Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy (1934 to 2004) was an American soprano saxophonist and composer who brought a neglected instrument into modern jazz in the mid 1950s and then devoted his whole life to it. He began in Dixieland, played in Cecil Taylor's first groups, and from the late 1950s built much of his repertoire on Thelonious Monk, whose tunes he studied more closely than anyone. Based in Rome in the late 1960s and in Paris from 1970 to 2002, he wrote hundreds of pieces, many of them settings of poets sung by Irene Aebi, and led a sextet with Steve Potts for decades.
In Berlin
Steve Lacy in Berlin: the 1975 solo soprano recordings of the Stabs LP, plus the 1977 quintet with Steve Potts, Irène Aebi, Kent Carter and Oliver Johnson playing Esteem and Follies at the Workshop Freie Musik.
Blinks (2LP)
Original edition on Hat Hut Records of the 1984 double album in special cardboard box. With postcard.
Futurities (2LP)
Original edition on Hat Hut Records of the 1985 double album in special cardboard box. With postcard.
Explorations (LP)
Original German edition on Jazzpoint Records's "India Classics" series of the 1987 album.
That's The Way I Feel Now (2LP)
Original Japanese edition on A&M of the 1984 2LP tribute to Thelonious Monk produced by Hal Wilner. With insert and obi.
In Transition (2LP)
Original US edition on Blue Note's "The Blue Note Re-Issue Series" double album compiling the 1950's LP's Jazz Advance and Love for Sale plus a previously unpublished track, featuring Steve Lacy and Ted Curson.
Jazz Advance (LP)
1976 Japanese re-issue on Blue Note's "Jazz Right Now" series of the 1956 album featuring Steve Lacy.
At Newport '57 (LP)
1970's Japanese re-issue with different cover on Verve of the 1957 split-LP featuring Steve Lacy.
New York City R&B (LP)
Original US edition on Barnaby Records' "Candid Series" of the 1972 album with recordings from 1961 featuring Steve Lacy, Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd.
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (2LP)
1980 re-issue on JCOA Records of the 1968 double-album by Michael Mantler's big band featuring Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Lyons, Alan Silva, Charlie Haden, Kent Carter, Andrew Cyrille, Carla Bley, Steve Lacy and Gato Barbieri and many others.
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (2LP)
1980 re-issue on JCOA Records of the 1968 double-album by Michael Mantler's big band featuring Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Lyons, Alan Silva, Charlie Haden, Kent Carter, Andrew Cyrille, Carla Bley, Steve Lacy and Gato Barbieri and many others.
Live at Yoshi's 1994
On Live at Yoshi’s 1994, Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy turn a decades‑deep partnership into a single, extended act of listening, folding Monk, Ellington, Strayhorn and their own themes into a stark, tensile dialogue where every note feels earned.
The Straight Horn Of Steve Lacy
Originally released in 1962 on Candid Records, The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy finds a young Steve Lacy stepping forward with quiet confidence and a sound unlike anyone else at the time. Stripped of excess and focused on tone, space, and intent, these sessions reveal a musician already thinking beyond convention. The soprano sax cuts clean and direct, moving between sharp angles and lyrical calm, with a small group that listens as closely as it plays. Nothing here feels rushed or ornamental, jus…
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Dreamachine
Wewantsounds is delighted to release for the 1st time on vinyl Brion Gysin's cult recordings, produced by Ramuntcho Matta in the 80s and early 90s. The release features the hypnotic 32-minute journey "Dreamachine," which transforms the effects of Gysin's legendary light art device into a mesmerizing audio experience, alongside the track "The Door," featuring the visionary saxophonist Steve Lacy. A towering figure in avant-garde art, literature, and sound, Gysin influenced generations of creators…
5 X Monk 5 X Lacy
*2025 stock* Silkheart Records is proud to present 5 x Monk, 5 x Lacy, a striking document from one of the most visionary voices in modern jazz, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy. This album is both a heartfelt homage to Thelonious Monk, one of Lacy’s lifelong inspirations, and an intimate showcase of his own groundbreaking compositional language.
Widely celebrated for bringing the soprano saxophone into contemporary jazz with a fierce individuality, Lacy distinguished himself not only as one of …
Company 4 (LP)
Original 1977 edition on Incus of the fourth Company album with electric guitar / soprano saxophone duets by the unparalleled musicians, never re-issued on either LP or CD. Includes Incus catalogue.
Compositions (LP)
Original German edition on Japo of the 1980 album by 'the' free jazz big band, featuring Steve Lacy, Albert Mangelsdorff, Paul Lovens, Evan Parker, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Kenny Wheeler, Manfred Schoof, Enrico Rava and a host of others.
Lumps (LP)
Rare second pressing from 1978 of stunning album of out-there improvisations with electronics with Michel Waisvisz, Han Bennink and Maarten van Regteren Altena. One of I.C.P.'s very best and never re-issued on either CD individually or LP.
