Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy was born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City on July 23, 1934. Although he became associated with avant-garde jazz his first gigs were in his teens playing traditional jazz with much older players like Red Allen, Pee Wee Russell and Zutty Singleton and soon after with Buck Clayton and Dicky Wells. Lacy was the second prominent jazz player after Sidney Bechet to be associated almost exclusively with the soprano saxophone.

In the early 1950s Lacy studied at the Schillinger House of Music in Boston (later known as the Berklee College of Music) and at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1953 Lacy met pianist Cecil Taylor and his playing moved into the realm of the avant-garde appearing on Taylor’s first album, “Jazz Advance,” and played with him at the 1957 Newport Jazz festival. Lacy also played with Gil Evans in the late 1950s. In 1960 he was a member of Thelonious Monk’s group and Monk’s music became a central theme of Lacy’s performance career from then on.

Steve Lacy first toured Europe in 1965 with pianist Kenny Drew and shortly thereafter moved to Italy where he fronted his own group. By 1970 Lacy was living in Paris where over the next three decades he would become a leading figure on the European jazz scene. He formed a sextet and often performed with his wife Irene Aebi. Lacy was known for his use of poetry, prose and visual arts as inspirations for his music.

In 2002 Steve Lacy returned to the United States to take a teaching position at the New England Conservatory of Music where he remained until his death from liver cancer in June of 2004. One of his final performances was at an anti-war rally in the Boston Commons where more than 25,000 had come to protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Here is a link to Lacy's trio playing live in Paris:

"ROBES"