Steve Lacy Four - Morning Joy (Live at Sunset Paris) (hat ART, 1986)

This post is by Dan

Steve Lacy (ss); Steve Potts (as, ss); Jean-Jacques Avenel (b); Oliver Johnson (d)

Recorded February 19, 1986

Steve Lacy's specialization on soprano sax and embrace of Thelonious Monk's music defined much of his jazz career. He formed a sextet that included the four players on this date, plus pianist Bobby Few and vocalist/violinist Irène Aebi. The sextet format was often varied depending on performance and recording opportunities.

Morning Joy includes two Monk compositions and four by Lacy. As Lee Jeske describes in the liner notes, Lacy's connection to Monk is manifest in his original compositions: "They are imbued with the same complex simplicity, similar angularities and wit. They are almost three-dimensional, yet they are as basic as nursery rhymes."

"Prospectus" is one of my favorite Lacy tunes, and one that benefits from Aebi's novel vocalizing. The quartet version on Morning Joy shows that the song itself is easily adapted to a smaller group. They play it wonderfully live. As Jeske notes, Lacy compositions are "prismatic," insofar as they refract sound differently depending on the angle taken. Each version of a Lacy group, including solo performances, reveals different facets of the same tunes.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this live recording is the contrast between Lacy and Steve Potts, who mainly plays alto sax. While Lacy is dry and precise, Potts is harder and more emotional. This difference is clearest on "Wickets," which offers long solos from Potts, then Lacy, then bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel. Each of the horn solos begins softly, accompanied only by Avenel. Potts' solo builds in intensity as Oliver Johnson joins in. The energy then ebbs almost to a stop before Lacy comes in with his own quietly logical solo. In contrast to Potts' intensity, Lacy builds his solo around increasingly elaborate figures that never actually peaks to an emotional climax. Avenel's solo takes the tune out to the brief angular melody. All of this makes for great jazz, created on the spot in a Paris Club.

The reissued CD on hatOLOGY would be a better acquisition for two reasons. First, it's remixed and remastered, which really does improve the live recording. Second, it contains an additional track, "Work," another Monk tune. 

There are actually two releases on hatOLOGY with different covers:

hatOLOGY 556 released in 2001

hatOLOGY 701 released in 2014 

I would assume the sound is the same and better than the original hat Art CD 6014.