Microphone  
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phone: 650-357-1600

 

Duane singing

Performance highlights...

A native San Franciscan, Duane has a warm, sensuous voice and displays high energy on stage which translates to a crowd pleasing performance.  Possessing a rich baritone, he is reminiscent of some of the great male vocalists of the past.  He’s versatile, able to croon a smooth ballad, swing with the best and belt out R&B tunes too.

Some career highlights include:

Currently performing with the College of San Mateo Monday Night Band under the direction of trumpeter and educator Mke Galisatus.

For over 13 years, one of the featured vocalists with the 16 piece Contemporary Jazz Orchestra at Jazz at Pearl’s in San Francisco.  He started with the band on its very first performance, on the first Monday night in January 1995 and continued as the only vocalist performing with the band every Monday night for the next four years. He’s the featured vocalist on the band’s first recording; Trench Heroes recorded live at Yoshis.

Since 1998 a featured vocalist with the fabulous Full Spectrum Jazz big band, a dedicated of group of musicians based in Silicon Valley performing a “full spectrum” of musical styles from laid back Count Basie swing, to polyrhythmic Latin, to  contemporary arrangements by  today’s composers. He’s the featured vocalist on two of the band's recordings, Rayna’s Dance and Pursuits.  www.fsjazz.com

In the early 1990’s, Duane formed his own group, the Lawrence Expressway Band and for over two years worked with Richard Healy on guitar, Mark Gelfand on keyboards and Ernest carter on drums, belting out soulful R & B tunes as the house band at one of the peninsula’s hottest night spots.

Over 500 performances with the Starlight Orchestra at the historic Starlight Room at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, entertaining patrons from all over the world.

2 consecutive winter seasons at the the five star resort, The Little Nell Hotel in Aspen Colorado.

From small group jazz, standards and R&B to fronting a big band with his own library of big band charts, Duane is available for bookings. contact: duanelawrence@duanelawrenceonline.com

Duane with Silicon Vibe1

Big Band Arrangements

Song  Arranger Writer/Composer
ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL NELSON RIDDLE/TRANSCRIPTION Jack Lawrence, Arthur Altman (wm)
ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE  ROGER HOLMES Hammerstein/Jerome Kern
ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE LENNIE NIEHAUS    Alan Jay Lerner/ Frederick Lowe
ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE ADAPTED BY H. CESPEDES FROM GERALD WILSON  Alan Jay Lerner/ Frederick Lowe
ALRIGHT, OK, YOU WIN SAMMY NESTICO Sid Wyche/Mayme Watts
ANGEL EYES     MATT HARRIS       Earl Brent/Matt Dennis
AS LONG AS YOU'RE GOOD TO ME CARROLL COATES  Caroll Coates
CAUGHT A TOUCH OF YOUR LOVE RICHARD EVANS
CENTERPIECE       FRANK MANTOOTH
COME RAIN OR COME SHINE                            PAT WILLIAMS Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen
COME SUNDAY THAD JONES Duke Ellington
DARN THAT DREAM MATT HARRIS  Eddie de Lange/ Jimmy Van Heusen
DEEDLE'S BLUES       FRANK FOSTER Frank Foster
DON`T GET AROUND MUCH  ANYMORE BOB SECOR  Bob Russell, Duke Ellington
EVERY DAY (I HAVE THE BLUES)   ROGERS HOLMES Peter Chatman
EVERYDAY I HAVE THE BLUES BASIE/TRANSCRIPTION Peter Chatman
FLY ME TO THE MOON TRANSCRIPTION Bart Howard
FLY ME TO THE MOON   JOHN LABARBERA       Bart Howard
GOIN' TO CHICAGO QUINCY JONES William "Count" Basie, Jimmy Rushing
I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU TRANSCRIPTION Cole Porter
I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU TRANSCRIPTION Cole Porter
I`VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN  HEFTI Cole Porter
ILL WIND (You're Blowing Me No Good) SAMMY NESTICO Ted Koehler/ Harold Arlen
IMAGINATION       BOB LOWDEN Johnny Burke/Jimmy Van Heusen
IN THE EVENING (When The Sun Goes Down) FRANK MANTOOTH Leroy Carr
ISN'T IT ROMANTIC ADAPTED BY H. CESPEDES FROM GERALD WILSON  Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers
IT DON`T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN`T....     MATT HARRIS   Irving Mills/Duke Ellington
IT HAD TO BE YOU    PETER BLAIR      Gus Kahn/Isham Jones
IT`S ONLY A PAPER MOON     JERRY NOWAK    Billy Rose, E. Y. Hartburg/Harold Arlen
IT’S ALRIGHT WITH ME QUINCY JONES/TRANSCRIPTION Cole Porter
LATER FOR LOVE JIM DUKEY Caroll Coates
LUSH LIFE  EDDIE NUCELLI Billy Strayhorn
MACK THE KNIFE         RICK WALSH      Marc Blitzstein (english)/Kurt Weill
MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT       FRANK MANTOOTH John Blackburn/Karl Suessdorf
MY FUNNY VALENTINE BILL LISTON  Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers
NEW YORK CITY BLUES QUINCY JONES
NICE AND EASY ROGER MYERS Alan&Marilyn Bergman/Lew Spence
OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNIN'                       TRANSCRIPTION BY ROGERS MYERS  Oscar Hammerstein/Richard Rodgers
ONE FOR MONTEREY FRANK MANTOOTH Caroll Coates
ONE FOR MY BABY (And One More For The Road)       FRANK MANTOOTH                         Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen
ORANGE COLORED SKY       ROGER HOLMES Milton Delugg, Willie Stein (wm)
POLKA DOTS AND MOONBEAMS BOB LOWDEN Johnny Burke/Jimmy Van Heusen
SATIN DOLL HOWARD CESPESDES Duke Ellington
SENOR BLUES QUINCY JONES
SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE THAD JONES (TRANSCRIPTION) Charles E. Calhoun
SO MANY STARS ADAPTED BY H. CESPEDES  Alan&Marilyn Bergman/Sergio Mendes
SOPHISTICATED LADY BOB MINTZER Mitchell Parish, Irving Mills/Duke Ellington
TAKE THE A TRAIN HOWARD CESPESDES Billy Strayhorn
TEACH ME TONIGHT QUINCY JONES/TRANSCRIPTION Sammy Cahn/Gene DePaul
THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC BILL LISTON  Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen
THE BEST IS YET TO COME QUINCY JONES/TRANSCRIPTION Carolyn Leigh/Cy Coleman
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING QUINCY JONES/TRANSCRIPTION Sammy Cahn/Alfred Newman
THE CITY LIGHTS JIM DUKEY Carroll Coates
THE LADY IS A TRAMP TRANSCRIPTION Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers
THE MORE I SEE YOU ADAPTED BY H. CESPEDES FROM GERALD WILSON  Mack Gordon/Harry Warren
THE SONG IS YOU      EDDIE NUCELLI Oscar Hammerstein/Jerome Kern
THE SUMMER WIND                                                         NELSON RIDDLE/TRANSCRIPTION Johnny Mercer, Henry Mayer
THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT WAYNE WALLACE Dorothy Fields/Jerome Kern
THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT     ROGERS HOLMES             Dorothy Fields/Jerome Kern
THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE BILL LISTON 
TRAVELIN` BLUES                    DAVE GRUSIN
TUXEDO JUNCTION          DAVID CAFFEY Erkine Hawkins,Julian Dash,Buddy Feyne, William Johnson
WALKIN` MY BABY BACK HOME    BILLY MAY Roy Turk,Fred Ahlert (wm)
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD  BILL LISTON  George  Douglas/ George David Weiss
WHAT ARE YOU DOING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE EDDIE NUCELLI Alan&Marilyn Bergman/Michel Legrand
WHEN I FALL IN LOVE                    JERRY NOWAK       Edward Heyman/ Victor Young
WHEN SUNNY GETS BLUE JERRY NOWAK Jack Segal/Marvin Fisher
WILLOW WEEP FOR ME               MATT HARRIS Ann Ronell
YOU STEPPED OUT OF A DREAM TRANSCRIPTION BY GRAHAM BRUCE Gus Kahn/Nacio Herb Brown

