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Steve Lacy Biography

Steve Lacy (July 23, 1934 – June 4 2004, born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone. Coming to prominence in the 1950s as a progressive dixieland musician, Lacy went on to a long and prolific career. He worked extensively in experimental jazz and to a lesser extent in free improvisation, but Lacy's music was typically melodic and tightly-structured. Lacy also became a highly distinctive composer, with compositions often built out of little more than a single questioning phrase, repeated several times.

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Steve Lacy Quotes

The more original something is, the more of a threat it seems until the people catch up with it. That happened with Thelonious Monk. It happened with anybody who is really original.

Happened, Monk, Original, People, Thelonious, Threat

The soprano has all those other instruments in it. It's got the soprano song voice, flute, violin, clarinet, and tenor elements and can even approach the baritone in intensity.

Approach, Elements, Flute, Song, Violin, Voice

The saxophone is a very interesting machine, but I'm more interested in music.

Interested, Interesting, Machines, Saxophone

Circumstances can be very important. Find the right people to work with.

Circumstances, Important, People, Work

A jazz musician is a combination orator, dialectician, mathematician, athlete, entertainer, poet, singer, dancer, diplomat, educator, student, comedian, artist, seducer, public masturbator, and general all-round good fellow.

Artist, Athlete, Dancer, Jazz, Singer

A young pianist & composer who has demonstrated an exceptional creativity, in both his playing & his writing, as well as showing us all, his very strong commitment & motivation to aim for high musical goals. Talent like his is rare.

Aim, Motivation, Playing, Strong, Writing, Young

To me, there is spirit in a reed. It's a living thing, a weed, really, and it does contain spirit of a sort. It's really an ancient vibration.

Doe, Marijuana, Reed, Sort, Thing, Weed

It starts with a single sound. If there's something in that sound, then it's worth continuing.

Continuing, Ifs, Sound, Starts, Worth

If you're trying to invent something new, you're going to reach a lot of discouraging points, and most people give up.

Discouraging, Giving Up, Invent, People, Stars

Play difficult and interesting things. If you play boring things, you risk losing your appetite. Saxophone can be tedious with too much of the same.

Boring, Difficult, Interesting, Play, Risk, Things

In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds.

Composition, Improvisation, Jazz, Music, Say, Want

What I learned with Cecil Taylor was strategy and survival and how to resist temptations and resist getting discouraged.

Resist, Strategy, Survival, Taylor, Temptation

Jazz is like wine. When it is new it's only for the experts, but when it gets older everybody wants it.

Experts, Gets, Like, Music, Wine

I started in New Orleans music and played all through the history of jazz.

History, Jazz, Music, New Orleans, Orleans

If you have music you want to play that no one asks you to play, you have to go out and find where you can play it. It's called do or die.

Asks, Die, Dies, Music, Play, Want

Bamboo is not a weed, it's a flowering plant. Bamboo is a magnificent plant.

Bamboo, Flowering, Magnificent, Marijuana, Weed

I think it is in collaboration that the nature of art is revealed.

Art, Collaboration, Revealed, Think, Thinking

You can work on the saxophone alone, but ultimately you must perform with others.

Alone, Perform, Saxophone, Ultimately, Work

Register is very important. Music sounds best in a certain register.

Certain, Important, Music, Sound, Sounds

When I found the music of Monk I finally found music that fit that horn. Every one of his tunes fit it perfectly.

Fit, Found, Horn, Horny, Tunes

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