Home → Steve Lacy → Anthem
Anthem
Jazz · 1990

Anthem

Steve Lacy

A sophisticated fusion of avant-garde jazz and modernist poetry. Lacy's surgical soprano sax leads a large ensemble through dense, rewarding, and intellectual compositions.

1990 · Novus

Find on Amazon

Anthem is a record of profound gravity and architectural beauty. It does not just play; it occupies the room with a sense of deliberate purpose. Steve Lacy, usually celebrated for his minimalist explorations and solo performances, expands his palette here, utilizing a larger ensemble to create a sound that is both skeletal and lush. The inclusion of vocals, specifically the stark, art-song delivery of Irene Aebi, transforms the jazz quintet into something closer to a chamber ensemble, yet it never loses the swing or the edge of the New York avant-garde.

Moments Worth Listening For
the transition from the rigid, unison horn lines into the fluid, gospel-tinged piano solo by Bobby Few
Irene Aebi's voice rising above the dissonant trombone slides during the Mandelstam settings
the way the percussion creates a shimmering, non-linear floor for Lacy's most abstract saxophone flurries
the sudden, stark silence that follows a particularly dense polyphonic climax
Where This Album DepartsEach spoke is a trait. The orange shape shows where this album pulls away from — or holds to — the rest of the artist’s catalogue. Tap for more.

How does Anthem sound next to the rest of Steve Lacy's catalogue?

Existential+3.4σ

The writing leans far further into existential than the rest of the catalogue.

Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →