Steve Lacy
American musician and composer who, helped introduce a neglected instrument, the soprano saxophone, into modern jazz in the mid-1950s, creating simple, lyric melodies with an individualistic concept of solo form and giving the traditionally high, piping horn a personal warmth and range of expression. While many modal and free-jazz saxophonists followed in his footsteps, Lacy remained one of the rare soprano saxophonists to concentrate exclusively on that instrument.
American musician and composer who, helped introduce a neglected instrument, the soprano saxophone, into modern jazz in the mid-1950s, creating simple, lyric melodies with an individualistic concept of solo form and giving the traditionally high, piping horn a personal warmth and range of expression. While many modal and free-jazz saxophonists followed in his footsteps, Lacy remained one of the rare soprano saxophonists to concentrate exclusively on that instrument.
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…
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…
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,…
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…
Prayer
I think it's important and proper to play Steve Lacy's music today and that we have to take the risk. Keeping his example alive means to me every time to question the results achieved. My relationship with his music is not occasional. Steve is present in three tracks of my first album "trochus". Later I played his music alone and in various groups. I would like to remember at least the Fish Horn Quartet, with Fabio Martini, Jean Jaques Avenel and John Betsch, the sextet 5or6 Bones with Sebi Tram…
Chirps
Limited edition of 500 copies.* What could possibly happen when two ultimate masters of soprano saxophone square off for their only recording of duets? Chirps is the only place to find out. Steve Lacy – the one who planted the flag for soprano saxophone in the ground of modern jazz, who established its iconic status, who devoted himself to the axe with monkish devotion, who brought shakuhachi breath and stairstep melody into its upper-register antics. Evan Parker – arguably the one who pushed th…
Straws (LP)
At long last, after remaining out of print for decades, the Milan based imprint, Dialogo, dives into the legendary catalog of Cramps, bringing forth the first ever vinyl reissue of Steve Lacy’s LP, "Straws", issued as the sixth instalment of the label’s DIVerso series in 1977. Truly singular in the legendary American saxophonist’s discography - featuring stunning solo excursions and dialogs with himself - it remains one of the great documents of 1970s improvisation, and is as engrossing, creativ…
Event '76
Wonderfully varied Free Improv, with a nice balance of different elements to keep it interesting (and not overly self-indulgent). One of those elements is Demetrio Stratos' voice, which is put to good use as a wild instrument (complete with duck quacking). It's rare for a band, that features Steve Lacy and Paul Lytton, to pull off free improv so completely convincingly when it is not within their normal milieu, but this performance is a testament to their musicianship and their listening skills.…
Live In Montreal
This live concert is perhaps one of the last recordings from soprano saxophone legend Steve Lacy. Lacy and percussionist John Heward first met in Paris in 1975. Though they remained in regular contact through the years, they did not actually play together until this concert in Montreal on 20 June 2003. Two months later Lacy was diagnosed with cancer, and died in June 2004.Lacy suggested to Heward that he wanted to end this improvisation with the motif Recessional for Oliver Johnson, as a tribute…
Situations
My relationship with Steve Lacy’s music is not occasional. It was for me the “door”. Since 2009, titled So Long!, I have presented several times a program with his compositions on bass clarinet. In the summer of 2013, on the mountains, I recorded the solo using the Bb clarinet, finding a bare, naked and raw dimension that marks an important point in my personal process with the music of Steve. “I try to be empty and to see what sounds” (Tom Raworth) Giancarlo nino LocatelliLacy’s tunes are devis…
Stamps
Corbett Vs. Dempsey present a reissue of Steve Lacy's Stamps, originally released in 1979 as a double-LP on Hat Hut. Stamps was Steve Lacy's first for the legendary Swiss label, and it remains one of the strongest statements of what he termed the "scratchy seventies". With the classic lineup of Lacy's soprano saxophone, Steve Potts on soprano and alto sax, Irene Aebi on cello (and singing on one track), Kent Carter on bass, and Oliver Johnson on drums, the recording catches the band live, perfor…
Il Bestiario
** Temporary super offer, very last copies ** There was never anyone like Maria Monti – and this album is a true testament to her genius! Il Bestiario might be best understood next to albums by artists like Brigitte Fontaine, Scott Walker, and Catherine Ribeiro, all of whom began their careers within the saccharine confines of popular music, before embarking on some of the most revolutionary recordings of the era. It enlisted the radical poet Aldo Braibanti (a man defined “the lone true Italian…
Tips
2015 release. A reissue of Steve Lacy and Steve Potts's Tips, originally released on Hat Hut Records in 1981. Soprano saxophonist Lacy wrote the suite of tunes for Tips to feature the aphorisms of painter Georges Braque, as sung by Irene Aebi. Together with his right-hand-man, alto saxophonist Potts, he and Aebi recorded these 14 anthemic tracks in Paris in 1979, and the young hat Hut Records label issued them on a now-rare LP. The music allowed Lacy to extend and deepen his longstanding interes…