview with Lawrence and Shellie Guy, click HERE. For more information on Polyrhythms, visit its website HERE.
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