Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Joe Giardullo: No Work Today: Nine for Steve Lacy

252

Joe Giardullo: No Work Today: Nine for Steve Lacy

By

View read count
Joe Giardullo: No Work Today: Nine for Steve Lacy
To record an album dedicated to another musician—especially one as recently dead and as revered as Steve Lacy—is a risky business. The risk is greater if it is also an album of unaccompanied playing. If you're too reverential, you may be accused of cashing in and/or plagiarism; if you're too individualistic, you may be accused of disrespect ... and cashing in. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

So, hats off to Joe Giardullo, who has expertly navigated his way between these competing hazards and produced an album that is both worthy of its dedicatee and excellent in its own right. It features Lacy's compositions "Prospectus and "Hurtles alongside seven Giardullo originals. The transitions between the two are seamless. If one were to listen to this album without any advance information or contextualization, there would be no doubt that it is inspired by Lacy. Giardullo manages to convey the spirit of Lacy without obviously copying or stealing any of his licks. Sure, there are not too many solo soprano players about. (With good reason, given how notoriously difficult an instrument it is.) However, I cannot think of another one who could have made as good a job of a Lacy tribute.

Giardullo's sound on the soprano sax is as rich and full as Lacy's, and his playing is just as confident and sure-footed. Giardullo manages to copy that neat trick of Lacy's; once he had played a line, it immediately sounded logical and right...even if he subsequently played it very differently. He achieves the same sort of ying/yang balance as Lacy did between inside and outside, tradition and experimentation. For evidence, check out "Sentiments," with its quoting of "In a Sentimental Mood" coupled with freely soaring flights of fancy.

However, this is one of those rare albums where it is needless to single out individual tracks; all nine are exquisite, and the album is best listened to in its entirety. A gem.

Track Listing

No Work Today; Prospectus; Which Way; Not Good; Mr. Ioso

Personnel

Joe Giardullo
saxophone

Joe Giardullo: soprano saxophone.

Album information

Title: No Work Today: Nine for Steve Lacy | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Drimala Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante
All In Motion
Dave Redmond
Cat & The Hounds
Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds Featuring Catherine...

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.