Born and raised in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz itself, Al was not quite born with a horn in his mouth, but he did start playing at the age of nine and has not put his sax down since. His passion for the music was inspired by marching in second lines alongside his father, “Dutt” Lazard, who used to tell him, “Little Red, just do yo thang.” Following this advice lead him to his first professional work playing R&B in clubs on Bourbon St when he was 14 years old. He went on to study music at Southern University under Kidd Jordan and had the pleasure of playing with some of the city’s great musicians, including the Rebirth Brass Band, Kirk Joseph and Backyard Groove, and the Neville Brothers.

In the early 1990’s he moved to California. In the Bay Area he keeps the New Orleans musical flame alive, serving up music as spicy as his gumbo. He leads his own ensembles and has also been a member of Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra, Highway One and the Vincent Toliver Jazz Group. As a leader he has played at the Montclair Jazz fest, the Oakpark Jazz fest in Sacramento and the Merced Jazz fest and he has performed in many of the Bay Area’s finest venues, including Café du Nord, the Boom Boom Room, The Jazz House, Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre, and the San Mateo Fairgrounds.