Articles by Gilles Laheurte
The TAO Saxophone Quartet on Tour
by Gilles Laheurte
The TAO Saxophone Quartet UNIS Theatre / Bowery Wine Company / Zebulon's New York, NY April, 2011 After an absence of eight years--last appearing in the USA at the legendary Knitting Factory in 2002--the TAO Saxophone Quartet returned to New York. Formed in 1991 by reedman Noël Pelhate--a devoted fan of composer/saxophonist Steve Lacy--in Besançon , eastern France, the quartet's format has changed since alto/soprano saxophonist Jean-Luc Salgues' sudden passing in June, 2009. Three saxophones--Jean-Philippe ...
read moreSteve Lacy's Japan Tours: 1975-2004
by Gilles Laheurte
As stated in my first article about Steve Lacy and Japan, there is a great deal of mystery about his deep inner connection with Japan, and I reiterate that it should remain that way. Yet, his recorded output during his 12 completed tours is so important--in terms of the music, not in terms of the number of albums released--that it deserves being documented, sticking to facts if nothing else. Unsurprisingly, in line with the aura of mystery that prevails, even ...
read moreSteve Lacy: Mr. Soprano
by Gilles Laheurte
(Notes for the Steve Lacy-Sound Legacy concert at Merkin Hall, New York City October 06, 2005)“The history of the soprano saxophone begins and ends with Steve Lacy. We owe it to him, him alone, with no help, struggling, white as snow, pure as crystal." ~ Marc-Edouard Nabe, ZigzagsThis bold statement from the mid-1980s may have been dismissed, at the time, as hyperbole from an opinionated, devoted fan. But these simple, powerful words now shape a profound ...
read moreSteve Lacy and Japan
by Gilles Laheurte
Pretty much like “Rosebud," Orson Welles' famous mysterious enigma in Citizen Kane, there was “something" about Japan in Steve Lacy's life, something that no one will ever fully understand. Call it karmic ties, call it subconscious bond, call it deep inner connection, there was “something" there, definitely. Ever since his first tour in 1975 (invited by Aquirax Aida, critic, producer, poet, fan, that Lacy considered as “The Diaghilev of Jazz"), Steve always talked about Japan with a certain inner glow ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 8
