Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Steve Lacy / Joelle Leandre: One More Time

221

Steve Lacy / Joelle Leandre: One More Time

By

Sign in to view read count
Steve Lacy / Joelle Leandre: One More Time
By Ken Waxman

One More Time features French bassist Joëlle Léandre bonding musically with Steve Lacy. Recorded in Brussels during one of the longtime expatriate's farewell to Europe concerts before he relocated to Boston, One More Time is poignant, especially after you hear Lacy's complimentary telephone message to Léandre that is its final track. The CD is doubly valuable because it's one of the saxman's final documents before his death in 2004. But after a half-century as an improviser, Lacy was no sentimentalist. He praises the duo work because he knows how good it is.

Ricocheting between broken octaves and double counterpoint, the two musicians finesse a collection of repeated notes, slurs, squirming vibrations, trills and slides. When he modulates towards coloratura, she stands her ground with staccato sweeps. Should he sideslip and flutter-tongue, she retorts with sul tasto patterning and by striking the bass' ribs and belly. Following a few duck-like quacks, he fades into the background at midpoint, allowing her to use tremolo multiphonics to involve all her strings in steady architectural motions.

Returning to the fray, tooting and triple-tonguing, the reedist's tongue stops and trills are backed with sul tasto bowing that creates extra textural graininess. Eventually his falsetto cries bring forth sul ponticello stopping from her lowest strings, as the two finally resolve the piece with a simultaneous climax. Although Léandre will never play with Lacy again, at least we have One More Time to remember their classy teamwork.

Track Listing

One More Time 1; 2; 3; Phone message.

Personnel

Steve Lacy
saxophone, soprano

Steve Lacy: soprano saxophone; Jo

Album information

Title: One More Time | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Leo Records

Comments

Tags


For the Love of 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 create 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.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve 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

Sensual
Rachel Z
Over and Over
Tony Monaco Trio
Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

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