Steve Lacy - Sempre amore

Sempre Amore does not present itself as a classic integrity exercise. Steve Lacy uses his duet with Mal Waldron here to fill a sonic void; he carves out a space where only his breath is heard, transforming the composite material of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn into a solitary architecture where soprano saxophone and piano form a single instrument. Released by Soul Note in 1987, this album fits within the series of collaborations between the saxophonist and post-bop pianists, but it performs a radical subversion: far from classic free improvisation, each track becomes a faithful yet autonomous rewrite, where the absence of drummer or bassist imposes constant structural tension.

Post-Bop Reappropriation: Ellington and Strayhorn revisited by the duo

The album presents itself as an act of total reappropriation. Steve Lacy takes standards composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn — dense raw material, charged with history — and strips them of their original orchestration. It is not about passive homage; each track is treated as a space where the soprano saxophone dialogues with the piano without ever yielding ground. The approach is that of 1980s modern jazz, but with a formal constraint that makes it something rarer: a duo where one does not simply fill in the gaps left by the other, but builds with him a new composite texture.

Unique Texture: Piano and Soprano Form a Composite Instrument

The album runs 43 minutes and 51 seconds. In less than an hour, Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron build a continuous soundscape where the boundary between the two instruments becomes porous. Mal Waldron's piano is not merely accompaniment: it serves as melodic counterpoint, sometimes harmony, sometimes dry rhythm. For his part, Steve Lacy's soprano never asserts itself as a dominant voice; instead, it inserts itself into the piano line, stretching it, cutting it, taking it over again. It is this relationship of equality that gives Sempre Amore its identity: an orchestra reduced to two voices where every note counts.

Johnny Come Lately, Sempre Amore and Smada: Three Proofs of Rewriting

The track that opens the album, Johnny Come Lately, immediately sets the constraint: a melodic phrase from Ellington/Strayhorn is taken up with total freedom. At the center of the record, Sempre Amore — the title that bears the name of the album — functions as a pivot: here, sonic density reaches its point of equilibrium, the two instruments answer each other without ever disputing the measure. Each track acts like a link in a melodic chain that does not close until the very last second of the record.

Verdict: An Album Where Every Note Is an Architectural Decision

Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron follow a discographic trajectory marked by collaborations with other pianists on the post-bop scene, but Sempre Amore stands out for its rigorous approach to the compositions of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. This album follows chronologically Only Monk, also released in 1987, and precedes More Monk (1991), two works that testify to a sustained interest in the repertoire of Thelonious Monk. In addition, Steve Lacy has already recorded several solo or collaborative albums prior to this period: Soprano Sax (1958), Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk (1959), The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy (1960), Evidence (1962), Disposability (1966), Sortie (1966) and Epistrophy (1969). These references confirm his place in the history of modern jazz, where he constantly explores the boundaries between free improvisation and faithful reworking. The total duration of the album is 43 minutes and 51 seconds, distributed over eight tracks, with Johnny Come Lately opening the journey and Smada closing it. This compact structure reinforces the idea of an album conceived as a continuous suite, where each track flows into the next without interruption, forming a coherent whole that transcends the simple sum of its parts. Sempre Amore does not seek to please; it seeks to hold its ground. Steve Lacy transforms here the standards of Ellington and Strayhorn into an autonomous structure, where each track functions as an independent cell but is linked to the others by melodic coherence. The album presents itself as a manifesto of instrumental reduction: fewer musicians, more precision.

Technical Specifications

- Release: 1987 - Label: Soul Note - Tracks: 8 (43 min 51 s) - Opening / Closing: Johnny Come Lately / Smada