Trumpeter Lester Bowie
Dead At 58 .c The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - Jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie,
a founding member of the long-running Art Ensemble of Chicago, has died from complications
from liver cancer. He was 58. Bowie died Monday night at his Brooklyn home, said
Kevin Beauchamp, a representative of the Art Ensemble, the jazz group Bowie helped
found in 1969. The group has played the United States and Europe for 30 years.
Bowie, who also played the fluegelhorn, was known as a flamboyant performer with
a sense of humor and an appreciation for the theatrical side of performing. ``Lester
Bowie was a great trumpeter who kind of pushed the boundaries,'' said Walter Wade,
an on-air personality at WBGO-FM, a jazz station in Newark, N.J. '' His approach
to playing, it was very visceral,'' Wade said. That style was matched by the musicians
he played with in the ensemble. ``They were pioneers who took music seriously
but didn't leave the theater out,'' Wade said. Bowie was known for using all kinds
of music in his performances, including the works of Michael Jackson and James
Brown.