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Sublime solo work from Steve Lacy – a perfect demonstration of the great leap forward he took on the soprano sax in the early 70s – documented beautifully on overseas recordings like this! The core of the set features material recorded in Avignon in 1972 – with Lacy using his instrument in wonderfully expressive ways – not just "free" or "out", but really melodic and lyrical at points too – a side that doesn't always show up in some of his more aggressive solo performances, but which really comes through on tracks like "Cloudy", "The Stations", "Josephine", "Original New Duck", and "Weal". CD features four more previously unissued tracks from these same sessions, then more great solo work from 1974 in Berlin – again never issued before – a whopping 9 bonus tracks in all, with titles that include "The Owl", "The Dumps", "The New Moon", "Dome", and "Holding".

A great one from Lacy – with Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Bobby Few on piano, Irene Aebi on violin, Jean Jacques Avenal on bass, and Oliver Johnson on drums!

Two different sets of "saxophone special" recordings from Steve Lacy – each representing a key shift in his style on the European scene of the early 70s, and capturing him before he'd stratified things into the more standard Lacy modes that would come! The first half of the set has Lacy working with a great lineup that features lots of offbeat guitar from Derek Bailey – really sounding wonderfully here next to Steve's soprano sax – plus Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Kent Carter on amplified bass, and John Stevens on percussion. Sounds are sharp and short, often with the energy of some of Lacy's solo performances – but sonically expanded in a quintet setting – and titles include "38", "Flakes", and "Revolutionary Suicide". The second half features a performance from the following year – again with great guitar from Bailey and saxes from Potts – plus additional saxes from Trevor Watts and Evan Parker, and some electronics from Michel Waisvisz, which is a very nice touch. Titles include "Staples", "Dreams", "Swishes", "Sops", and "Snaps". CD features two album's worth of material – and also features the bonus alternate version of "Snaps".

A wonderful blend of free jazz & atmospheric electronic experimentation led by soprano mainstay Steve Lacy – a truly inviting blend of open-ended sounds that manages to all come together in a very natural way! Sadly, this set captured here at the NEWJazz meeting of 2002 at Baden-Baden, Germany turned out to be one of Lacy's final projects – and it's a nice tribute to his legacy of openness and a free spirit. The project started by using a piece by ambitious composer Bernard Lang, "DW 1.2 For Piano, Flute And Saxophone" as a starting point for the improvisations of an interesting group of players – including Lacy, Peter Herbert on double bass, Wolfgang Reisinger on drums, Philip Jeck on turntables, plus Christof Kurzmann and Lang on electronics. It essentially develops a dialogue among the genres themselves – jazz, electronica and freeform sound art – as much as between the individual players! 6 extended numbers with the titles "DW 1.2 Remix 6.8" (quartet of Lacy, Lang, Herbert & Reisinger), "DW 1.3 Remix 7.4" (trio of Lacy, Lang & Jeck) "DW 1.2 Remix 10.2" (quartet of Kurzman, Lacy Herbert & Reisinger), "DW 1.2 Remix 7.7" (duo Jeck & Lacy), "DW 1.2 Remix Karlsruhe 3.3" (solo Lacy) and "DW 1.2 Remix 6.1" (quartet Lang, Lacy Herbert & Reisinger).

A really unique moment of music – rare duets between Steve Lacy and Joe McPhee – the latter of whom is playing soprano sax alongside Lacy! The material was recorded at the same time as Lacy's solo set Clinkers, but never issued at the time – and McPhee's a real revelation on soprano sax, especially in Lacy's company – a very different voice than Steve, in a way that really makes the record bristle with energy! The range of sounds the pair create are amazing – very much in the most sound-sensitive side of Lacy's spectrum. The album features one 19 minute track – "The Rest" – pressed up on a one-sided piece of vinyl.

Steve Lacy, working with a very comfortable lineup of Parisian players – Bobby Few on piano, Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Jean-Jacques Avenel on bass, Oliver Johnson on bass, and Irene Aebi on vocals and a bit of violin! Lacy plays soprano throughout, and the tunes often have that angular, almost arty feel that he developed with Aebi – grounded a bit more nicely by Few's piano. Titles include "Napping", "The Gleam", and "Keepsake".

