Steve Lacy

Among the great soprano saxophonists ever (rank up there with Sidney Bechet and John Coltrane), Steve Lacy’s profession was fascinating to view develop. He originally doubled on clarinet and soprano (falling the former with the middle-’50s), motivated by Bechet, and performed Dixieland in NY with Rex Stewart, Cecil Scott, Crimson Allen, as well as other old music artists during 1952-1955. He debuted on record within a modernized Dixieland format with Dick Sutton in 1954. Nevertheless, Lacy shortly jumped over many styles to try out free of charge jazz with Cecil Taylor during 1955-1957. They documented jointly and performed on the 1957 Newport Jazz Celebration. Lacy documented with Gil Evans in 1957 (they might work together with an abnormal basis in to the 1980s), was with Thelonious Monk’s quintet in 1960 for four a few months, and then produced a quartet with Roswell Rudd (1961-1964) that solely performed Monk’s music; only 1 live established (for Emanen in 1963) resulted from that extremely interesting group. Lacy, who’s considered the initial “contemporary” musician to concentrate on soprano (a musical instrument that was totally neglected through the bop period), started to switch toward avant-garde jazz in 1965. He previously a quartet with Enrico Rava that spent eight weeks in SOUTH USA. After a yr back in NY, he permanently shifted to European countries in 1967 with 3 years in Italy preceding a proceed to Paris. Lacy’s music progressed from free type to improvising from his scalar originals. By 1977 he previously a normal group with whom he continuing to execute throughout his profession, offering Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Lacy’s wife, violinist/vocalist Irene Aebi, bassist Kent Carter (later on been successful by Jean-Jacques Avenel), and drummer Oliver Johnson; pianist Bobby Few became a member of the group within the 1980s. Lacy, who also done special tasks with Gil Evans, Mal Waldron, and Misha Mengelberg, amongst others, and in circumstances ranging from single soprano concerts, many Monk tributes, big rings, and establishing poetry to music, documented a many sessions for nearly as many brands, with Sands showing up on Tzakik in 1998 and Cry on SoulNote in 1999. His early schedules (1957-1961) had been for Prestige, New Jazz, and Candid and down the road he appeared especially on periods for Hat Artwork, Black Saint/Spirit Take note, and Novus. Lacy, who was simply suffering with cancer tumor for quite some time, passed on in June of 2004. His legacy is growing, however, as several concert events from throughout his profession are issued.