I Love Wire

[jazzy_dave]

More ramblings from the Wire -

Steve Lacy interviewed by Brian Case, #1, Summer 1982

Saxophonist Steve Lacy is The Wire's source on the philosophy of improv, from the very first issue – the magazine was named after his composition of the same name, a homage to Albert Ayler. Lacy's interview discusses what he called improvisation's "leap" into the unknown, and the free improvisor's idea of "just playing". When Don Cherry arrived in New York in 1959 with Ornette Coleman, Lacy was bowled over: "He'd say, 'Well – let's play", and I'd say 'OK – what do you want to play?' – and he'd say, 'No, let's just play'. This was revolutionary to me at the time because I was into Monk tunes, and thought you had to have a structure and chord changes, the whole thing”. Lacy eloquently expresses his cultural isolation as an improvisor – on his current UK tour, he comments, “I was walking by the university here, and I heard some ordinary rock they had coming out of a party...I got sick to my stomach...It's just like everything I do is against what this is. And that was current normal stuff with loads of people having a good time to it, no problem – except I was walking down the street and I was suffering...You have to consider that you're a specialist, you're a freak – and you have to live with it”.

Steve Lacy Sextet - The Wire (1975) [full]

1. The Twain 00:00
2. Esteem 06:34
3. The Owl 15:16
4. The Wire 19:45
5. Cloudy 24:49
6. Dead Line 31:01

Masahiko Satoh: piano
Masahiko Togashi: percussion
Keiki Midorikawa: cello, bass
Yoshio Ikeda: bass
Motoharu Yoshizawa: bass