A great idea for a session – and one of our favorite albums from the legendary America free jazz series! Mal Waldron is working here with the legendary Steve Lacy French quintet of the 70s – the ensemble that featured Steve Potts on alto, Kent Carter on bass, Noel McGhee on drums, and Irene Aebi on cello (not vocals!) Waldron's soulful and introspective work on piano provides a perfect grounding for the sometimes flighty group – and his gently-placed work on the keys acts as a strong foil for Lacy's more unbridled work on soprano sax. Side one of the record features a 20 minute version of Waldron's "Vio" – and side 2 features two Lacy compositions, "Jump For Victor" and "Blue Wee".

Nobody's playing hooky here – as Steve Lacy's very strongly in attendance, and turning out some wonderful solo work throughout! This sparkling 70s performance was captured live in a cathedral in Montreal – a wonderfully echoey space that only seems to open up Lacy's sound even more – allowing for fluid lines from the soprano sax that bounce out and around the large open space – not really folding back on themselves, but creating a depth that seems to give the record even more soul than other Lacy experiments of this type! The whole thing's great – and titles include "Crops", "The New Duck", and "No Baby". And the CD adds in loads of bonus tracks added to the original Quark LP – 9 more numbers, making for one heck of a long album!

A killer tribute to the music of Herbie Nichols – played by a committed batch of modernists who are clearly inspired by his genius! Misha Mengelberg's in the group on piano – and his angular lines on the keys have plenty of Nichols and then some – lots of Misha's own inventive inflections, but given a bit more focus than usual, in ways that really make the session a standout in his career at the time. Other group members are wonderful too – Steve Lacy, playing soprano sax in ways that almost recall his Monkish moments of the late 50s – George Lewis, blowing inside one moment, open and free the next – and rhythm players Arjen Gorter on bass and Han Bennink on drums. Mengelberg arranged – and titles include the Nichols tunes "Terpsichore", "Step Tempest", "Hangover Triangle", "Spinning Song", and "House Party Starting" – plus "Change Of Season" and "The Happenings".

One album of solo soprano sax – another with a group that features Bobby Few on piano and Fender Rhodes, Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Irene Aebi on cello and violin, Jean Jacques Avenel on bass, and Oliver Johnson on drums and percussion.

Steve Lacy's legendary Argentinean recording – one of his boldest moments of the early years, and the start of a long history of superb work away from the American scene! The group here is quite unusual – as players include Enrico Rava on trumpet, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – one budding European improviser, and two key members of the Blue Notes – who'd left South Africa for the UK by the time of this release. The live performance features only two long tracks – "Forest" and "Zoo" – both played with a sense of freedom not heard before in Lacy's music, at a level that really points the way towards his explosive presence in the French and Italian scenes in years to come!

With Lacy on soprano sax, Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Bobby Few on piano, Jean Jacques Avenel on bass, Oliver Johnson on drums, and Irene Aebi on vocals and violin.

A huge amount of music – in a set that features a wealth of vintage work from Steve Lacy – some of it issued here for the first time ever! Lacy plays soprano sax on all tracks in the set – and the package has him working with some key European players – including an early formation of the group that would become his dominant structure by the end of the decade. The first three tracks are presented here for the first time ever – material recorded in 1968 with Enrico Rava on trumpet, Karl Berger on vibes, Aldo Romano on drums, and Kent Carter on bass – a lineup that's every bit as wonderful as you might expect – especially the trumpet and vibes! Titles from this session include "The Sun" and "The Way". Next is 1968 Rome recordings that originally appeared on a Roratorio album – material that features Irene Aebi on voice on two titles, plus electronics from Richard Teitelbaum – an artist we're normally used to hearing with Anthony Braxton – on titles that include two takes of "The Way", plus two improvisations. Next is group material from a 1973 session in Zurich, which originally appeared on the Quark label – "The Woe – The Wax", "The Wage", "The Wane", and "The Wake" – performed with Steve Potts on alto, Kent Carter on bass, Irene Aebi on cello, and Oliver Johnson on drums. The set features one more previously unissued number recorded in 1967 – "Chinese Food", another improvisation with electronics from Teitelbaum and voice from Irene Aebi.