Sideways (LP)
Very rare LP on Roaratorio limited to 399 copies with unique hand-painted sleeves by Judith Lindbloom, presenting Lacy's wildest recordings with electronics, one from from 1968 with Richard Teitelbaum and one from 1974 with Michel Waisvisz and Han Bennink.
The Classic Albums
A 4-CD box set collecting 8 albums under Steve Lacy's name from 1957 to 1965, with sidement including Don Cherry, Mal Waldron, Kent Carter, Carla Bley, Louis Moholo. Soprano Sax; Reflections; The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy; Evidence; Disposability; Jazz Realities; Sortie;The Forest and the Zoo.
Sands
2025 stock Tzadik is proud to release a new recording by Steve Lacy, MacArthur Fellow and for 40 years the undisputed master of the soprano saxophone. Recorded at his home in Paris from February to April 1998, Sands is Steve Lacy's most personal and remarkable solo document, and explores a wide variety of musical and dramatic subjects. Portraits of close friends Barney Wilen and William Burroughs; collaborations with the texts of Allen Ginsberg and Samuel Beckett; and of course his own peculiar…
Utopia Americana
1992 release ** "A wonderful view of what is "American" in contemporary American music from an Italian producer's perspective, with a nice cover photo of Joey's Navajo Cafe and Dining Room framed by several pickup trucks parked outside. Including rhythmic-based music and sound-text rhythms from ordinary speech (Allen Ginsberg's works), some dreamy electronic music by Pauline Oliveros, and solo jazz by Steve Lacy, this is an interesting collection of new recordings and reissues of tracks from out…
Itinerary
1991 release ** "Recorded at the Listen to Lacy festival in Vienna, 1990, this large ensemble recording is really the Steve Lacy Sextet plus ten. One of the dectet members is Franz Koglmann. Although some of Lacy's other large group experiments met with mixed results, it is not so here. Itinerary, with its seven selections, is an orchestral work on par with at of Gil Evans' (to whom this record is dedicated) Out of the Cool sessions for Impulse, and of course the Gil Evans and Ten recordings tha…
Packet
1995 release ** "This work had its origin in the '60s. That's when I met Irene Aebi and Frederic Rzewski in Rome. The three of us have been working together ever since. The Living Theatre (founded by Julian Beck and Judith Malina in New York) was at that time very active in Italy and, as the most powerful and innovative theatre group anywhere, was becoming part of all our lives. I knew them from New York from the late '50s (The Connection, The Brig), and so did Frederic, who had composed and pla…
The Icp Orchestra Performs Nichols - Monk
1989 release ** "The Nichols program, recorded in 1984, was by a band with Sean Bergin (alto sax), Michael Moore (alto sax), Maurice Horsthuis (viola), Toon de Gouw (trumpet), Han Bennink (drums), Ernst Reijseger (cello), Paul Thermos (alto sax), Steve Lacy (soprano sax), Larry Fishkind (tuba), Misha Mengelberg (piano), Wolter Wierbos (trombone), and Garret List (trombone). The Monk program, from 1986, consisted of Ab Baars (soprano and tenor sax, clarinet), Michael Moore (alto sax and clarinet)…
Situations (Giancarlo "Nino" Locatelli Plays Steve Lacy)
*2025 stock* Situations is one of WE INSIST! Records’ most recent productions. It is an immersion in the solo clarinet by Giancarlo “nino” Locatelli, an expert well-versed in the music of Steve Lacy, who has captured the essence of the great American saxophonist’s music through a series of interpretations of his compositions.
