a r t i s t : Steve Lacy Trio
t i t l e : The Rent
d a t e : 1999
l a b e l : Cavity Search
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : Jun/2006
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 108,9 MB
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Steve Lacy soprano saxophone, voice
Jean-Jacques Avenel bass
John Betsch drums
Recorded live on 30 November 1997, at The Old Church,
Portland, Oregon (USA). Engineer: Eric Squires.
Mastering: Eric Squires, Jeff Betts & and Denny Swofford.
Art direction: Christopher Cooper & John Eckenrode.
Producer: Steve Lacy. Concert produced by Creative Music
Guild.
Cover painting: Pierre Buraglio ("Philippe de Champagne" -
1996). Photos: Gilles Laheurte.
Special thanks: Patrice Roussel.
Liner Notes
In a 1992 interview for Cadence, Steve Lacy explained: "To me,
music is always about something or somebody, or from somebody
or something. It's never in the blue, never abstract. You have
to dig into the music to see what's happening, you have to
question it. Sometimes I don't know what it's about or who it
is about until the music comes out; after a while, I question
it, and I see - "Ahh, that's who that is!" [1] And so, all his
compositions are just that: a portrait of / an homage to
"somebody", or a reference to "something". Lacy's thoughts on
this process are evident on his sheet music: at the end of
each tune, he attaches a small picture with the name of the
person to whom he offers the tribute. The finished sheet is in
itself a work of art, combining graphics and collages.
This album with its title piece, The Rent, is humbly dedicated
to the memory of the French jazz critic Laurent Goddet, whose
untimely death by suicide in the late 80's affected everyone
in French music circles. He was one of the first people to
generously help Lacy when he moved to Paris in 1970. After
several years of disentchantment in Rome with enthusiastic but
amateur Italian musicians, the music scene in Paris had seemed
to Lacy a bit like the promised land. However, finding enough
gigs was tough, and Lacy and his wife Irene Aebi were soon "in
the dumps" [2], scraping and scratching to survive. Goddet
helped them out selflessly.
To all who knew Goddet, his suicide was a total surprise. To
those who loved him, his death was like a brutal rip in a
delicate and cherished piece of fabric. The tragedy was
devastating to Lacy who was left with "une profonde déchirure
au coeur", i.e. a rent in his heart. It also left Lacy with a
deep indebtness to Goddet for the altruistic help he had
received from him, which he suddenly realized he could
possibly no longer return, except through his music. As a
result, the tune The Rent carries the scars of the violent rip
of emotions, the indebtness owed a true friend ("the rent is a
phenomenon that we're all forced to deal with - we have to pay
the rent, you know") [1] and it is also a play on his name,
"The Rent", Laurent. [1] The piece is both bright (a
lighhearted "A" part, sort of a Cha Cha Cha) and dark (a
grinding "B" part, screaming the blues), as if to reflect the
dichotomy between the apparent insouciance of Goddet's life
and the scorching pain he was hiding in his soul.
The other tunes in this album are also tributes in their own
special way: Shuffle Boil, the current "standard" opening
number to the trio's concerts, obviously expressing Thelonious
Monk's everlasting mark on Lacy's Muse; The Bath, to Dexter
Gordon, a dark blues "inspired from a film called "Max" (Einer
Moos), where Henri Miller allows his favorite bum to bathe and
change in his Paris flat" [2]; Prayer, to Charlie Rouse, a
kind of "soul" music with an angular melody, but in fact an
Irish-American spiritual with Zen/Buddhist overtones; Blinks,
to trombonist Kid Ory, its principal lick taken from an old
Dixieland phrase of the 20's; The Door, to Joseph Haydn, who
liked to employ knocking rhythms in some of his work; Retreat,
"a little Rhapsody for Bob Marley, based on a mode from the
Far East in tick-tock time" [2] inspired by a quote from 18th
Century painter Thomas Gainsborough; Gospel, "a shout and a
blues, a stomp and a wail" [2], to Stevie Wonder ; Flakes, to
American painter Mark Rothko; Bone, the oldest composition in
the set (1969), to Lester Young, from the song cycle "The Way
/ Tao Suite", based on a Lao-Tzu poem; and Bookioni, the
current encore to the trio's performances, inspired by Lacy's
former drummer, Oliver Johnson. They represent only a fraction
of the group's vast repertoire - several pieces from Monk, all
others from Lacy's own musical universe. They have been
explored extensively since 1995, when the famous twenty
year-old Steve Lacy Sextet was stripped down to the current
Trio, and were explored further during the rather ambitious
North American Tour of November 1997, when this recording was
made: 25 cities in 30 days, flying back and forth from the
West Coast to the East Coast, from North to South, a truly
grueling schedule. This was one of the last concerts before
flying "home" to Paris. Yet the musicians, and the music, show
no sign of fatigue. Quite the contrary, it is as if the
presence of Laurent Goddet was felt and had energized everyone
present.
The album is blessed with the wonderful acoustics of the
picturesque "Old Church" in Portland. It is also blessed with
a very crisp engineering which brings out beautifully the
natural sounds of Lacy's sharp and varied timbral inflections,
Avenel's warm virtuoso solos and embroideries, and Betsch's
subtle/attentive dosage of colorful drumming. It is further
blessed with a very responsive and enthusiastic audience.
Another special blessing is the release of the two sets in
their unexpurgated form, as they happened, giving the CD
listener the magical illusion of "being there", a great
compensation to all who could not be in Portland that night.
The two sets demonstrate the unerring sense of balance in
Lacy's choice of tunes, deceptively simple elegant melodies,
in which his improvisations remain fresh, always, even after
45 years of soprano playing.
One often says that time fosters deep alliances between minds,
and this album effectively shows the ease with which the three
musicians relate. There is an empathic equilibrium which makes
their "communion" in the Old Church seem effortless and
complete, all three musicians flying high and landing
impeccably on their feet. No doubt that, had he been alive and
present that night, Laurent Goddet himself would have been
delighted, and would have simply said : "What great music!
Listen!"
Gilles Laheurte (liner notes - revised version, February 1999)
1/ from The Steve Lacy Interview, Cadence Magazine, December
1992
2/ quotes from Steve Lacy
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cd1
01-Shuffle Boil [08:47]
02-The Bath [09:17]
03-The Rent [11:31]
04-Prayer [10:45]
05-Blinks [10:07]
cd2
01-The Door [12:06]
02-Retreat [10:41]
03-Gospel [07:57]
04-Flakes [08:54]
05-Bone [13:27]
06-Bookioni (Encore) [04:03]
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