A striking session from Steve Lacy – one of his most powerful albums from 70s Paris! We're tempted to think that this one was called "wordless" because Irene Aebi's on the record, but doesn't sing – and instead plays cello with a quintet that includes Lacy on soprano, Ambrose Jackson on trumpet, Kent Carter on bass, and Jerome Cooper on drums – and the record is a very early realization of Lacy's European sound, more tied to the BYG/Actuel years than later recordings. The album's quite free overall – pretty fierce stuff, especially as the performance moves on – and titles include "Name", "The Breath", "Prologue A Life On Is Way", "Bone", and "The Way".

A rare one from singer Maria Monti – a cool little batch of Italian avant folk from the singer and actress – with spacious, kind of eerily pastoral arrangements (if that's even possible. . .this comes close if not) by Alvin Curran and the players include soprano sax great Steve Lacy! The songs alternate between spare post-psych weirdness and some leftfield jazzier ones – and that's where Lacy comes in. Monti's vocals actually banter with Lacy's sax on some passages, which is pretty amazing! Titles include "Il Pavone", "Dove", "No No No No", "Lo Zoo", "Il Letargo", "I Camaleonti", "Aria, Terra, Acqua E Fuoco" and more.

We're not often the biggest fans of poetry in the work of Steve Lacy – but somehow, this set seems to come off especially right – thanks, no doubt, to the fact that beat legend Brion Gysin composed all of the words! Gysin himself only speaks on 2 titles – but his presence there is especially strong – grounding the other vocals by Irene Aebi with a gruff and gritty sensibility that she seems to carry back to her own interpretations of his words on the other titles. Members of the group here are usual Lacy conspirators – Aebi on voice and violin, Bobby Few on piano, Steve Potts on alto and soprano saxes, Jean-Jacques Avenel on bass, and Oliver Johnson on drums. Titles include "Luvzya", "Permutations", "Gay Paree Bop", "Nowhere Street", "Somebody Special", and "Keep The Change" – all of which feature music by Lacy, set to words by Gysin!

One of Steve Lacy's great late 70s recordings for Hat Hut – a searing live performance that was one of his boldest efforts from the time! The group here are a quintet of familiar players – Steve Potts on alto and soprano sax, Irene Aebi on cello and voice, Kent Carter on bass, and Oliver Johnson on drums – all working together as a tremendously cohesive unit, with a dexterously angular feel on most of the numbers. Titles are all quite long, and with lots of choppy saxophone interplay – and Aebi performs a piece by Brion Gysin on the track "Dreams" 2CD set seems greatly expanded from the original album – and titles include "Raps", "The Way", "The Breath", "Stamps", "Bone", "Life On Its Way", and "Name".

A definite spiritual session from percussionist Masahiko Togashi – one that features key contributions from Steve Lacy on soprano sax and Kent Carter on bass – both players who come together in a trio with Togashi, to make the set one of his greatest albums ever! Togashi's nicely restrained at points – in ways that really seem to open up Lacy's reedwork, and especially Carter's bass – almost encouraging both to be more open and exploratory than on their European records together – really different shapes and sounds that make the album sparkle with imagination. Titles include "The Window", "It's Freedom Life", "The Crust", "Steps", and "Poem In The Shadow".

The Steve Lacy Five at the height of their 80s powers – really burning here in an extended live set that's arguably a lot more forceful than some of their studio recordings! Steve heads the group on soprano sax – alongside Steve Potts on alto and soprano, Jean Jacques Avenel on bass, and Oliver Johnson on percussion – plus Irene Aebi on cello, violin, and some of her trademark vocalizations! Avenel and Johnson really help shape the sound of the record in some of the best moments – giving the set a rhythmic push that's really tremendous, and which seems to really set fire to the reeds. Titles include "Blinks", "Prospectus", "Wickets", "Cliches", and "Stamps".

