Despite a prolific recording career as both a leader and as a sideman, alto saxophonist Arnie Lawrence made his most lasting contributions to jazz as an educator, founding the jazz program at New York City's New School University and later launching the Jerusalem-based International Center for Creative Music, a program that welcomed musicians of both Jewish and Arab descent. Born in Brooklyn, NY, on July 10, 1938, Lawrence first studied clarinet. By age 12, he was playing professionally in Catskills clubs, and at 17 he was performing as part of the "Jazz Unlimited" series presented by the landmark New York City club Birdland, once splitting a double bill with the immortal John Coltrane. As word of his soulful, fiery playing grew, Lawrence was invited to sit in with the likes of Charles Mingus, Thad Jones, Maynard Ferguson, and Duke Pearson, but he did not make his recorded debut until 1966, when he appeared on Chico Hamilton's LP The Dealer. In addition to a long tenure with Hamilton, in 1967 Lawrence joined NBC's The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson as a featured soloist, a gig he would maintain until the program relocated to Los Angeles five years later.