How did I miss this?
Damn. In all the Reagan hullaballoo recently, I comepletely missed that Steve Lacy died earlier this month. Man, that's crappy. He came to Austin a couple fo times while we've been here, but I never made it to any of his shows. He played the Continetal Club at least one of those times, which is not where you'd expect to see the world finest soprano saxophonist.
I've actually only got a couple of his albums, but both of them are really good, especially Regeneration.
Live at Sweet Basil was the first Lacy record I bought, from the late Real Records in Iowa City. Once you get past his wife's voice, the whole thing is wonderful.
3 Comments:
I don't know anything about Steve Lacy (or his wife) but I wanted to post the first comment on your blog.
Merry blogging.
Steve's passing was really hard to take. He was the one who really got me into jazz. I saw him live for the first time in Buffalo around '99 and finally this past September in Minneapolis; the usual trio, plus his wife, Irene Aebi, and trombonist George Lewis.
Live at Sweet Basil is solid but there is so much to his catalog - so many entry points. Regeneration is amazing, but not really a Steve Lacy album.
There's no need to "get past" his wife's voice. You only need to get past yourself, and your preconceptions.
Also, Real Records in Iowa City re-opened about a month ago - and they've got some great stuff that they've apparently kept in storage for the past seven years.
Hey Dan,
Thanks for commenting on my blog. How did you find out about my little neck of cyber space? Do we know each other? For some reason I can't see your profile, so I don't know much about you. Are you an Iowa City resident? I'm guessing yes, because you know about Real! Records.
Let me clarify my comment on Irene Aebi's voice. I made it sound as if I don't like the way she sings, but I actually do. But as I'm writing this blog with a vague audience of various tastes in mind, I wanted to brace people for her unconventional singing style--I just didn't do that very clearly. I think a lot of jazz vocalists have a style like a trumpet (a legacy of Armstrong's vocal stylings?), but Aebi posseses a much reedier approach, almost oboesque. When I bought the record when I was 21 or 22, I'd never heard anyone sing that way, and it took me a listen or two to get acclimated.
What other Lacy albums do you recommend? I've been wanting to check out his duo records with Mal Waldron. What else is good?
I regret never seeing him play live.
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