Steve Lacy Plays Monk,3 of 3; Never Released!

In first of this series, we heard some of Steve Lacy’s first recordings, and then focused on two of his performances of Monk’s piece “Evidence.” Last time we heard two pieces from a never-issued session of Lacy playing Monk tunes, on October 31, 1961, with bassist Carl Brown (what little we know about him is in the first essay), and Billy. Higgins. Today we’ll hear the remaining two pieces from that session.

Now, Lacy and friends perform Monk’s notoriously difficult “Trinkle Tinkle.” I don’t particularly agree with what Lacy plays for the bridge melody at 0:24 and 4:27. But since he knew Monk’s music so well, and knew Monk himself, I always consider, at least, his choices when I’m learning a Monk tune. On the version with Monk and Coltrane in the studio (the date was lost but it’s probably late summer 1957), the drummer takes 6-beat breaks. But here, as on the original recording that Monk made with just bass and drums in 1952, Higgins takes straightforward two-bar (8 beat) breaks. Unlike either Monk recording, Higgins plays the breaks throughout Lacy’s first improvised chorus. Then, after a particularly brilliant and wide-ranging soprano sax solo, Lacy and Higgins trade two-bar phrases. So, effectively, this performance features Lacy and Higgins:

To conclude this unissued session, how about one of Monk’s distinctive ballads? Here’s “Ruby My Dear,” which goes into a double-time feel around 2:42. The next chorus, starting at 3:39, finds Lacy and Higgins inventively trading eight-measure phrases, which is unexpected on a ballad. Lacy ends with a half-chorus (a common choice on ballads because full choruses take so long) and a cadenza. Let’s enjoy:

I hope you’ve enjoyed this superb unissued music by three masters—Lacy, Higgins, and Monk the composer. And Carl Brown is no slouch as well!

If you’re interested to read about Steve Lacy, there’s Conversations, which is a book of interviews with him; a book of French and English essays about his music (one of the essays is here); and his own thoughts about playing and practicing music, Findings, which comes with two CDs (but is now rare). The Italian language edition of Conversations, translated by jazz historian Francesco Martinelli, a subscriber to this series, includes two additional interviews. I know of one more book that is being written now. But be careful that you don’t end up with a book about the pop star named Steve Lacy (unless you wanted that, of course).

See you again soon.

All the best,
Lewis

P.S. Thank you to Neil Tesser and Cheryl Pawelski for help with this essay.