The Officine Saffi gallery in Milan opens its doors to a new initiative combining Art and Music. On the evening of the inauguration, Giancarlo “nino” Locatelli presented th…
The Mighty Warriors: Live In Antwerp
The package includes reflections by producer Zev Feldman and acclaimed jazz writer Adam Shatz, as well as the testimonies of the concert’s bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Andrew Cyrille. The extensive booklet also contains interviews with Jane Bunnett, David Virelles, David Liebman, Vijay Iyer, Evan Parker, and Mal Waldron’s widow, Hiromi Waldron, as well as never-before-seen photos from the actual concert taken by Hugo Peeters.“Lacy and Waldron first shared a stage at the Five Spot in 1958 …
Coastline
*Contains printed inner sleeve with archival photos and extensive liner notes by two Italian soprano saxophone specialists Roberto Ottaviano and Eugenio Colombo, and pianist Martin Joseph himself* Recorded Live in Italy in October 1985 and mastered directly from the old dusty cassette, here's a previously unheard Steve Lacy recording from a rare duo appearance with pianist Martin Joseph, a little known yet fascinating British musician who had worked with Harry Beckett, John Surman, Ian Carr, Tub…
October Wind Vol. 1
*2023 stock* "The release of the two volumes of October Wind, on the tenth anniversary of Steve Lacy death, has a special meaning for me. Not only because it’s probably the last unreleased recording of this extraordinary trio, but also because I was working on it with my dearest friend Gilles Laheurte, who had been one of the best friend of the late Steve Lacy. Gilles was a scholar of Steve Lacy music and I had the privilege to have his liner notes on the previous re-discovered trio recording re…
October Wind Vol. 2
*2023 stock* "The release of the two volumes of October Wind, on the tenth anniversary of Steve Lacy death, has a special meaning for me. Not only because it’s probably the last unreleased recording of this extraordinary trio, but also because I was working on it with my dearest friend Gilles Laheurte, who had been one of the best friend of the late Steve Lacy. Gilles was a scholar of Steve Lacy music and I had the privilege to have his liner notes on the previous re-discovered trio recording re…
Scraps
*2023 stock* "Sometime an old box of tapes, overlooked for decades, could reserve nice surprises. This album is a collection of those surprises. In the years of my collaboration with Steve Lacy, we did a lot of recording and we selected what was the best for the short length of the vinyl LPs. So some tracks were edited leaving part of the improvisations out or discarded for a similarity with something already included in the albums. Thanks to the digital editing, I had the chance to reorganize t…
Tao
*2023 stock* "When I had asked Steve Lacy how he should intervene with the percussion behind Lacy’s thematic statements and subsequent improvisations; the enigmatic Lacy replied: “Play what you feel.” Since then, this has been the guiding principle behind each work of art and everyday action of my artistic life. Here you can hear what Steve Lacy did mean saying that. This CD is dedicated to his memory. Even if we spent just short periods together I always kept a great memory of him in my heart: …
Trio Live
*2023 stock* Originally issued in 1977 as the 5th entry in the Ictus catalog, Trio Live was recorded in 1976, only a handful of days after Steve Lacy and Andrea Centazzo’s Clangs was laid to tape, presumably capturing another moment on the same two-week tour that had rendered the recordings for its brilliant predecessor. This time, the pair - Lacy and Centazzo - is joined by the American bassist, Kent Carter, a sinfully under-appreciated artist who had worked extensively in Steve Lacy's group, p…
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Lost In June
*2023 stock* "There are no coincidences in life. Everything responds to the principle of cause and effect. In all that exists, what often seems to be the result of “chance happening” always comes from a precise and definite source located “somewhere out there,” but that in fact rests deep within each one of us. Everything is linked. There is a reason for everything that we find on our path, even if we do not understand what its purpose really is at the time of its first manifestation. It is ofte…
Clangs
*2023 stock* "I have a vivid memory of the time I first met Steve Lacy in Milan: I had finally the opportunity not only to know but to perform with one of the myths of the avant-garde scene of the time. As hermetic and polite as his music, Steve was the man who, with his phrase 'play what you feel' tore down the curtain that separated my technique from my creativity. Clang swas the fruit of a number of concerts and two weeks we spent together, sometimes talking, sometimes just simply in silence,…
U.S.A. Concerts / The Bay / The Ictus Archives Vol. 1 / The Ictus Archives Vol. 2
**Back in stock, very last copies** Edition of 250 copies, remastered from the original master tapes.** Issued in limited editions of 250 copies, they stand among the most important and sinfully overlooked documents of the movement of global improvisation that unfurled during the 1970s, and can’t be missed.This bundle (with additional and exclusive dedicated tote bag) includes the following four LPs:- Andrea Centazzo "U.S.A. Concerts" (1978)- Andrea Centazzo, Rova Saxophone Quartet "The Bay" (19…
Steve Lacy - The Ictus Archives Vol. 2
Tip! The final two LPs in the latest Ictus batch, “The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2”, both draw on the same period that the veteran saxophonist produced “Clangs” and “Trio Live”, both recorded in 1976 during of two weeks that he was touring Italy with Andrea Centazzo, released in 1976 and 77 respectively, and reissued in 2021’s batch. Gathering four sides of material, issued as two individual LPs, we are offered an incredible insight into that moment’s striking collabo…
The Ictus Archives Vol. 1
Tip! The final two LPs in the latest Ictus batch, “The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2”, both draw on the same period that the veteran saxophonist produced “Clangs” and “Trio Live”, both recorded in 1976 during of two weeks that he was touring Italy with Andrea Centazzo, released in 1976 and 77 respectively, and reissued in 2021’s batch. Gathering four sides of material, issued as two individual LPs, we are offered an incredible insight into that moment’s striking collabo…
Apices
Long-awaited re-release at a middle price of this classic and popular album, the last collaboration of Steve Lacy, Masahiko Togashi, and Masahiko Sato. Year of recording: October 15, 2000 / Location: Fukaya Hall Egg Farm