Steve Lacy

by Weiss, Jason

• ISBN13: 9780822338154
• ISBN10: 0822338157
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-14
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Steve Lacy: Conversations is a collection of thirty-four interviews with the innovative saxophonist and jazz composer. Lacy (1934-2004), a pioneer in making the soprano saxophone a contemporary jazz instrument, was a prolific performer and composer, with hundreds of recordings to his name.This volume brings together interviews which appeared in a variety of magazines over forty-five years, from 1959 until 2004. Conducted by writers, critics, musicians, visual artists, a philosopher, and an architect, the interviews indicate the evolution of Lacy's extraordinary career and thought. Lacy began playing the saxophone at age sixteen, and was soon performing with Dixieland musicians much older than him. By nineteen, he was playing with pianist Cecil Taylor, who ignited his interest in the avant-garde. He eventually became the foremost proponent of Thelonius Monk's music. Lacy played with a broad range of musicians, including Monk and Gil Evans, and led his own bands. A voracious reader and the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, Lacy was particularly known for setting to music literary texts-such as the Tao Te Ching, and the work of poets including Samuel Beckett, Robert Creeley, and Taslima Nasrin-as well as for collaborating with painters and dancers in multimedia projects.Lacy lived in Paris from 1970 until 2002, and his music and ideas reflect a decades-long cross-pollination of cultures. Half of the interviews in this collection originally appeared in French sources and were translated specifically for this book. Jason Weiss provides a general introduction, as well as short introductions to each of the interviews and to the selection of Lacy's own brief writings that appears at the end of the book. The volume also includes three song scores, a selected discography of Lacy's recordings, and many photos from the personal collection of his wife and longtime collaborator, Irene Aebi.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 3
Interviews with Steve Lacy
Introducing Steve Lacy (1959)	p. 13
My Favorite Thing (1961)	p. 17
The Land of Monk (1963)	p. 20
Goodbye, New York (Garth W. Caylor, Jr., 1965)	p. 24
Faithful Lacy (Philippe Carles, 1965)	p. 33
Twenty-six New Jazzmen Put to the Question (1965)	p. 41
Steve Lacy Speaks (Paul Gros-Claude, 1971)	p. 43
Improvisation (Derek Bailey, 1974)	p. 48
Evidence and Reflections (Alain-Rene Hardy and Philippe Quinsac, 1976)	p. 52
On Play and Process, and Musical Instincts (Raymond Gervais and Yves Bouliane, 1976)	p. 62
In the Spirit (Roberto Terlizzi, 1976)	p. 78
The Spark, the Gap, the Leap (Brian Case, 1979)	p. 84
In Search of the Way (Jason Weiss, 1980)	p. 97
Songs: Steve Lacy and Brion Gysin (Jason Weiss, 1981)	p. 104
Unrecognized Giant? (Xavier Prevost, 1982)	p. 109
Futurities (Isabelle Galloni d'Istria, 1984)	p. 111
The Solitude of the Long-Distance Player (Gerard Rouy, 1987)	p. 115
On Practicing, and Exploring the Instrument (Kirk Silsbee, 1988)	p. 123
Art is Made to Trouble (Christian Gauffre, 1990)	p. 130
Shop Talk (Mel Martin, 1990)	p. 133
It's Got to Be Alive (Ben Ratliff, 1991)	p. 138
Regarding the Voice: Steve Lacy and Irene Aebi (Jason Weiss, 1993)	p. 146
A Petite Fleur for S. B. (Philippe Carles, 1994)	p. 156
Sculpture and Jazz (Alain Kirili, 1994)	p. 158
One Shouldn't Make Too Much Noise, There's Enough Already (Franck Medioni, 1995)	p. 163
Living Lacy (Gerard Rouy, 1995)	p. 166
Scratching the Seventies (Etienne Brunet, 1996)	p. 167
Forget Paris (John Corbett, 1996)	p. 185
In the Old Days (Lee Friedlander and Maria Friedlander, 1997)	p. 193
The Glorious Thirty (Franck Bergerot and Alex Dutilh, 2000)	p. 208
Farewell Paris (Gerard Rouy, 2002)	p. 212
Invisible Jukebox (Christoph Cox, 2002)	p. 217
Big Kisses from Boston (Franck Medioni, 2003)	p. 226
The Art of the Song: Steve Lacy and Irene Aebi (Ed Hazell, 2004)	p. 228
Writings by Steve Lacy
MEV Notes (ca. 1968)	p. 244
Roba (early 1970s)	p. 248
Garden Variety (ca. 1974)	p. 249
FMP: 10 Years Jubilee (ca. 1979)	p. 250
What about Monk? (1980)	p. 251
He Flew (1980)	p. 253
In the Upper Air: Albert Ayler (1996)	p. 256
Shiro and I (1997)	p. 257
Short Takes (1998)	p. 258
Yoshizawa (1998)	p. 260
Made in France (2000)	p. 261
Song Sources (undated)	p. 266
Residency Statement (2004)	p. 267
Song Scores
Dreams (1975)	p. 272
Mind's Heart (1982)	p. 273
3 Haiku (1998)	p. 274
Selected Discography	p. 277
Credits	p. 281
Index	p. 283
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