Steve Lacy (soprano saxophone), Marilyn Crispell, Ulrich Gumpert, Misha Mengelberg, Vladimir Miller, Fred Van Hove (piano)
Recorded live during 'Workshop Freie Musik', April 4-8, 1996 at Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Apart from being one of the most influential soprano saxophonists of the 20th century, Steve Lacy was also the most important interpreter of music written by Thelonious Monk. Lacy represents an avant-garde that investigates and explains the past in order to create a future free of totalitarian visions. To this end, Monk provides tons of material to explore, his top-notch compositions being milestones of 20th century music. Monk's special quality is sometimes described by a dictum that was originally derived from 20th-century architecture and has become a keynote of modern philosophy: Less is More. Like Monk, Lacy has repeatedly been summarized under that headline. Indeed, what initially seems to be Less in both Monk's and Lacy's music, will sooner or later evolve into a wonderful More. And we can even hear it grow, as their sonic architecture is built on solid blocks. A great example was FMP's Free Music Workshop in 1996: Apart from Lacy, who performed on each of the five nights, five pianists were invited, a duo with each of them being part of Lacy's program. The saxophonist took the occasion to illustrate the entire history of his instrument.
From a communications theory point of view, this project is one of the rare answers to Bazon Brock's indisputable witticism: 'We must communicate because we don't understand each other.' From the liner notes by Markus Müller