Steve Lacy – Momentum

Steve Lacy, 24" x 16", oil on canvas paper, 2014

Momentum is the title of a record by the Steve Lacy Sextet recorded in 1987. Beside Lacy the sextet include his wife Irene Aebi, Steve Potts, Bobby Few, Jean-Jacques Avinel, and Oliver Johnson. The group was based in Paris, but most musicians are American. Steve Lacy was from New York. A seminal figure in contemporary Jazz he was a prolific recording artist. More than a hundred records were released under his own name, and then a hundred more as a contributor or side man. Momentum, a  recent thrift store find, is the first I own. The cover, as is often the case with contemporary jazz records, features a work of Abstract Expressionist art. The artist Oliver Agid is French. The portrait was done in a few hours, emulating the Edith Piaf portrait of a few weeks back. The silhouette is Cat Power's (see previous post).