Steve Lacy Monk

Avid Jazz continues with its Four Classic album series with a re-mastered 2CD release by Steve Lacy, complete with original artwork and liner notes.
“Soprano Sax”; “Reflections - Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk” “The Straight Horn Of Steve Lacy”; and “Evidence”.
Born in New York City, Steven Norman Lackritz (better known to jazz fans as Steve Lacy ) was one of a rare breed of jazz men to play the soprano sax, almost exclusively. Other famously few players include Sidney Bechet, Johnny Hodges and occasionally John Coltrane. For a musician starting life in a Dixieland jazz band playing alongside such greats as Henry “Red” Allen and Pee Wee Russell, Steve Lacys jazz journey may look an unexpected one…

One of the great soprano saxophonists of all time (ranking up there with Sidney Bechet and John Coltrane), Steve Lacy's career was fascinating to watch develop. He originally doubled on clarinet and soprano (dropping the former by the mid-'50s), inspired by Bechet, and played Dixieland in New York with Rex Stewart, Cecil Scott, Red Allen, and other older musicians during 1952-1955. He debuted on record in a modernized Dixieland format with Dick Sutton in 1954. However, Lacy soon jumped over several styles to play free jazz with Cecil Taylor during 1955-1957. They recorded together and performed at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. Lacy recorded with Gil Evans in 1957 (they would work together on an irregular basis into the 1980s), was with Thelonious Monk's quintet in 1960 for four months, and then formed a quartet with Roswell Rudd (1961-1964) that exclusively played Monk's music; only one live set (for Emanen in 1963) resulted from that very interesting group. 6 original albums from the soprano sax maestro including works with Don Cherry & Gil Evans; Soprano Sax, Plays Theloniuous Monk, Straight Horn Of.., Evidence, Gil Evans & Ten, Great Jazz Standards.

Steve Lacy - School Days (1960-1963) {Emanem 5016 rel 2011}
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© 1960-63, 2011 Martin Davidson (Emanem) | 5016
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Seminal work from Steve Lacy – a set that was recorded in the early 60s, but not issued until the mid 70s – when it quickly became one of THE key records for understanding Lacy's sound and style! The set's based on the work of Thelonious Monk – and like Lacy's early Prestige album, Reflections, it features these wonderful angular extrapolations on Monk's modern ideals – really taken to the next level, and in a way that's even more far-reaching than Lacy's previous recordings of Monk. The group here is a key part of the album's strength – with Lacy on soprano sax, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Henry Grimes on bass, and Dennis Charles on drums – and titles include "Bye Ya", "Monk's Mood", "Brilliant Corners", and "Skippy".

Jazz pianist Mal Waldron and soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy became acquainted at the Five Spot in 1958. The following year, the saxophonist approached Waldron to guest on his New Jazz debut, Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk. They continued playing concerts and making records together until Waldron's death in 2002. Both collaborated with multi-disciplinary artists including filmmakers, poets, painters, and sculptors. While their collaboration was by no means prolific, releasing less than 15 albums together - their duo offerings usually contained compositions by both men - and idiosyncratic readings of tunes by Monk or Herbie Nichols. The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp is a previously unreleased 1995 quartet concert with drummer Andrew Cyrille and bassist Reggie Workman. Released by the Barcelona-based Elemental Music in collaboration with producer Zev Feldman, the double-disc package contains six long tracks spread over an hour-and-40 minutes…

Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy ranks alongside Sidney Bechet and John Coltrane as one of the few who permanently reshaped and reworked Dixieland music by contemporizing it in a postmodern vein. With his reassessments and reinventions of such Dixieland tunes as "Work," "Played Twice," and "Criss Cross" by Thelonious Monk and self-penned standards such as "Blinks," "Capers," "Clichés," and "Troubles,"Lacy laid the groundwork, stylistically, for innumerable later players and left in his wake a treasure trove for generations of listeners upon his death in 2004. Lacy is the center of the film Steve Lacy: Lift the Bandstand, which draws from interviews with Lacy himself as he expostulates on his place in the jazz realm and his contributions to the medium and rare archival footage of Lacy in performance.

Jazz pianist Mal Waldron and soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy became acquainted at the Five Spot in 1958. The following year, the saxophonist approached Waldron to guest on his New Jazz debut, Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk. They continued playing concerts and making records together until Waldron's death in 2002. Both collaborated with multi-disciplinary artists including filmmakers, poets, painters, and sculptors. While their collaboration was by no means prolific, releasing less than 15 albums together - their duo offerings usually contained compositions by both men - and idiosyncratic readings of tunes by Monk or Herbie Nichols. The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp is a previously unreleased 1995 quartet concert with drummer Andrew Cyrille and bassist Reggie Workman. Released by the Barcelona-based Elemental Music in collaboration with producer Zev Feldman, the double-disc package contains six long tracks spread over an hour-and-40 minutes…

Steve Lacy - Five Facings (2008) {Jazzwerkstatt jw025}
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© 2008 Jazzwerkstatt / FMP | jw025
Jazz / Free Improvisation / Saxophone / Piano

This set, recorded between April 4 and April 8, 1996, teamed soprano saxophone giant Steve Lacy with five different pianists. Half the cuts were composed by Lacy, three by Thelonious Monk, and one improvisation by Van Hove and Lacy – the least interesting work included here, because it didn't work. The first five tracks would have made an album for any jazz fan, and the rest, while interesting, don't touch the first half, and perhaps that's because the first two pianists are Marilyn Crispell and Misha Mengelberg. Two pieces by Lacy, "The Crust" and "Blues For Aida," start things off with Crispell playing an inspired counterpoint to the artist during the melody, moving into a piano solo that combines a total shift of Lacy's compositional thought into an almost purely classical realm (Bruckner anyone?) before entering into a dialogue that brings the work back to the jazz tradition, and there is no seam.

Steve Lacy - Reflections - Plays Thelonious Monk (1958) {Prestige–New Jazz Japan VICJ-2186 rel 1996}
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© 1958, 1996 Prestige-New Jazz / Victor Japan | VICJ-2186 | 20bitK2
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

All of soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's early recordings are quite fascinating, for during 1957-1964, aspects of his style at times hinted at Dixieland, swing, Monk, and Cecil Taylor, sometimes at the same time. For this CD reissue (a straight reproduction of the original New Jazz LP), Lacy teams up with pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Buell Neidlinger, and drummer Elvin Jones for seven Thelonious Monk compositions. The typical standbys (such as "'Round Midnight," "Straight No Chaser," and "Blue Monk") are avoided in favor of more complex works such as "Four in One," "Bye-Ya," and "Skippy"; the sweet ballad "Ask Me Now" is a highpoint. Lacy always had an affinity for Monk's music and, even nearly 40 years later, this set is a delight.