Once again, here we are in the perpetually listening to every record in my collection alphabetically and blogging unscholarly thoughts project. This installment starts stars Toure Kunda and Steve Lacy.
Once again, this is going to take a minute. I have a lot of Steve Lacy records.
Toure Kunda
E’mma Africa – I bought this record and the next one while I was working towards my Phd…which I never got. My basic question is based on the concept of the jazz feedback loop, based on the work of John Collins. I wondered, and still do, if jazz only exists because of African music (West African, Yoruba and Ewe in particular), what happens when jazz matures and heads back to Africa. Another branch of this has to do with the pervasiveness of jazz as a launching pad, and its impact on other genres, and then what happens when those genres are absorbed by musicians in various parts of Africa. Take James Brown, for example. No jazz, no JBs, and no James Brown, no…well the list of musicians who are his godchildren is too vast to list here. The only thing I ever published on this was in Berklee’s journal, FUSION.
Live: Paris-Ziguinchor – A two record set with the same set list for two concerts in two cities. A great idea, but both concerts are so similar, and the performances are so much like the studio versions, that really all you get is a great vibe but nothing particularly new. Bassist Roger Chyco is a blast to listen to, though.
Steve Lacy
I had never heard Lacy’s music until the Either/Orchestra shared a double bill with him in Ancona, Italy. There were lots of mind blowing things about that particular tour (number of people not including me who were in jail at various points, number of bassists in the band not including me who were fired on the trip, number of people including me with food poisoning, etc.), but at the top was that concert. Our drummer ended up staying in the US an extra day so we had to get a sub, and Lacy’s drummer – John Betsch – was the one to play with us. His force was overwhelming and yet the breadth and subtlety of his playing were nuances I had never performed with.
Lacy’s performance was an epiphany. His improvisations told stories, rather than being astonishing acrobatics. His tune choices were harmonically fascinating, and the play of the band was like listening to an incredible discussion among experts at a dinner party. I was wowed and fascinated and completely in love with Lacy’s music. As luck would have it, he moved to Boston and taught at NEC while I was a grad student, so I was able to perform with him and study with him in his last few years of life.
Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk – Of course, Lacy will play with Monk in 1961 or so, but this wonderful record shows the aspiring apprentice going for it. There are several wonderful, not-quite-bebop phrases on this record, but mostly it’s swinging as if it could have been a bebop record. Elvin Jones, Mal Waldron and Buell Neidlinger are on this. I used a transcription of “Four in One” in an article I published in DrumPro Magazine a zillion years ago to illustrate some of Elvin’s awesomeness.
The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy – More of a cool jazz record, really, but Roy Haynes keeps the snap crackle happening, which keeps the NYC present. John Ore on bass – one of those names I have always tried to remember to check out more of.
Moon – One of the first free records of his that I have (on LP!). A really dense record he made after having been trapped in Argentina because of a civil war. He moved to Rome after that, which is where this was recorded. Marcello Melis on bass – he’s awesome!
Sidelines – With Michael Smith on piano, a duo record that came out on Paul Bley’s label, Improvising Artists International. What’s funny to me about this record is…well, when I was studying with him, I wrote a piece that was a setting of one of Ginsburg’s poems, and in it I ended up with a melodic line that was more or less just the chromatic scale ascending and descending. I had been listening to this record, and Steve makes a bunch of similar moves in his writing here. He hated my piece! “You can’t just write the chromatic scale, Rick, and expect it to sound like…much of anything!”
Raps – What I love about this record is that you can almost hear Lacy, the brilliant composer, becoming himself on this record. It’s not my favorite record, but all of the pieces of his musical and artistic past are starting to come into focus: the free stuff, the dixieland music, his literary friends and his interest in literature in general. Both “No Baby” and “Blinks” go on to become a major part of his repertoire.
Troubles – This record is the earliest one that I have that showcases his lit-jazz approach. I say that because “Wasted” is the first song he ever wrote lyrics for (or so he told me), and although there are some words elsewhere on this album, “Wasted” makes it clear that he’s thinking about words. Recorded in Italy with Steve Potts, Irene Aebi, Kent Carter (who rocks), and Oliver Johnson. Great record.
The Condor – Boom. Lit-jazz. This record is the earliest LP I have of his explorations in setting text to music, for the whole record. I love this side of Lacy, and am amazed pretty much every time with his results. Irene Aebi is the vocalist throughout, and will be for the remainder of his life. Steve and Irene play the melody in unison, and that connection I always found fascinating. Musically, it’s obvious – it’s just unison. But when I was studying with Steve, somehow that unison was present at their house and even when I was with Steve at NEC, even in non-musical settings. They somehow seemed to be in unison, always. I visited Steve at the hospital in the last days of his life, but wasn’t able to see him. I did run into Irene, and when she said “Rick, he’s dying,” I think I heard Irene, no longer in unison with Steve; Irene, herself. The rest of the band is awesome: Steve Potts, Bobby Few, Jean-Jacques Avenel, and Oliver Johnson.
Momentum – I love this record. This is Lacy in full lit-jazz mode. When I first heard him play in Ancona, they opened with “Shuffle Boil”, but I’m fairly certain that the next piece in the set list – or maybe it was the closer – was “The Bath” from this album. I love that song. I think it’s my favorite Lacy composition. Again, with Aebi, Potts, Few, Avenel and Johnson. That band was killer.
The Door – I’m not sure exactly why this record never really did it for me. It has most of the things I love about Lacy’s music; it’s adventurous, imaginative, swinging, smart, develops logically, is daring both melodically and harmonically…but it just never really did it for me. The one thing about this record that is fascinating is the inclusion of Sam Woodyard, who played drums with Ellington forever. Having said that, this time around, I’m blown away by Jean Jacques Avenel’s intro and solo on “Ugly Beauty” – so beautiful!
Anthem – The big change here is John Betsch. Sure, the band is bigger and the arranging is more dense and there is a wider variety of solo approaches, but…John Betsch. He swings so hard.
R.