Al Dowe : Mr. Trombone Man

Al Dowe
LP "Mr. Trombone Man", stereo
Rite #30359/30360
1972

Line up includes Al Dowe (trombone), John Hughes (piano), Maurice Brooks (guitar), Joe Grey (bass), and Bob Banks (drums).

Tracks :
Evil Ways, Until It's Time To Go, Meditation, For All We Know, Mr. Trombone Man, Love Story, One Bad Apple, Both Sides Now, Sunrise Sunset

Pittsburgh jazz musician (trombone and trumpet).

Al Dowe, a long-time jazz musician who plays the trombone and trumpet and has had his own band since 1974, had always dreamed of having a jazz club. Since the late 1980s, Dowe has also been teaching music in Pittsburgh public schools. Part of his jazz club dream was establishing a music school for kids, to create a student band, hire three of four teachers, hold open house for parents once a week, and offer summer outdoor concerts.

With the help of a new Pittsburgh loan program, Dowe received loan approval to purchase a modest, one-story vacant restaurant with a distinctive original Art Deco, black Carrara glass façade called the Club Café, just off Carson Street, the vibrant commercial thoroughfare (formerly a streetcar route) on Pittsburgh's South Side. The school was launched, starting with only a few students, but experiencing a demand already larger than he expected. A major new school of music could easily emerge out of this effort. Clearly, Dowe's music school dream contributes something new to Pittsburgh and gives opportunity to both paying and nonpaying students.

Excerpt from New Village, Issue nr 2