HEAVENLY HORNMEN : Where Are the Modern Innovators?

Whatever could Feather have been thinking by omitting Steve Lacy and including Benny Carter?

I would agree that saxophonist-trumpeter-clarinetist Carter is a fine all-around musician, but surely not one whose alto styling made any significant stamp on that horn’s legacy. Lacy is considered the father of the modern soprano saxophone, being its sole practitioner in the ‘50s avant-garde with Cecil Taylor and the first to play it with Thelonious Monk.

Lacy, the only saxophonist to have received a coveted MacArthur Fellowship (1992), continues to expand the range and possibilities of the instrument. His pure, straight tone and flawless intonation have been called the benchmark by which all young soprano players measure themselves.

ANN REBENTISCH

Pacific Palisades

Rebentisch is Lacy’s manager.