By Steve Provizer

Being a one-man or one-woman band while toiling in the shadows is not glamorous work. Over the last 13 years, producer Alex Lemsky undertook this role and provided a great deal of exciting, important music to the people of Boston.

The late Alex Lemsky was the founder of the Creative Music Series, its artistic director throughout its eleven-year run in the Boston area.

For many years, Boston had a significant network of nightclubs presenting jazz, which I chronicle here. Those days are gone. However, there is  still a complex jazz infrastructure in this area.

Much of this is institutional, of course: Berklee, New England Conservatory, Harvard. There are three “high-end” jazz nightclubs — Regatta Bar, Berklee Performance Center, and Scullers along with a number of smaller venues: Wally’s, the Beehive, Mad Monkfish, The Beebop, the Outpost, the Lilypad, several churches, and a few other spots. These places rely on knowledgeable bookers to find talent as well as promoters and jazz radio hosts to get the word out.

Then, there are the lone wolves, the producers who aren’t associated with a particular venue and who go it on their own. Three key people who fit this description in Boston are Mark Redmond (Mandoria Music), Carolyn (CJ) Kelley and, until his recent death, Alex Lemsky.

In 2022, Alex Lemsky (December 27, 1943 – December 5, 2025) was interviewed by the Arts Fuse and his history is well covered there. His home before coming to Boston was in Denver. I met Alex because my cousin Norman Provizer, a stalwart of the Denver jazz scene himself, put Lemsky in touch with me.

When Lemsky moved to Boston in 2012 we met. He was obviously knowledgeable and serious about continuing the Creative Music Series he’d started in Denver. I’d had some jazz production experience and tried to give him some leads. Since I’d lost my shirt in what jazz I’d produced, I’m sure I gave him no false hope about how easy it would be.

He was a pretty laid back guy and I wondered if his temperament would work in Boston’s jazz scene, which can be frustrating. This would become even truer with the degradation of the alternative journalism scene and the commensurate decrease in coverage of music performed by lesser-known musicians.

It turned out that Lemsky’s temperament was exactly right. He was patient and even-tempered — but persistent. He scouted out and ran events at a wide variety of indoor and outdoor spaces all around the city. He carried through on his promises; he was always there at the gig, greeting the audience and taking in the “short bread” that he charged for his events.

Still, however “normal” he was, his musical taste was truly adventurous. He drew on a combination of local and outside talent. The result was that his events filled an vital niche in our jazz scene. A full listing of his series is here.

Being a one-man or one-woman band while toiling in the shadows is not glamorous work. Over the last 13 years, Alex Lemsky undertook this role with energy and discernment, providing a great deal of exciting, important music to the people of Boston. We are grateful and happy to acknowledge his efforts.

Steve Provizer writes on a range of subjects, most often the arts. He is a musician and blogs about jazz here.