Steve Lacy (saxophonist)

Steve Lacy (born Steven Norman Lackritz; July 23, 1934 – June 4, 2004) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone. Coming to prominence in the 1950s as a progressive dixieland musician, Lacy went on to a long and prolific career. He worked extensively in experimental jazz and to a lesser extent in free improvisation, but Lacy's music was typically melodic and tightly-structured. Lacy also became a highly distinctive composer, with compositions often built out of little more than a single questioning phrase, repeated several times.

The music of Thelonious Monk became a permanent part of Lacy's repertoire after a stint in the pianist's band, with Monk's works appearing on virtually every Lacy album and concert program; Lacy often partnered with trombonist Roswell Rudd in exploring Monk's work. Beyond Monk, Lacy performed the work of jazz composers such as Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington and Herbie Nichols; unlike many jazz musicians he rarely played standard popular or show tunes.

Early life and career
Lacy began his career at sixteen playing Dixieland music with much older musicians such as Henry "Red" Allen, Pee Wee Russell, George "Pops" Foster and Zutty Singleton and then with Kansas City jazz players like Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, and Jimmy Rushing. He then became involved with the avant-garde, performing on Jazz Advance (1956), the debut album of Cecil Taylor, and appearing with Taylor's groundbreaking quartet at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival; he also made a notable appearance on an early Gil Evans album. His most enduring relationship, however, was with the music of Thelonious Monk: he recorded the first album to feature only Monk compositions (Reflections, Prestige, 1958) and briefly played in Monk's band in 1960 and later on Monk's Big Band and Quartet in Concert album (Columbia, 1963).

Europe and sextet
Lacy's first visit to Europe came in 1965, with a visit to Copenhagen in the company of Kenny Drew; he went to Italy and formed a quartet with Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and the South African musicians Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo (their visit to Buenos Aires is documented on The Forest and the Zoo, ESP, 1967). After a brief return to New York, he returned to Italy, then in 1970 moved to Paris, where he lived until the last two years of his life. He became a widely respected figure on the European jazz scene, though he remained less well known in the U.S.

The core of Lacy's activities from the 1970s to the 1990s was his sextet: his wife, singer/violinist Irene Aebi, soprano/alto saxophonist Steve Potts, pianist Bobby Few, bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel, and drummer Oliver Johnson (later John Betsch). Sometimes this group was scaled up to a large ensemble (e.g. Vespers, Soul Note, 1993, which added Ricky Ford on tenor sax and Tom Varner on French horn), sometimes pared down to a quartet, trio, or even a two-saxophone duo. He played duos with pianist Eric Watson. Lacy also, beginning in the 1970s, became a specialist in solo saxophone; he ranks with Sonny Rollins, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, and Lol Coxhill in the development of this demanding form of improvisation.

Lacy was interested in all the arts: the visual arts and poetry in particular became important sources for him. Collaborating with painters and dancers in multimedia projects, he made musical settings of his favourite writers: Robert Creeley, Samuel Beckett, Tom Raworth, Taslima Nasrin, Herman Melville, Brion Gysin and other Beat writers, including settings for the Tao Te Ching and haiku poetry. As Creeley noted in the Poetry Project Newsletter, "There's no way simply to make clear how particular Steve Lacy was to poets or how much he can now teach them by fact of his own practice and example. No one was ever more generous or perceptive."

Later career
In 1992, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (nicknamed the "genius grant").

He also collaborated with a wide range of musicians, from traditional jazz to the avant-garde to contemporary classical music. Outside of his regular sextet, his most regular collaborator was pianist Mal Waldron, with whom he recorded a number of duet albums (notably Sempre Amore, a collection of Ellington/Strayhorn material, Soul Note, 1987).

Lacy played his 'farewell concerts to Europe' in Belgium, in duo and solo, for a small but motivated public. This happened in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges and Mons. In duo he played with Fred Van Hove, Joëlle Léandre, Mikhail Bezverkhni, Irène Aebi, Frederic Rzewski, Christopher Culpo and the dancer Shiro Daimon. This recollection is published by Naked Music, Afkikker, Ghent. In Ghent he played with the classical violinist Mikhail Bezverkhni, winner of Queen Elisabeth Concours. Two of these concerts were organized by Rita De Vuyst, his last muse in Europe, to whom he dedicated his solo CD Mother Goose solo @ afkikker. This CD is published within the book, Bone, a tribute to Lacy. He returned to the United States in 2002, where he began teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. One of his last public performances was in front of 25,000 people at the close of a peace rally on Boston Common in March 2003, shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq.

After Lacy was diagnosed with liver cancer in August 2003, he continued playing and teaching until weeks before his death on June 4, 2004, at the age of 69.

