The Cry

The Cry

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
In some regards, Steve Lacy's The Cry carries on in the vein that Packet or even Vespers first tapped. Each piece is built around a lyric, which is sung by Irene Aebi and originates in poems that Lacy has set to music. The Cry, however, is more concretely rooted, orchestrating poems by Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin for six instruments and voice. Lacy's often had one sextet or another behind him, but here the band is free from the forward-driving lean of usual drummer John Betsch, instead relying on Daniel "Topo" Gioia's hand percussion and the ever-present Jean-Jacques Avenel on bass. Rhythms are plenty structured, with their constant proximity to Aebi's voice helping guide the flow, and the horns (played by Lacy on soprano sax and Tina Wrase on soprano, sopranino, and bass clarinet) stand out texturally, rather than as solo vehicles, as on other Lacy releases. Given these caveats, this is not among Lacy's more improvisationally riveting performances. Adapted from a stage performance for CD, the piece lacks consistency, even though Aebi's voice is in its usual fine form and the poetic texts--each leveling a gender critique of Muslim society in Bangladesh--are potent. --Andrew Bartlett

From Jazziz
At Lacy's frequent best, he's that rare breed of experimenter who can deftly balance intellect with emotion, synthesizing musical elements from across the entire spectrum of jazz as well as avant-garde compositional strategies. The Cry, however, is, perhaps, too conceptual for enjoyment on a simple "jazz" level - the emphasis on word-based narrative relegates music to the background, making for a tricky listening experience. Still, you shouldn't fault Lacy for breadth of scope, and it's not like he hasn't made forays into literary territory before.

Recorded live, The Cry's two discs make Lacy's connections to theater and poetry explicit; the liner notes include credits for scenery, lighting, and costume. Lacy (soprano sax), Tina Wrase (soprano and sopranino saxophones and bass clarinet), Petia Kaufman (harpsichord), Cathrin Pfeifer (accordion), Jean-Jacques Avenel (double bass), and Daniel "Topo" Gioia (percussion) utilize martial drumming and tango structures to bolster Lacy's typically oblique, staggered score. In the foreground, longtime Lacy companion and collaborator Irène Aëbi intones lyrics by Taslima Nasrin, a Bangladeshi writer whose work details atrocities committed against her country's women by religious zealots. The liner notes state that Nasrin has experienced extensive persecution because of her criticism of radical fundamentalist Islam and that Lacy conceived this work as a commentary on women's societal status in general.

Lacy aficionados will note that the alternating block structure and improvisation here is similar to Lacy's late-'70s "poly-free" period, and should value the opportunity to hear Lacy work with what are, outside of Aëbi and Avenel, unfamiliar musicians. Others interested in an unconventional feminist work that gracefully eschews the didactic are encouraged to delve in.

The Cry,Steve Lacy,Soul Note Records,Free Jazz,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,Post-Bop

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