Duane with Capo's Big BandDuane at Kimbals1

 

 

From the mid to the late 1990's I had the honor of performing at the historic Sir Francis Drake Hotel, San Francisco in the Starlight Room with the Starlight Orchestra. Under the direction of Kent Strand, the band featured: Kent, on piano and keyboards, Ron Belcher on bass, Bob Blankenship on drums, Kent Cohea on saxes and flutes, Brad Catania on trumpet and vocals by Daline Jones and me.

Recently I rediscovered a number of live recordings from my time there. I believe they're from performances in August of 1998. I've posted some of those recordings here. I hope you enjoy them:

All Night Long

Close the Door

I've Got You Under My Skin

Love Will Find A Way

Mornin'

My Funny Valentine

Night and Day (out chorus)

Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night Of The Week)

The Summer Wind

Lawrence Expressway Band

In the early 1990's R&B band, The Lawrence Expressway Band, was the house band at a night club in downtown San Mateo, Ca. called Giannotti's. The bandmembers: Rich Healy, guitar, Mark Gelfand, keyboards, Ernest Carter, drums and Duane Lawrence, vocals.

In July 1992 one of our fans simply hung a microphone in front of the band to record us. The recording quality is a bit rough but the raw power of the band's performance and the incredible fun we had playing together definitely comes through. I hope you enjoy these:

Ain't Nobody Love Me Better

Born Under A Bad Sign

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

I Still Got The Blues For You

I Wish

Kansas City

Ninety-nine and a Half

Stormy Monday Blues

Superstition

There Must Be A Better World

Tobacco Road

Unchain My Heart

 

 

 


Big Band Vocals:

In the Evening (When The Sun Goes Down) - Audio - Full Spectrum Jazz Big Band - CD Rayna's Dance

Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good) - Audio - Full Spectrum Jazz Big Band - CD Rayna's Dance

Moonlight In Vermont - Audio - Full Spectrum Jazz Big Band- CD Rayna's Dance

The City Lights - Audio Recorded live at Yoshis with the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra

Jazz Combo Vocals:

The Day The World Stopped Turning - Audio Recorded in Aspen, Colorado with Vlad Girshevich on piano

Waltz For Debby - Audio Recorded in Aspen, Colorado with Vlad Girshevich on piano

Invitation - Audio Recorded in Aspen, Colorado with Vlad Girshevich on piano

You'll Never Find - Video Silcon Vibe