Young Masters Recital Series: Marya & Erik Lawrence

Marya Lawrence was born into a talented family of musicians, and from her first day on the planet was surrounded by music. Her father, saxophone legend the late Arnie Lawrence, would bring Marya to his gigs, where she heard and absorbed the best musicians in New York. 

Marya studied at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, (of which her father is creator and co-founder). Clearly not limited to any particular genre of music, she’s played percussion for the Williamsburg Virginia Symphony Orchestra, when her father composed a jazz symphony featuring Dizzy Gillespie. Marya has also performed with Arnie’s quartet and with Arnie Lawrence and the International Co-Elation. She has recorded with legendary drummers Winston Grennan, Chico Hamilton, and Leon Parker. Marya honed her craft under the watchful eyes of legendary vocalists Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan, Jay Clayton, Gail Wynters, and Marion Cowings. She has performed onstage with John Popper, Levon Helm, Joan Osborne, Warren Hanes, Bernard Purdy, Rashid Ali, the members of Spin Doctors, Catherine Russell, Doug E Fresh, and many others.

She was selected to attend the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute on a full scholarship and recently won first place in The 2017 First Annual Jazz Forum Jazz Vocalist competition. Marya performed in concert with the legendary Bob Dorough with “Schoolhouse Rock — Live,” assuming the role of the iconic Blossom Dearie, and has performed for more than 20 years with vocal hip-hop improvisational groups like Beatboxer Entertainment, Nu Voices, and Urban Acapella. Marya is a former member and soloist with reggae artist Winston Grennan’s Ska Rocks Band. She performs regularly with her Grammy award-winning saxophonist/flutist brother, Erik Lawrence, with Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, The Istanbul Orchestra, and is a featured vocalist in Billy Harper’s Voices. She has led her own jazz bands; an all-female band called Bitches Brew, and her innovative jazz groups, Metamorphosis, Treasure Island, and The Pursuit of Happiness. Currently, Marya Lawrence sings with several musical ventures and occasional jingles.

Erik Lawrence is a certified sound and vibrational practitioner, having studied ancient and modern sound techniques with masters, including Dr John Bealieu (Biosonics tuning forks), Silvia Nakkach (Yoga of Voice), Dr Pat Moffett Cook (Music Healing of Indigenous Peoples). He sits on two boards of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine in NYC, one of the oldest and most celebrated Music Therapy Centers in the world. In addition, he has taught in colleges and clinics throughout the world since the age of 18, including Williams College, Dartmouth, and nursing, music therapy and piano tuners guild recertification programs.

He’s played performed and recorded with Gabrielle Roth (Five Rhythms), Tibetan masters Yungchen Lhamo and Nawhang Khechog, two time US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, musical Aretha Franklin, Norah Jones, Joan Osborne, Little Feat, The Band, Chico Hamiton, Buddy Miles, two time US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Henry Butler, Sonny Sharrock and many others, garnering two Grammys for his work with Levon Helm and platinum records for work with both The Spin Doctors and Joan Osborne.

Registration is required.