Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
Born Steven Lackritz in New York City on July 23, 1934, Lacy started his musical training at the piano as a youth. From there, it was an interest in clarinet, eventually leading to soprano saxophone. Having studied with Cecil Scott, Lacy went on to Schillinger School of Music (now Berklee School of Music) in 1953, the following year going to Manhattan School of Music.
Lacy started out being influenced by traditional jazz and was an exponent of it as a player for many years. His interest in the early jazz of New Orleans, Chicago and Kansas City was later supplanted by collaborationswith, among others, Cecil Taylor in the late 1950s. During this time he also worked with Jimmy Guiffre, Mal Waldron and Gil Evans, and became very interested in the music of Thelonious Monk. For 16 weeks in 1960, Lacy worked with Monk's quintet, following that up with his own quintet with Roswell Rudd, Denis Charles and different bassists playing a repertoire of mainly Monk compositions. Starting in 1965, Lacy performed more and more as an international artist with, among others, Kenny Drew, Enrico Rava, Karl Berger and Paul Motian. In 1967, he moved to Europe, having married Irene Aebi, who would become a member as a vocalist/cellist/violinist with Lacy.
Lacy moved to Paris in 1970, two years later starting to play solo saxophone concerts. Lacy's work has encompassed a variety of media and been performed in a number of settings, including schools, museums, churches, cultural centers, radio stations and for dancers. He has led a variety of ensembles and has played with top musicians from all over the world, among the artists being Evan Parker, Carla Bley and Derek Bailey. He is also an important composer, including writing settings for the works of poets. In the early 1980s, Lacy formed what would become his most stable group to date with few exceptions: with Aebi, Bobby Few, Steve Potts and Jean-Jacques Avenel.
In 2002 Lacy moved back to Boston, where he was a New England Conservatory faculty member.
Recordings include: Spirit Of Mingus (Freelance, 1991), More Monk (Soul Note, 1989), Anthem (Novus, 1989), Morning Joy (hat ART, 1986), Trickles (Black Saint, 1976), The Forest And The Zoo (ESP, 1966), Schooldays (hat ART, 1963), Reflections (OJC, 1958).
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
“It was just that suddenly … I could hear it,” Ravi Coltrane said of an epiphany he experienced during his late teens regarding his father’s music. “And it was almost like a calling, like something saying, ‘Hey, man, come on. It’s time to get serious.’ And the first time you really tune in and dial in and focus like that, it can be very life-changing.”
Sep 22, 2026 1:39 PM
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
Camille Thurman took to the stage alongside bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Tommy Campbell for a rendition of Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” that recalled Rollins’ epochal 1957 trio outing Way Out West.
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As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of Saint…
Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.
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It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
Sep 17, 2026 11:00 AM
The 2027 DownBeat College Guide is an invaluable resource for music students, especially jazz students, to find a school…