As leader/co-leader
Compilations
 * Scratching the Seventies/Dreams (Saravah, 1996)
 * Associates (Musica Jazz, 1996)
 * Opium with Bill Dixon, Franz Koglmann (Between The Lines, 2001) – rec. 1973-76; compiles tracks from the Koglmann/Lacy album Flaps (Pipe, 1973) and the Koglmann/Dixon album Opium for Franz (Pipe, 1977)
 * The Complete Whitey Mitchell Sessions (Lone Hill Jazz, 2004) – rec. 1956
 * Tao with Andrea Centazzo (Ictus, 2006) – rec. 1976-84
 * Early and Late with Roswell Rudd (Cuneiform, 2007) – rec. 1962, 1999, 2002
 * The Sun (Emanem, 2012)
 * Avignon And After Volume 1 (Emanem, 2012)
 * Avignon And After Volume 2 (Emanem, 2014)

With Mal Waldron

 * Journey Without End (RCA Victor, 1971)
 * Mal Waldron with the Steve Lacy Quintet (America, 1972)
 * Hard Talk (Enja, 1974)
 * One-Upmanship (Enja, 1977)
 * Moods (Enja, 1978)
 * Sempre Amore (Soul Note, 1987) – rec. 1986
 * The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil (Paddle Wheel, 1987)
 * Hot House (RCA Novus, 1991) – rec. 1990
 * I Remember Thelonious (Nel Jazz, 1996) – rec. 1992
 * Let's Call This... Esteem (Slam, 1993) – live
 * Communiqué (Soul Note, 1997)
 * One More Time (2002)
 * Live at Dreher, Paris 1981 (hatOLOGY, 2003) – compilation
 * Live at Dreher, Paris 1981, Round Midnight Vol. 1 (hat ART, 1996)
 * Live at Dreher, Paris 1981, The Peak Vol. 2 (hat ART, 1996)
 * Japan Dream (2004)
 * At the Bimhuis 1982 (2006)
 * The Mighty Warriors Live in Antwerp (Elemental, 2024) – rec. 1995

As sideman
With Area
 * Maledetti (Cramps, 1976)
 * Event '76 (Cramps, 1979) – rec. 1976

With Miles Davis
 * Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (Columbia, 1962) – rec. 1961
 * Quiet Nights (Columbia, 1963) – rec. 1962–63

With Gil Evans
 * Gil Evans & Ten (	Prestige, 1958) – rec. 1957
 * Great Jazz Standards (World Pacific, 1959)
 * The Individualism of Gil Evans (Verve, 1964) – rec. 1963–64
 * Parabola (Horo, 1979) – rec. 1978

With Giorgio Gaslini
 * Nuovi Sentimenti (La Voce Del Padrone, 1966)
 * Il Grido: Big Band Live (Durium, 1968)
 * Fabbrica Occupata (Produttori Associati, 1974) – rec. 1973. also with Jean-Luc Ponty

With Globe Unity Orchestra
 * Evidence, vol.1 (FMP, 1976) – rec. 1975
 * Into the Valley, vol.2 (FMP, 1976) – rec. 1975

With Roswell Rudd
 * Blown Bone (Philips, 1979) – rec. 1976
 * Broad Strokes (Knitting Factory, 2000)

With Dick Sutton
 * Jazz Idiom (Jaguar, 1954)[10"]
 * Progressive Dixieland (Jaguar, 1954)[10"]

With Cecil Taylor
 * Jazz Advance (Transition, 1957) – rec. 1956
 * At Newport (Verve, 1958) – also with Gigi Gryce. rec 1957.

With Giovanni Tommaso
 * Indefinitive Atmosphere (SR, 1970) – rec. 1968
 * La Banda Del Cibo Salutare (RCA, 1970)

With others
 * Tom Stewart, Quintet/Sextet (ABC-Paramount, 1956)
 * Whitey Mitchell Sextette, Whitey Mitchell Sextette (Sparton, 1956)
 * Thelonious Monk, Big Band and Quartet in Concert (Columbia, 1964) – rec. 1963
 * Bobby Hackett, Hello Louis (Epic, 1964)
 * Kenny Burrell, Guitar Forms (Verve, 1965) – rec. 1964
 * Jazz Composers Orchestra, Communication (Fontana, 1965) – rec. 1964–65
 * Gary Burton, A Genuine Tong Funeral (RCA, 1968) – rec. 1967
 * Alan Silva, Seasons (BYG Actuel, 1971) – rec. 1970
 * Maria Monti, Il Bestiario (Rifi, 1974)
 * Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln, Sounds as a Roach (Joker, 1977) – rec. 1968
 * Derek Bailey's Company, Company 4 (Incus, 1977) – rec. 1976
 * Musica Elettronica Viva, United Patchwork (Horo, 1977)
 * Kenny Davern, Unexpected (Kharma, 1978)
 * Laboratorio della Quercia, Laboratorio della Quercia del Tasso (Horo, 1978)
 * Globe Unity Orchestra, Compositions (Japo, 1980) – rec. 1979
 * V.A., Amarcord Nino Rota (Corbett Vs. Dempsey, 1980)
 * Tiziana Ghiglioni, Somebody Special (Soul Note, 1986)
 * Company, Company, vol. 5, 6, 7 (Incus, 1991) – rec. 1977
 * V.A., Interpretations Of Monk (DIW, 1994) – rec. 1981
 * Joe Puma, Wild Kitten (Dawn, 1998) – 2 tracks in reissued version