Creative improvising saxophonist Blaise Siwula was born February 19, 1950, in Detroit, MI. His next-door neighbor practiced saxophone in the afternoon and occasionally allowed him inside to watch him play. Involved with the arts for all of his life, he began studying the alto sax at the age of 14, playing in the middle-school concert band. Hearing John Coltrane's LP Om in 1969, he felt compelled to take the tenor saxophone and make his voice heard on it. Siwula was influenced by hearing Art Pepper in San Francisco, as well as Ornette Coleman, Sonny Stitt, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra