Steve Lacy Seven- PROSPECTUS (1984) Hat ART
From the inside cover (enclosed):
We start the set with STAMPS, the ice-breaker in honor of Mr Miles Davis, Based on the open notes
of the strings, it allows us to warm up, and you, to tune in.
WICKETS is a blue tale (tail?) on the trail, to Bobby Timmons, a blues blown in be natural.
Another kind of blues, THE WHAMMIES is our fastest moving item. Based on based on selected licks
from Fats Navarro. Once the chart is played, we get out quickly. When it is over you will have really
had it.
PROSPECTUS is an invitation to a voyage and is dedicated to McCoy Tyner.The words are by
Blaise Cendrars, who used a real travel brochure, slightly modified: "Come and see out little isle/
it's all the way down South/ in the Japanese possessions/ this little country is certainly mostly unknown
in Europe/ it merits a bit more attention/ fauna and flora have great variety/and hardly have been
studied up to now/ and this you'll find everywhere you look/ a picturesque point of view/ and in the
interior/ some ruins of Buddhist temples/ which are, in their genre/ pure marvels." (Translated by
Steve Lacy) This kind of collective improvisation is only possible when one has the luxury of being
able to work with the same group of gifted individuals over a long period of time. That is the REAL
Prospectus.
THE DUMPS (TAKE 1) Is a be-bop rag, a la Jelly Roll Morton. A tough number, we're still working on
it after 10 years. Note the forward-looking exchanges toward the end.
The second record contains our CLICHES. This piece began as an African postcard from Aline Dubois,
who visited Senegal. It was done in one take. We were lucky enough to be able to recruit some talented
young guests in the studio for the "rhythmic village". In memory of a dear friend and great musician,
Joe Maka.
TAKE 2 of THE DUMPS starts out more gayly, gets into some trouble, recovers well, and then at the
reprise loses its footing and crashes to a halt. After the last groan of anguish, we make a good insert,
repairing the damage but allowing the souvenir to remain.
The last tune RETREAT.Thomas Gainsborough, 18th centuyry painter, made this remark: "Enough
of portraits!/ I wish I could pack my Viola Di Gamba/
And go off to some charming village/ to paint landscapes/ And savor the end of my life/ In tranquility/
And peace." (re-translated by Steve Lacy) A little rhapsody for Bob Marley, based on a mode from
the far East in tick-tock time.
STEVE LACY, January, 1983.
Steve Lacy- Soprano Saxophone
Steve Potts- Alto and Soprano Saxophone
George Lewis- Trombone
Bobby Few- Piano
Irene Aebi- Violin, Cello, Voice
Jean-Jaques Avenel- Bass, Thumb Piano on CLICHES
Oliver Johnson- Drums
(and Cyrille Few and his friend- Percussion on CLICHES
Sherry Margolin- Percussion on CLICHES and RETREAT)
Side One:
1- Stamps (6:56)
2- Wickets (11:43)
3- The Whammies (5:16)
Side Two:
4- Prospectus (6:05)
5- The Dumps (Take One) (17:23)
Side Three:
6- Cliches (22:58)
Side Four:
7- The Dumps (Take Two) (15:52)
8- Retreat (7:54)
Recorded November 1 and 2 1983 at Ircam-Espace Du Projection, Paris.
re-up:
(1) (2)
Thank you so much for this. I look forward to listening to it. I saw Steven Lacy and his Trio, sometimes with his wife Irene Aebi, several times at the Outpost Performance Space here in Albuquerque. I always left feeling transported. Laconic and low key, Lacy could be dryly funny too. I miss him.
ReplyDeleteLawrence- Transported is right-
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing this group, minus George Lewis, playing much of this album, and Lacy et al "Lifted The Bandstand"- They started, as here, with "Stamps" and I felt like a jet-engine passenger; we were OFF in about 15 seconds!
I saw him as often as I could, but only became acquainted with him on his LAST visit here. I, too, miss him very much.
Hope you enjoy this GREAT album.
The cd release (as "Cliches) omits side 4, by the way...(l.p. posted by special request ;)
grazie mille, dreyescope! (also for the extra hint...)
ReplyDeletethe cd version not only misses side 4, but track #4, too, prospectus (which might be the reason they had to change the title to "cliches" - without the title track it wouldn't have made much sense).
never saw any of the players involved. sniff.
i've been eying this for a week or two, but just wasn't in the right head space. today i am. thank you for supplying my weekend soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteDr. E - I have finally gotten this monster downloaded and listened to, thanks to your pointer from my comment on another post. It is truly fantastic! As someone who has recently (last summer) given up drugs, I need sounds like this in my life. I also like to build fires.
ReplyDeleteAnything else of this nature that you may be inclined to post will be warmly welcomed and much appreciated, particularly if it's from the mid 70's to mid 80's period, territory I had not managed to cover, untill now, thanks to you. So thanks to you! Keep up the good work.
-Anonymous, if only because it fits
@anonymous-
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed this.It's one of my all time favorite bands and one of their best albums.I would suggest you get the Lacy double c.d. called "The Way" which is a quintet recording from '78.It is a setting of 6 poems from the Tao by Lao Tzu.Magnificent live performance and the c.d. reissue has some excellent extras (that is-it's the entire concert, where the lp is edited.)
I suggest you check the post before this-"Song of Singing"and also "Sing Me A Song Of Songmy" a post of mine from December 2011.
Also you might like my most recent Cecil Taylor post.More fine 70's jazz is coming.
Best of luck, anonymous.
Results of further research:
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, in spite of the recording dates listed (you'll notice that the liner notes date from January 1983 so I think it might have been recorded in November 1982 and the dates as given in November 1983 were the result of a typo), this LP seems to have been released in 1983.
Lacy's Hat Hut-era recordings seem to be among his best, perhaps because of the larger ensemble. The intrepid searcher will be able to find Stamps (1977), The Way (1980), Songs (1981), and Ballets (1982). The CD version of The Way contains the complete concert (as stated above). Complete versions of Blinks and either volume of Futurities have all eluded me so far, and the CD versions of some of these titles with songs missing serve little purpose other than to make the original vinyl releases more desirable.
Stamps and The Way both contain similar material to that found on Prospectus, but both are live recordings. I don't know if it's the addition of trombone or what, but Prospectus seems the best and most listenable of all of these.
Perhaps that's because it is the only one which is a studio recording of then-current Lacy material with no impetus from outside sources or writers. Songs and Ballets both contain outside material and/or are meant for other purposes besides mere presentation as a complete recording. Or perhaps they were drunk when they did it. Whatever the reasons, Prospectus absolutely smokes these other Hat Hut Lacys.
To make a long post short, I would suggest that if any FLAC upgrades are ever considered for posts at The Closet of Curiosities, Steve Lacy Seven Prospectus should be at the top of the list.
-Anonymous (almost!)
Hi Anon- sorry for the delay in replying.-
DeleteOf the Hat records you mention, I personally think that The Way is Lacy's greatest ever. The fact that he was able to give his Tao suite such an unbelievably satisfying rendition in a live concert baffles the imagination. There is also a smaller ensemble (Denis Charles,drums and Ronnie Boykins,bass called "Capers" which is also live and boggles the imagination with it's sensitivity and creativity.
I think that Prospectus may indeed be the most approachable, but the others (some of which you mention) reward repeated listening with their complexity and subtlety, and, dare I say it-Profundity.
George Lewis is as good a Lacy guest as one could hope for (I saw a quartet of Lacy,Lewis,Avenel,and John Betsch,drums which was fantastic.Lewis has a deep grasp of Lacy's music and a sense of humor to match.
I saw Mr.Lacy every chance I got, and he was never less than great.
Thanks for writing!
correction - Stamps is from 1979.
ReplyDelete-A