Huey Lawrence

Huey inscribed this portrait to his future bride, Willa.

Huey Lawrence was born February 27, 1922 in Pittsburgh, Pa., and died September 20, 2015 in Ayden, where he and his wife, Willa, settled in the mid-1940s.

On his native Pittsburgh, Huey Lawrence studied under Johnny Marino of the Pittsburgh Symphony. He liked to tell the story of how good a friend of his looked when he came home wearing a Navy uniform, but before the Navy, he came South to play football for North Carolina A&T, where he also became quickly known for his trumpet talent. He said playing with Helen O’Connell with B-1 at Chapel Hill was his biggest musical thrill–at least up until 1945, when he told fellow B-1 bandsman Otto Harris that his main ambition after the war was to “hit the main stem on the big time and parade up the street with Manana’s 45-piece band.”

Mr. Lawrence was one of my main sources for discovering not only the rich history of B-1 but also of the Rhythm Vets, with whom he also jammed after the re-premiere of “Pitch a Boogie Woogie” in 1988. He and Willa were always gracious hosts, and I loved visiting them in their Ayden home, where he’d often sit fingering his dented and bandaged horn while we talked, and sometimes in a memory he’d play.

–Harris, Otto. “Musically Speaking.” Pearl City, HA. Mananan. 17 Mar. 1945: np.

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–from his obituary

Mr. Huey L. Lawrence age 93, of 4421 Fleming St. Ayden, NC. died Sunday September 20, 2015. Funeral service will be held Saturday September 26, 2015 2pm at Mt. Shiloh Baptist Church 230 Boyd Street, Winterville, NC 28590. Burial will follow in Ayden Cemetery.

Mr. Lawrence was a band teacher and loved to play the trumpet.

He is survived by one son, Jeffrey Lawrence of Greenville, NC.,  five daughters: Marian Long of Philadelphia, PA, Melanie Lawrence Ward of Beulahville, NC, Evetta Lawrence Davis of Belmont, NC, Crystal Lawrence Mayo of Greensboro, NC and Netrel Lawrence Sneed of Pasadena, TX; 11 grandchildren; 24 great grandchildren; and a host of other relatives and friends.

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Huey Lawrence jams with the Quincy Jones Trio at UBE, Greenville, NC

Huey & Willa Lawrence at B-1’s Chapel Hill reunion in 2004

Huey and his trumpet at home in Ayden