Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk

Album Notes & Community Reviews

As one of the earliest full-length tributes to the iconoclastic pianist's singular songbook, this session highlights a master of the notoriously difficult soprano saxophone. Accompanied by Mal Waldron, Elvin Jones, and Buell Neidlinger, the quartet tackles the highly angular, rhythmically complex compositions with deep intellectual rigor and sparse, biting improvisations. The project solidified the saxophonist's reputation as a highly advanced structuralist on the verge of plunging fully into the free jazz vanguard.