Song Quotes by Steve Lacy

Saxophone is one thing, and music is another.

— Steve Lacy

Make the drummer sound good.

— Steve Lacy

Jazz is people's music, a collectivity.

— Steve Lacy

Some people really want to play Mozart and be just performers. I was more interested in invention.

— Steve Lacy

Risk is at the heart of jazz. Every note we play is a risk.

— Steve Lacy

I wanted to be a pianist but it just wasn't my thing. I guess I wanted to stand up rather than sit…

— Steve Lacy

I was spoiled by Monk's music because it was so good, so complete.

— Steve Lacy

Register is very important. Music sounds best in a certain register.

— Steve Lacy

Jazz is like wine. When it is new it's only for the experts, but when it gets older everybody wants it.

— Steve Lacy

You must have the music to justify an instrument's extensive use.

— Steve Lacy

It starts with a single sound. If there's something in that sound, then it's worth continuing.

— Steve Lacy

There is an awful lot of what I call recreational jazz going on, where people go out and learn a particular language…

— Steve Lacy

They call me before they go into production, when they have a prototype, and they call legitimate saxophonists, too. As opposed to…

— Steve Lacy

When I heard Monk in person in 1955, he was playing with a quartet in a small club. The place was full…

— Steve Lacy

I fell in love with jazz when I was 12 years old from listening to Duke Ellington and hearing a lot of…

— Steve Lacy

When I found the music of Monk I finally found music that fit that horn. Every one of his tunes fit it…

— Steve Lacy

I've been working on the soprano saxophone for 40 years, and the possibilities are astounding. It's up to you, the only limit…

— Steve Lacy

The soprano has all those other instruments in it. It's got the soprano song voice, flute, violin, clarinet, and tenor elements and…

— Steve Lacy

A jazz musician is a combination orator, dialectician, mathematician, athlete, entertainer, poet, singer, dancer, diplomat, educator, student, comedian, artist, seducer, public masturbator,…

— Steve Lacy

A young pianist & composer who has demonstrated an exceptional creativity, in both his playing & his writing, as well as showing…

— Steve Lacy