67 Quotes by Steve Lacy

To me, there is spirit in a reed. It’s a living thing, a weed, really, and it does contain spirit of a sort. It’s really an ancient vibration.

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.

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

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.

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

Jazz is people’s music, a collectivity.

The soprano has all those other instruments in it. It’s got the soprano song voice, flute, violin, clarinet, and tenor elements and can even approach the baritone in intensity.

It’s very important to go through periods where you sound just rotten and you know it, and you have to persevere or give up.

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