A reading you won’t want to miss. DECEMBER 7th at 7:30 p.m. at Community Bookstore: Seventh Avenue between Garfield and Carroll, Come hear Jason Weiss, Author of "Steve Lacy: Conversations"
Jason Weiss, editor of Steve Lacy: Conversations, a collection of thirty-four interviews with the innovative saxophonist and jazz composer. Lacy (1934–2004), a pioneer in making the soprano saxophone a contemporary jazz instrument, and one of the most important figures in avant-garde jazz, was a prolific performer and composer, with hundreds of recordings to his name.
Jason Weiss will join us for both a listening session with Lacy’s music as well as a reading of some of the interviews from this stellar collection, which brings together interviews that appeared in a variety of magazines between 1959 and 2004.
Conducted by writers, critics, musicians, visual artists, a philosopher, and an architect, the interviews indicate the evolution of Lacy’s extraordinary career and thought. They illustrate not merely the philosophical aspect of Lacy’s music, but the creative, emotional, and spiritual aspects as well. Often I (Josh) felt that I was overhearing a private conversation between friends, which really astonished me.
A voracious reader and the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, Lacy was particularly known for setting to music literary texts—such as the Tao Te Ching, and the work of poets including Samuel Beckett, Robert Creeley, and Taslima Nasrin. Jason Weiss provides a general introduction, as well as short introductions to each of the interviews and to the selection of Lacy’s own brief writings that appears at the end of the book.