Groundbreaking Italian prog from Area – the Arbeit Macht Frei, Cautio Radiation Area, Crac!, Area(A)zione, Maledetti and Event '76 albums – all from the crucial early-to-mid 70s years – in a 6CD box set on Cramps! The debut Arbeit Macht Frei features a tripped out blend of lingering 60s psychedelia with jazzier prog and folkish melodies, all done as uniquely as any combo of the time. Includes "Luglio, Agosto Stettembre (Nero)", "Consapevolezza", "240 Chilometri" and more. Cautio Radiation Area is even more impressive – a mad mix of out jazz, hard jamming, and even more experimental touches that include quite a bit of noise. Titles include "Cometa Rossa", "Lobotomia", "Brujo", and "ZYG". Crac! continues on this path, with even more far out vocals and a strangely joyous take on far-reaching 70s prog. Tracks include "Magalopoli", "Nervi Scoperti", "Area 5", "Implosion" and more. Are(A)azone is the group's 4th album – a collection of alternate versions of songs from previous records plus a 15 minute hard jamming tune called "Are(A)zione", and a free jazz interpretation of "The International". Maledetti goes further with the out jazz – and features guest soprano sax work from Steve Lacy. Includes "Evaporazione", "Gerontocrazia", "Scum", "Caos (Parte Seconda)" and more. Event '76 closes with "Caos II Parte (1)", "Caos II Parte (2)" and "Event '76". Comes in a great oversized package with a nice booklet – notes in Italian.

A cooker of a record from Lester Bowie – one that takes the earlier sound of the Brass Fantasy ensemble, and focuses it into a mode that shows his growing love of soul and funk! The set was issued on the the short-lived Venture imprint of Virgin – a surprisingly strong outlook for creative projects like this – and the vibe's quite different than the Brass Fantasy records cut for ECM – with almost a bit more soul at the bottom, and a compact sort of energy that really sends the ideas home. Players include Bowie, Stanton Davis, Malachi Thompson, and Sasul Siddik on trumpets – plus Steve Turre and Frank Lacy on trombones, Vincent Chancey on French horn, Bob Stewart on tuba, and Phil Wilson on drums. Titles include a surprisingly great remake of "Thriller" – plus "Vibe Waltz", "I Am With You", "Duke's Fantasy", "Personality", and "Twilight Dreams".

Amazing music from trombonist George Lewis – five different albums that each show a different side of his talents! First up is Shadowgraph 5 – a great early Black Saint, and a key example of the way the AACM spirit thrived overseas, thanks to the efforts of labels like this! The work is quite serious and experimental – almost compositional in nature, and definitely heading towards the AACM promise of "Great Black Music" – and other players include Roscoe Mitchell on saxes, Leroy Jenkins on violin, Muhal Richard Abrams on piano, Douglas Ewart on bass clarinet and other reeds, and Abdul Wadud on cello. One track even has Lewis playing the Moog in addition to trombone and tuba! Imaginary Suite is a duet with Douglas Ewart – and features Lewis both on trombone and electronics – and even his trombone at times is "electronically modified", making it a really cool-sounding instrument. Ewart plays a bit of percussion – plus bass clarinet and flute – and often hits some electronically-sensitive sounds with his reeds, making the album a really compelling interplay between acoustic and electric elements. Homage to Charlie Parker is hardly the bebop outing you might expect from the title, and instead a set of complicated work that's heavily in the AACM tradition! Side one features "Blues" – an investigation of older blues harmonics, but done in a very freeform, experimental way – with tenor trombone from Lewis, piano from Anthony Davis, bass clarinet from Doug Ewart, and moog from Richard Teitelbaum. Change Of Season is a killer tribute to the music of Herbie Nichols – played by a committed batch of modernists who are clearly inspired by his genius – including Misha Mengelberg on piano, Steve Lacy on soprano sax, and Han Bennink on drums. The set's completed by Dutch Masters – Lewis' last album for the label, done with a compelling lineup that includes Misha Mengelberg on piano, Steve Lacy on soprano sax, Ernst Reyseger on bass, and Han Bennink on drums – but in a style that's very different than the previous Change Of Season album.

