Quotes from Steve Lacy

If you listen to Louis Armstrong from 1929, you will never hear anything better than that really, and you will never hear anything more free than that.

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

I still love the whole history of jazz. The old things sound better than ever.

I heard Sidney Bechet play a Duke Ellington piece and fell in love with the soprano saxophone.

When I came up, it was all about originality and collective research. There is an awful lot of imitation going on now.

The saxophone is a very interesting machine, but I'm more interested in music.

In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds.

I think it is in collaboration that the nature of art is revealed.

You can work on the saxophone alone, but ultimately you must perform with others.

I've performed solo for 20 years now, but I don't do much of it, because if you only play alone, you go crazy and out of tune and play foolish music.

Nobody was playing the soprano saxophone and certainly nobody was trying to do anything with it. So I was all alone. I didn't know that at first.

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

You have to sound sad first of all, then maybe later you can sound good.

I've always been extremely lucky in playing with great people who knew much more than I did. That's how I got from there to here.

If you have music you want to play that no one asks you to play, you have to go out and find where you can play it. It's called do or die.

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

The soprano turned out to sound to me like the right hand on the piano.

If you're trying to invent something new, you're going to reach a lot of discouraging points, and most people give up.

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

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

When I first started playing music in 1955, there was just a small body of people that knew it. It was a very esoteric type of thing.

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

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

The potential for the saxophone is unlimited.