Findings: My Experience (Book + 2 CDs)

FINDINGS: MY EXPERIENCE WITH SOPRANO SAXOPHONE

Steve Lacy, is with Miles Davis, one of the rare recognizable musicians as of the first played note. The sound of their instrument, their voice, is the paramount component of their song. The extent of the register and the variety of the effects (with more close to the human voice) confer on this sound an expressive power such as the melody, thus responsible for direction, does not have to multiply turnings to be heard by all. It is perhaps not a chance only these two musicians, although at the origin of very different musical universes, are both followers of a style minimalist - the search of the note right, the use of silence like musical material.

If personality artistic of Steve Lacy is affirmed very early (that to which its first recordings testify), its instrumental technique was not put so much so that little by little, thanks to a patient and methodical research task; the notes altissimo, incredible whistling stars, are one of the most impressive points. Steve Lacy became, for a long time already, the reference as regards the soprano, least flexible of the saxophones.

Its discoveries, which it transmitted to many instrumentalists, in deprived or at the time of master-classes, it delivers them here to us, with a humility and an interior joy which suit us right to the heart. At Steve as at the largest artists, the life and work do only one; and it seems to have borrowed from George Braque, whose it asserts the influence, this wise precept: "Satisfy we to make reflect, do not try to convince".

Formed at the school of the scene, Steve Lacy had among its professors Thelonious Monk, Cecil Taylor, Gil Evans... Let us benefit from the chance which is given to us to have, in our turn, Steve Lacy as Master.

Book and 2-CD Set
224 Pages

"Through the years, many saxophonists (soprano and other) have come to see me, seeking my advice on what to practice and how to develop their own playing styles. In general I have told them all, pretty much the same things: what I work on myself, and how I approach the technical and musical problems inherent to the soprano saxophone. More than 40 years have gone by since I began learning how to play this wonderful instrument: I have managed to dominate it, but not to subdue it. Challenges remain, pitfalls are always present, and it is still a very difficult horn to play well. There are no absolutes in this book. Only suggestions. Everything can, and should be, tried in as many different ways as possible. This goes for the exercises and the pieces, as well."
Steve Lacy (Reprinted from Findings)

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This book is sold with two CDs. The first record puts into practice the exercices and studies exposed in the book, with play-along versions; the second one is composed of solos, duos, trios and quartet pieces with the members of Lacy's regular band (Irene Aebi: voice, Steve Potts: alto & soprano saxophones, Bobby Few: piano, Jean-Jacques Avenel: bass, John Betsch: drums).