A rare Japanese-only album from trombonist Roswell Rudd – one of his few full length statements of genius from the mid 70s! The album's got a very collaborative feel overall – one that takes off from some of Rudd's better-known work of the "new thing" era, but opens things up tremendously with more of a relaxed loft jazz sort of approach. Players shift somewhat throughout the set, and the instrumentation mixes Rudd's work on trombone and percussion with soprano sax from Steve Lacy, trumpet from Enrico Rava, voice from Sheila Jordan, tenor from Tyrone Washington, and electric piano from Patti Brown. There's a deeply personal vibe to the whole record, one that reminds us a bit of the spirit of Rudd's great Flexible Flyer album – and titles include "You Blew It", "Blues For The Planet Earth", "Cement Blues", "Bethesda Fountain", "Street Walking", and "Blown Bone". CD also features one more bonus track – the beautiful "Long Hope", recorded in 1967 with Karl Berger on vibes, Robin Kenyatta on alto sax, Lewis Worrell on bass, and Horacee Arnold on drums.

An amazing run of music – and key sounds from a time when the Chicago avant garde was finally getting its due in the mainstream! The set features all Novus and Columbia recordings from both the Air trio of Henry Threagill, Fred Hopkins, and Steve McCall – a seminal group from the AACM in the Windy City – and the later recordings made by Threadgill as a leader – featuring even more expansive ideas, and an impressive ear for larger compositions in jazz! The set spans nearly 20 years, and features material from 11 different albums, including some unreleased music too – titles that include the Air albums Open Air Suit, Montreux Suisse Air, and Air Lore – and Threadgill sessions X 75 Vol 1, You Know The Number, Easily Slip Into Another World, Rag Bush & All, Carry The Day, Makin A Move, and Where's Your Cup – plus the previously unissued Vol 2 for X 75. The Air sessions are very earthy and spontaneous – that wonderful creative interplay that marked the AACM legacy at the time. And the Threadgill records start the same way, but show lots of new ideas coming into play – with contributions from Joseph Jarman on reeds, Amina Claudine Myers on voice, Frank Lacy on trombone, Ted Daniel on trumpet, Deirdre Murray on cello, Fred Hopkins on bass, Pheeroan AkLaff on drums, Myra Melford on piano, and a host of other important musicians, all coming together under the leadership of Threadgill. Notes are great, and the 8 CD set features 52 tracks in all – most of them quite long in length!

An excellent 70s European session recorded by Waldron – featuring a quintet with Steve Lacy on soprano sax, Manfred Schoof on trumpet, Jimmy Woode on bass, and Makaya Ntshoko on drums. The tracks are all long – with an approach that's in that later Waldron modal mode on the rhythms, but which gets freer and more open on the solos. Titles include "The Seagulls Of Kristiansund", "Hurray For Herbie", and "One-Upmanship".

A fantastic package that explores the full range of genius on the legendary avant label BYG/Actuel – one of the most important European imprints at the end of the 60s! Actuel was home to some of the best avant garde jazz coming out of Paris in the late 60s and early 70s – an especially important document of the post-68 revolution in European music – at a time when so many American players where showing up in France, and finding great opportunities in the new freedoms of the scene! The package features seminal sides from US avant musicians – like Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, Clifford Thornton, Don Cherry, Jimmy Lyons, Archie Shepp, Sonny Sharrock, Sunny Murray, Grachan Moncur III, and The Art Ensemble Of Chicago – and it also features work by European musicians like Claude Delcloo and Jacques Coursil, plus genre-busting work by MEV and Gong as well. The 3CD box features a 48 page book – with lots of great illustrations, and notes from Thurston Moore and Byron Coley – and the set features 26 long tracks in all!

