Robert Lowe

Not the gospel singer, this Robert Lowe is a thumb playing jazz guitarist reminiscent of Wes Montgomery and George Benson with enough originality in the mix to create a unique, concise, clear self-identity. His first public appearances occurred when he was seven years old with a bunch of similarly aged youngsters in front of a shoe parlor in Detroit and has been performing ever since, including stints with Lyman Woodard, Lonnie Liston Smith, Charles Earland, and many of jazz's greatest artists.

Robert Lowe Jr. was born July 2, 1948 at Henry Ford Hospital to Robert and Velma Lowe. Velma collected records and the music of all the prominent R&B artists of day: Fats Domino, Little Richard, Dinah Washington, Della Reese, and Little Sonny filled the Lowe household with sounds. Lowe became a fascinated with the guitar the first time he saw one up close at his father's friend house. He admired it every time his dad took him along to this friend's house who kept it on a wall by the fireplace; one day Robert summoned the nerve to touch it, and it was as if he rubbed Genie's lamp, an overwhelming glow came over him and from that moment on the guitar became an obsession.

The bug bit a permanent plug when his mother took him to a kiddies party for four to seven year olds and a friend of the child's mother giving the party, who Robert only recalls as Willie, stopped by and played the guitar, a pretty white one with a black fretboard and ivory inlays. The party became secondary to Willie's captivating guitar playing who saw the youngster's intense interest. Willie asked Velma if he could give him some lessons and there was no way could she say no. He picked up fast and was soon begging his parents to buy him a guitar; they acquiesced plunking down 26 dollars and 50 cents — one fifth of Robert Sr.'s hourly wages for an instrument for their seven-year-old son.

From playing with a group of seven- to ten-year-olds in front of Smiley's Parlor, he went on to form jazz groups in Junior High and High School, i.e., the Royal Crusaders (named after the Jazz Crusaders), and the Bellhops; they played weekends and the cash supplied him with enough funds to cover school supplies and clothes. In the 11th grade, he joined a band that backed Stereophonics, a popular local female vocal group that played hops and once at New York's fame Apollo Theater. After high school (1966), he joined a band that played nightclubs four nights a week, further enhancing Lowe's horizon. Around this time he discovered the lyrical, melodic beauty of Wes Montgomery and began listening to and playing more jazz. He then discovered the Jack McDuff Group and was similarly swept by McDuff's guitarist George Benson.

His jazz development took a back seat for nearly five years when he became the Precisions' musical director, participating on their acclaimed Drew Record's sides, contributing as co-writer on "Instant Heartbreak (Just Add Tears)," the outfits last significant record. These were fun sowing-wild-oats times; they did D.C.'s Howard Theater, Harlem's Apollo, and toured with funny lady Moms Mabley performing on shows with the likes of Solomon Burke, Patti Labelle & the Blue Belles, Johnny Taylor, J. J. Jackson, and other soul luminaries.

An ongoing off and on relationship with the Lyman Woodard Band followed; he was with the band for their Don't Stop the Groove album. He played on a live album at Detroit's Mozambique Club entitled The Real Thing, credited to Houston Pearson on Eastbound Records; the set included a host of renowned musicians that include Motown's great bassist James Jamerson, Marcus Belgrave, Eli Fountain, Etta Jones, Jack McDuff, Grant Green, and many more.

He moved to the Big Apple to play with the Lonnie Smith Band, appearing on the organist's Mama Wailer album on Kudo Records. When that ran its course he returned to Detroit and became a music instructor for Metro Arts; James Blood Ulmer was the other guitar instructor; both played with their thumbs, Lowe played a little faster than Ulmer, so he taught Ulmer speed, while Ulmer taught him how the technique for the up and down stroke. Some of Detroit's finest up and coming jazz musicians came through Metro Arts; unfortunately, the program ended when the government cut the arts budget.

He returned to New York as part of Charles Earland's group for another eventful foray waxing the Odyssey (1976) album on Mercury Records with them. The homing pigeon returned to Detroit, formed another band and did jazz and soul gigs. An old friend Major Reynolds, who Lowe worked for in 1965-1966 at Reynolds' Tri-Sound Studio offered him work at his new studio, which Lowe accepted; he worked on numerous projects for producer/writer Michael Stokes for Enchantment and other artists, including four compositions on Enchantment's Journey to Enchantment album. He also gleaned an honorary Masters Degree in studio technique and record businessology from the stint.

Robert worked with a rolodex of local and national recording artists in the early '80s, including Ronn Matlock, Marlena Shaw, Mary Wilson & the Supremes, Kim Weston, Richard Groove Homes and Spanky Wilson. And recorded as an artist on Westbound, along with appearing on sessions released on CTI and Fantasy Records. In 1985, he released Double Dip on his Lowe Down label; the title track blew to Top 20 hit in the Detroit area.

In 1997 he auditioned for a contest BET On Jazz ran where contestants had to submit a video of a live performance. Lowe had plenty to pick from and chose a taping of a television program recorded a few years earlier. Lo and behold, the sucker salmoned through three panels of judges and earned Lowe first place in Jazz Discovery's instrumental category. BET sent for the group to do a live taping (four songs) all expenses paid — return trip tickets for band, hotel, limousine service, catered breakfast in dressing room, the works.

44 years after playing in front of Smiley's Shoe Palace, Robert Lowe was on Jazz Discovery — ironic, but that's the music biz. The drama inspired a second album, In My Life (1999), on Lowe Down Records with many more to come for the fluid guitarist who recognized his calling at such a tender age.