Steve Lacy

In 1999, on the occasion of the centenary of Ellington's birth, Franco Maresco commissioned Steve Lacy to perform ten songs by the Duke, which were recorded and filmed in Palermo. In 2024, twenty years after Lacy's death and fifty years after that of Ellington, that unpublished material re-emerges from the archive of the great Sicilian director and becomes a documentary.

Jazz sax pioneer Steve Lacy shares the inspirations and influences that drove him to become one of the greatest soprano saxophonists of all time. Lacy discusses his heroes, including Sidney Bechet, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Gil Evans and Thelonious Monk, and the film features performance footage of all of these sax masters. Onstage, Lacy performs with Irene Aebi, Steve Potts, Bobby Few, Jean-Jacques Avenel and Oliver Johnson.

The accomplished soprano saxist details his life and musical adventures with the likes of Cecil Taylor, and performs with his band. Includes interviews and footage of a concert at New Jazz at the Public Theater, New York City, New York, on October 29, 1983. "Lacy shows how jazz continually becomes world music... That makes for a video that gives more and more, a real investment" Kevin Lynch, DOWNBEAT "This is one of the better jazz documentaries. The virtuosic soprano saxophonist talks about his entire career... and performs with his group" Scott Yanow, AMG

Documentary filmed during the 1965 International Jazz Festival in Bologna, featuring appearances by musicians such as Gato Barbieri, Don Cherry, and Mal Waldron.