A great little entry into a genre that got way too overdone and way too cluttered by the end of the 80s – but which was surprisingly fresh at the time of this initial release! The set pays tribute to the late Thelonious Monk, but does so by moving way past his modern jazz roots – and allowing for participation by a variety of artists in a number of different fields. Hal Willner masterminded the set, and does a great job of making unlike artists work well next to each other – really expanding on famous numbers by Monk, but never getting too goofy overall. Titles include "Functional" by Randy Weston, "Four In One" by Todd Rundgren & Gary Windo, "Thelonious" by Bruce Fowler, "Criss Cross" by Shockabilly, "In Walked Budd" by Terry Adams & Roswell Rudd, "Evidence" by Steve Lacy & Elvin Jones, "Ba-Lu-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are" by Was Not Was, "Ask Me Now" by Steve Lacy & Charlie Rouse, "Monk's Mood" by Sharon Freeman, "Round Midnight" by Joe Jackson, and "Friday The Thirteen" by Bobby McFerrin and Bob Dorough. There's plenty of other great Lacy work on the set too – and even if you're put off by the presence of non-jazzers on the set, the album's worth it alone for the Lacy tracks!

A real departure for saxophonist David Boykin – an album of solo material, performed on soprano sax and Bb Clarinet – in a style that recalls the most experimental work of Roscoe Mitchell, and which also has ties to the solo recordings of Evan Parker and Steve Lacy! Boykin's really concerned with sound in space on the album – and blows with a freely creative vibe that surpasses even his best earlier work. The tunes start out slow, and spare, but then unfold as the album goes on – and demonstrate some incredible tone and control that we never expected from Boykin! Originally part of a live performance with a dancer, but more than compelling enough on its own – and with tracks that include "Transfixed", "And Amazement", "Of Wonder", "With A Gaze", and "Upon The Beloved".

Surprisingly wonderful work from Kenny! The album has Kenny's guitar set to arrangements by Gil Evans – who gives the session a modern edge that really sets it apart from other Burrell albums of the time. Kenny's freed to do his thing – wonderfully, we might add – and Gil paints these washes of sound, color, and tone with the help of hip players like Johnny Coles, Louis Mucci, Julius Watkins, Steve Lacy, Richie Kamuca, Elvin Jones, and Lee Konitz. Tracks include "Lotus Land", "Downstairs", "Moon & Sand", "Terrace Theme", "Greensleeves", and "Loie".

Mid 70's 2LP set that combines fantastic early work from Gil Evans and Tadd Dameron. The Gil Evans tracks are shorter and less ambitious than some of Evans' work on Impulse, but the group is excellent – and even in a shorter format, the conception of the work still contains plenty of rich new ideas. Players include Louis Mucci, John Carisi, Steve Lacy, Willie Ruff, Paul Chambers, Nick Stabulis, and Lee Konitz on alto. Titles include "Ella Speed", "Big Stuff", "Jambangle", "Nobody's Heart", and "Remember". Tadd Dameron's contributions here are from a wonderful modernist session – and one that's especially great because it's filled with fresh themes that get past some of his over-reissued standards! Players here include Clifford Brown and Idrees Sulieman on trumpets, Gigi Gryce on alto, Benny Golson on tenor, and Dameron on piano. Titles include "Philly JJ", "Choose Now", "Theme Of No Repeat", and "Dial B For Beauty". Also included are readings of classic Dameron compositions – like "The Scene Is Clean", "Fontainebleau", and "Delerium" – all played by a great little group that includes Dameron on piano, plus Joe Alexander on tenor, Sahib Shihab on alto, Kenny Dorham on trumpet, and Henry Coker on trombone.

Billed as "A Dark Opera Without Words", A Genuine Tong Funeral is an extended piece written by Carla Bley, and performed by the Burton quartet with help from a larger group that includes Steve Lacy, Gato Barbieri, Michael Mantler, and Bley herself. As such, the album's probably the most ambitious one that Burton ever recorded during the 60s – never too far out, but with angular tones and strange time changes that mark the record as being quite different from his other sides for RCA. It also makes it one of his best, too – as the record has that wonderfully fresh sound that you get from early work by Bley, never too silly, and with a serious approach to composition that also never loses sight of its roots in jazz. Titles include "The New Funeral March", "Silent Spring", "Mother Of The Dead Man", "Death Rolls", and "The New National Anthem".