Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's The Beat Suite is an ambitious attempt to set beat-era poetry by some of the genre's most iconic progenitors to Lacy's idiosyncratic jazz stylings. Featuring the vocals of Lacy's wife and longtime collaborator, Irene Aebi, the group also includes George Lewis adding counterpuntal touches on trombone, bassist Jean Jacques Avenel, and drummer John Betsch. While fans of such beat writers as William S. Burroughs, Robert Creeley, and Jack Kerouac may find this interesting, the real success of The Beat Suite rests largely in the listeners' interest in hearing Aebi. An acquired taste even by avant-garde standards, Aebi often sounds like a cross between Jessye Norman and Nico. Compositionally, the songs follow Lacy's serpentine, atonal logic often sounding something like Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet in bizzaro world. Thankfully, the poems are included in the liner notes, as it is sometimes hard to focus on them with all the jazz going on. Not for everyone, but longtime Lacy fans should dig it. - Matt Collar
Tracks
01. Wave Lover (Jack Kerouac / Steve Lacy)
02. Song (Allen Ginsberg / Steve Lacy)
03. Naked Lunch (William S. Burroghs / Steve Lacy)
04. Private Sadness (Bob Kaufman / Steve Lacy)
05. A Ring of Bone (Steve Lacy / Lew Welch)
06. The Mad Yak (Gregory Corso / Steve Lacy)
07. Jack's Blues (Robert Creeley / Steve Lacy)
08. Agenda Steve Lacy / Jacl Spicer)
09. In the Pocket (Steve Lacy / Andrew Schelling
10. Steve Lacy / Kenneth Rexroth)
JEAN-JACQUES AVENAL double bass
JOHN BETSCH drums
STEVE LACY soprano saxophone
GEORGE LEWIS trombone
IRENE AEBI vocals
Recorded at Studio Ferber, Paris, December 1-4 and 13, 2001
Universal Music Jazz France - 067 617-2