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Steve Lacy

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Steve Lacy, born Steven Norman Lackritz, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, one of the most important players of the soprano saxophone. He was born in 1934 and died in 2004. At sixteen he was already playing Dixieland with older musicians such as Red Allen and Pee Wee Russell. He then moved into the avant-garde: he played on Jazz Advance from 1956, Cecil Taylor's debut album, and in 1957 performed with Taylor's quartet at the Newport Jazz Festival.

Music and breakthrough

His longest bond was with the music of Thelonious Monk. In 1958 he recorded Reflections, the first album consisting solely of Monk's compositions, and in 1960 he played briefly in Monk's band. Monk is on almost every Lacy album and concert programme, often together with the trombonist Roswell Rudd. He also played works by Mingus, Ellington and Herbie Nichols, and rarely ordinary pop songs. In 1965 he came to Europe, and in 1970 he moved to Paris, where he lived until the last two years of his life.

Influence

From the 1970s to the 1990s his work centred on his sextet, with his wife, the singer and violinist Irene Aebi. He also became a specialist in solo saxophone. His music is melodic and tightly constructed, often built from little more than a single questioning phrase that repeats. He made music for poems by Robert Creeley, Samuel Beckett and haiku, and worked with painters and dancers. In 1992 he received a MacArthur Fellowship. In the United States he remained less well known than in Europe.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a Monk composition on Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk. Notice the clear, thin sound of the soprano sax and how the angular melody is repeated like a question.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists