Over the last few months I have been increasingly listening to musicians like Duke Ellington, Andrew Hill, Sun Ra and Arthur Blythe and thinking just how poor the world of jazz is these days because so few jazz musicians seem to have such an idiosyncratic approach to their music. I was quite intrigued by the Avid 4-Cd collection of Steve Lacy's music which I was aware of but not familiar with. Steve Lacy was very much part of the contemporary scene when I was getting in to jazz that I had ignored his earlier work apart from his cameo performances with Gil Evans. It seemed far more interesting to listen to his current stuff than records made when he was still in his 20's.
The collection of Avid is something of a revelation albeit the tendency to bill their re-issues as "four classic albums" usually refers to the vintage and not the performances in so many instances. This is not the case with the Steve Lacy disc. The initial record entitled "Soprano saxophone" includes Wynton Kelly in the line up and is a pretty good modern jazz recording of the era. It is odd because the record so squarely pitched in the mainstream and Kelly's piano almost seems out of context when coupled with a more adventurous player like Lacy - Kelly is so often the best thing about so many jazz recordings from this era. The second disc pushes thing further outside with an exploration of Thelonious Monk's music with the more suitable Mal Waldron at the piano. By the time the music on the second disc was produced, four years had passed on from the debut and Lacy is at risk of sounding well in advance of his contemporaries. "The straight horn of Steve Lacy" was rightly singled out by Jazzrook on the Charles Davis thread although I think that Davis is still rooted in bop in this record whilst the leader is off on another planet. The final record includes a group with Don Cherry who is a musician I find to be erratic on record yet having the potential to be superb. His playing on the album "Evidence" is incredible and , although I am only a few tracks in, I think this is the pick of the bunch,
A few observations seem prescient. Whilst I knew that he had initially been associated with "Dixieland" jazz, the reality is that he had been playing with high calibre musicians such as Max Kaminsky, Walter Page, etc. He was therefore already working with musicians of a high calibre before being mentored by Cecil Taylor. What has never been widely known was the he was a pupil of Lee Konitz and when you listen to Lacy's ability to unfurl streams of improvised lines as you can hear on CD2, this makes total sense. The third think is that the only giveaway that CD 2 was recorded in the 1960s is the fact that the records aren't stereo. Lacy's musical vision remained intact until his passing and it is fascinating to hear it present around 1960 / 1 as opposed to appearing after the innovations in the 2nd half of the 60's. Setting aside the debut album, the other three records sound "contemporary" or even visionary.
The other immediate observation is Lacy's affinity for Monk. Bruce often cites this and is a fan of his Soul Note work which includes solo versions of Monk's tunes. For me, Lacy was the best ever interpreter of Monk's music but this collection also shows an affinity for Duke Ellington's work who Lacy also admired. The leads onto the comment in the liner notes about Lacy suggesting that even in 1960 there was enough "jazz repertoire" to obviate the need to plough through Broadway repertoire. Later on, he was even more critical of musicians performing pop songs.
It is shocking that the musical approach of players like Lacy seems to have gone from "the cutting edge" through to total obscurity. If you consider what is considered at the forefront of jazz today, I am struggling to think of anyone who shares Lacy's strident vision of uncompromising jazz. The interview with the percussionist of JLU six months ago comes immediately to mind where he was adamant that people working in jazz needed to look beyond the confines of the music for inspiration. I am more of Lacy's view these days in that the music has plenty of potential and musicians should look within the heritage. The notion of "safe-guarding" jazz is usually seen as the fiefdom of players like Wynton Marsalis yet someone like Steve Lacy was no less hostile towards external influences and passionate about the music losing it's integrity. In these days of musicians with amazing techniques spewing out of colleges, the Avid collection is ample reminder that the potency of jazz must never be neglected. It is a timely reminder of what a great improviser Steve Lacy was ( up there with Sonny Rollins, Konitz, Parker, Coltrane etc) and also just how much he understood the worth of jazz to be. I would seriously recommend this collection for anyone unfamiliar with these records.
The collection of Avid is something of a revelation albeit the tendency to bill their re-issues as "four classic albums" usually refers to the vintage and not the performances in so many instances. This is not the case with the Steve Lacy disc. The initial record entitled "Soprano saxophone" includes Wynton Kelly in the line up and is a pretty good modern jazz recording of the era. It is odd because the record so squarely pitched in the mainstream and Kelly's piano almost seems out of context when coupled with a more adventurous player like Lacy - Kelly is so often the best thing about so many jazz recordings from this era. The second disc pushes thing further outside with an exploration of Thelonious Monk's music with the more suitable Mal Waldron at the piano. By the time the music on the second disc was produced, four years had passed on from the debut and Lacy is at risk of sounding well in advance of his contemporaries. "The straight horn of Steve Lacy" was rightly singled out by Jazzrook on the Charles Davis thread although I think that Davis is still rooted in bop in this record whilst the leader is off on another planet. The final record includes a group with Don Cherry who is a musician I find to be erratic on record yet having the potential to be superb. His playing on the album "Evidence" is incredible and , although I am only a few tracks in, I think this is the pick of the bunch,
A few observations seem prescient. Whilst I knew that he had initially been associated with "Dixieland" jazz, the reality is that he had been playing with high calibre musicians such as Max Kaminsky, Walter Page, etc. He was therefore already working with musicians of a high calibre before being mentored by Cecil Taylor. What has never been widely known was the he was a pupil of Lee Konitz and when you listen to Lacy's ability to unfurl streams of improvised lines as you can hear on CD2, this makes total sense. The third think is that the only giveaway that CD 2 was recorded in the 1960s is the fact that the records aren't stereo. Lacy's musical vision remained intact until his passing and it is fascinating to hear it present around 1960 / 1 as opposed to appearing after the innovations in the 2nd half of the 60's. Setting aside the debut album, the other three records sound "contemporary" or even visionary.
The other immediate observation is Lacy's affinity for Monk. Bruce often cites this and is a fan of his Soul Note work which includes solo versions of Monk's tunes. For me, Lacy was the best ever interpreter of Monk's music but this collection also shows an affinity for Duke Ellington's work who Lacy also admired. The leads onto the comment in the liner notes about Lacy suggesting that even in 1960 there was enough "jazz repertoire" to obviate the need to plough through Broadway repertoire. Later on, he was even more critical of musicians performing pop songs.
It is shocking that the musical approach of players like Lacy seems to have gone from "the cutting edge" through to total obscurity. If you consider what is considered at the forefront of jazz today, I am struggling to think of anyone who shares Lacy's strident vision of uncompromising jazz. The interview with the percussionist of JLU six months ago comes immediately to mind where he was adamant that people working in jazz needed to look beyond the confines of the music for inspiration. I am more of Lacy's view these days in that the music has plenty of potential and musicians should look within the heritage. The notion of "safe-guarding" jazz is usually seen as the fiefdom of players like Wynton Marsalis yet someone like Steve Lacy was no less hostile towards external influences and passionate about the music losing it's integrity. In these days of musicians with amazing techniques spewing out of colleges, the Avid collection is ample reminder that the potency of jazz must never be neglected. It is a timely reminder of what a great improviser Steve Lacy was ( up there with Sonny Rollins, Konitz, Parker, Coltrane etc) and also just how much he understood the worth of jazz to be. I would seriously recommend this collection for anyone unfamiliar with these records.
Emerson, Lake & Palmed Off!
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