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" When I first started playing music in 1955, there was just a small body of people that knew it. It was a very esoteric type of thing. "
Steve Lacy
People
Body
Music
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" Risk is at the heart of jazz. Every note we play is a risk. "
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" To me, there is spirit in a reed. It's a living thing, a weed, really, and it does contain spirit of a sort. It's really an ancient vibration. "
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Me
Reed
Spirit
" Jazz is like wine. When it is new, it is only for the experts, but when it gets older, everybody wants it. "
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Jazz
Older
" I think it is in collaboration that the nature of art is revealed. "
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Art
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" What I learned with Cecil Taylor was strategy and survival and how to resist temptations and resist getting discouraged. "
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Discouraged
Strategy
Survival
" Some people really want to play Mozart and be just performers. I was more interested in invention. "
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Want
Some People
People
" The soprano has all those other instruments in it. It's got the soprano song voice, flute, violin, clarinet, and tenor elements and can even approach the baritone in intensity. "
Steve Lacy
Violin
Voice
Song
" I fell in love with jazz when I was 12 years old from listening to Duke Ellington and hearing a lot of jazz in New York on the radio. "
Steve Lacy
New
Love
Jazz
" I was spoiled by Monk's music because it was so good, so complete. "
Steve Lacy
Music
Monk
Good
" I heard Sidney Bechet play a Duke Ellington piece and fell in love with the soprano saxophone. "
Steve Lacy
Saxophone
Play
Love
" They call me before they go into production, when they have a prototype, and they call legitimate saxophonists, too. As opposed to the other kind. "
Steve Lacy
Kind
Production
Before
" I wanted to be a pianist but it just wasn't my thing. I guess I wanted to stand up rather than sit down. "
Steve Lacy
Up
Just
Sit
" I've always been extremely lucky in playing with great people who knew much more than I did. That's how I got from there to here. "
Steve Lacy
Here
Great
Lucky
" When I found the music of Monk I finally found music that fit that horn. Every one of his tunes fit it perfectly. "
Steve Lacy
Found
Horn
Monk
" Nobody was playing the soprano saxophone and certainly nobody was trying to do anything with it. So I was all alone. I didn't know that at first. "
Steve Lacy
Know
Alone
Saxophone
" If you have music you want to play that no one asks you to play, you have to go out and find where you can play it. It's called do or die. "
Steve Lacy
Play
Want
You
" Kenny G, I have to be grateful to him for proving that the instrument can be played all different kinds of ways. "
Steve Lacy
Different
Him
Be Grateful
" It's very important to go through periods where you sound just rotten and you know it, and you have to persevere or give up. "
Steve Lacy
You
Through
Sound
" Whoever has an original thing to say, it is sort of a threat to the status quo. "
Steve Lacy
Sort
Original
Status
" You have to sound sad first of all, then maybe later you can sound good. "
Steve Lacy
Sad
Good
First
" When I came up, it was all about originality and collective research. There is an awful lot of imitation going on now. "
Steve Lacy
Now
Originality
Research
" Register is very important. Music sounds best in a certain register. "
Steve Lacy
Sounds
Music
Important
" When I heard Monk in person in 1955, he was playing with a quartet in a small club. The place was full of musicians, but there was no public at all. "
Steve Lacy
Place
Musicians
Club
" I started in New Orleans music and played all through the history of jazz. "
Steve Lacy
New
New Orleans
Music
" Circumstances can be very important. Find the right people to work with. "
Steve Lacy
Circumstances
People
Important
" Play difficult and interesting things. If you play boring things, you risk losing your appetite. Saxophone can be tedious with too much of the same. "
Steve Lacy
Interesting
Losing
Play
" It starts with a single sound. If there's something in that sound, then it's worth continuing. "
Steve Lacy
Single
Sound
Worth
" I've been working on the soprano saxophone for 40 years, and the possibilities are astounding. It's up to you, the only limit is the imagination. "
Steve Lacy
Imagination
Limit
Possibilities
" You can work on the saxophone alone, but ultimately you must perform with others. "
Steve Lacy
Work
You
Saxophone
" The soprano turned out to sound to me like the right hand on the piano. "
Steve Lacy
Sound
Right
Piano