Soprano Domini

Let's keep the weekend and July -- month of 1000 concerts -- rolling with another legendary Jazzer's 88th anniversary.

Today's born-day badass burst onto the scene during a short stint in the band of Thelonious Monk, and after migrating to Kenny Drew's band he busted out on his own.

Perhaps the individual in Modern Jazz most closely associated with the soprano saxophone, he was on a mission in life to render every possible expressivity out of the straight horn.

He started as a teen playing Dixieland, but by the time the 1970s rolled around he was a prime exponent of Free playing, and a composer of scripted tunes that often, but for a brief melodic line, seemed wholly improvised.

Any one of his songs contains almost the entire history of Jazz, if you pay close enough attention.

So yes, Steve Lacy -- who kept right on playing until his death from liver cancer in 2004 -- was born this day in 1934.

In his honor, I broke out one of his greatest unissued concerts and cleaned it all up to be in its Saturday best. It's got a cool fuckin' thumbnail cover too.

Steve Lacy Quartet

New Jazz Festival

Moers, Germany

6.1.1974

01 Scraps/Weal
02 Flakes
03 The Shoals (In Memory of Duke Ellington)
04 Moms
05 Crops
06 Esteem
07 The Rush 

Total time: 1:12:45

Steve Lacy - soprano saxophone
Michael Smith - piano
Kent Carter - bass
Kenneth Tyler - drums

preFM reels, presumably from the WDR archives

slightly retracked -- with dead air trimmed, between-track gaps removed and noise bursts in Track 01 repaired -- by EN, July 2022
466 MB FLAC/July 2022 archive link

I have one more for the last day of the month, making seven for 7.
I am trying to keep it to five a month, but I made an exception for festival season so don't get too hyped that I'm gonna start posting 14 times a month again.

I will see you then, just as soon as I say HBD again to Mr. Lacy here.--J.
7.23.1934 - 6.4.2004