Meet Saxophonist La'Roy Bodiford

La'Roy Bodiford. A Google search will reveal too few
examples of his playing. We're waiting on the website
and that first solo album, La'Roy!

Saxophonist La'Roy Bodiford is a regular at the jazz series that runs most Friday and Saturday nights at Piccolo, the lounge at the Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center. This Saturday night, March 17, from 8-11 pm, he'll headline there with Taylor Pierce on guitar, Jason DeBlanc on bass, and Eric Ward on drums. He'll return on March 31 with Pierce, Ward, and Mike Beshara on bass.

Bodiford is a studied improvisor with a powerful sound. His lines combine a fluent vocabulary of soul and R&B with a harmonically historic knowledge of jazz voice leading and chromaticism. It is an exciting combination that works.

Hailing from Troy, Bodiford is a full-time musician, playing lots of styles of music all over the region for private events and club dates. He's at Piccolo a good bit and can also be heard at the 1048 Jazz and Blues Sunday night jazz jam session. He travels with the Az-Izz (Flash-dependent site) based in Atlanta and since 2003 has been a member of Off The Chain (on Facebook) based in the Decatur/Huntsville area.

He has yet to put out a solo album, and though I only know him a little bit, my guess is that he feels he's not ready. But I'll also guess there are a lot of his listeners who are. Until he is, we can hear him featured on other people's tracks on iTunes.

Bodiford is a skilled visual artist as well (see sample below), with graphite and charcoal as his preferred medium. "My brother showed me how to draw a straight line when I was 3 years old," he said. "I have been drawing since then." He says he is indebted to his high-school art teacher Janet Penn who taught him about things like shading and contrast.

I asked him some questions by e-mail.

La'Roy Bodiford's graphite & charcoal
depiction of jazz saxophonist Michael
Brecker. "That's ridiculous," said
Charlie McCurry, my son, age 12.
You're not wrong, Charlie.

PMc: Do you think much about how your work as a visual artist informs your music and vice versa? Talk about that if you see a connection.

LB: After joining the Marine Corps, I wasn’t inspired to draw whatsoever for over ten years. All throughout this time I was still playing music very often. For some of this time I was in the Washington DC area playing in various bands while enlisted in the Marines. After my enlistment, I moved to Decatur, Alabama and started a band with some very close friends of mine. I am not sure why I wasn’t drawing during all this time because I was still very interested in playing music. I have noticed that during the time of my inactivity to visual arts, I had also stopped writing music. Now that I am so inspired to pursue my passion for visual arts I find myself writing and having more ideas musically.

PMc: I know Michael Brecker is an influence, and I’ll guess others: Joe Farrell, the Sonnys, Stitt first and then maybe Rollins, David Sanborn? Bob Berg? There are more current players, bands, and music that you’re taking inspiration from. Who are they?

LB: I am so inspired by great vocalists such as Donny Hathaway, Lalah Hathaway, James Taylor, Kurt Elling, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and so many others. I have been listening to a great amount of music from such artists as Joe Henderson, Clifford Brown, Dexter Gordon, Marian Petrescu, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson. My favorite living saxophone players right now are Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Sam Dillon, Tucker Antell, Tivon Pennicott and Quamon Fowler. I am actually taking saxophone lessons on Skype with Quamon Fowler and Chad Lefkowitz-Brown.

PMc: What are you practicing right now?

LB: I am currently taking lessons from Chad and Quamon. We cover many aspects of playing, but I spend the bulk of my time working on bebop language. I have been working on melodic cells (patterns), and studying rhythm changes. I feel like I am making small steps towards progress. I am just thanking God for the process.

PMc: Where do you see room for improvement in our thinly-spread, far-flung music scene?

LB: There is always room for improvement in everything. I am thankful for the support of the several people that come out to Piccolo and other venues to support a work in progress like me. It is always so great to see Teresa Rodriguez, Gerry and Wanda Love, Tom Harris and others come out and enjoy this music. I am truly grateful for those that show up. I feel that this music scene would be most improved if more people would give this music a chance and not see the word “jazz” and turn away. It is very uplifting to see people in the audience. Just as a chef wants their food to be eaten, a musician wants their music to be heard.

More about La'Roy Bodiford

Former Marine La’Roy Bodiford fell in love with jazz music as a young child. He found himself staying up way past his bedtime listening to a local radio station on a tape-player radio his sister gave him. La’Roy’s love of music became a dream, a dream he began chasing when he joined the sixth-grade band of Luverne Elementary, in Luverne, Alabama. From sixth grade until he graduated high school, La’Roy frequently auditioned and made All-State Band and All-State Jazz Band.

After high school, he spent four years serving our country as a member of United States Marine Corps. Upon completing his time with the Marines, La’Roy’s dream became his passion and career. He has toured with American Idol winner Ruben Studdard and shared the stage with other jazz artists such as Jeff Lorber, Rick Braun, Brian Culbertson, and many more. From a love to a dream and then to a passion, many things have changed since La’Roy was a child listening to the radio, but his relationship with music has remained the same.