Brooklyn-based saxophonist/composer Josh Sinton's longstanding group Ideal Bread, featuring trumpeter Kirk Knuffke, bassist Richard Giddens and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, will close-out its 2012 schedule with hometown concerts at ShapeShifter Lab on November 27th and the Konceptions Music Series at Korzo on December 11th.

The quartet, which performs original arrangements of music written by the late soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, is gearing up for a New England tour in January as well as its third recording session in early 2013.

These Brooklyn dates will feature the premiere of selections from the band's vast and ambitious new book of early Lacy compositions heard on the seminal three-disc compilation, Scratching The Seventies/Dreams (Saravah), which AllMusic.com's Thom Jurek describes as "an essential collection for Lacy fans" and "an essential purchase for any serious jazz library."

"These albums, recorded between 1969 and 1977, offer a rare snapshot of a composer as he was coming into being," explains Sinton, who studied with Lacy at New England Conservatory. "It wasn't until in the 70's, when he took a deliberate hiatus from playing Monk, that he began to write. A lot. Some became Lacy-ian classics ('Somebody Special' and 'Blinks'), some became unperformable classics ('Cryptosphere' and 'The Wire'—the tune that inspired the name of the music magazine) and some are just plain unperformable ('Roba' & 'The Highway'). My plan is to make short recordings of everything (about 25 tunes, each two to four minutes long), but in concert we'll present expanded versions."

He adds, "To that end, I've got us rehearsing regularly and playing shows regularly. And, I've got all but two of the tunes transcribed. So far, I've been really pleased with the results. The band still sounds like Ideal Bread, but the material is quite different than the other stuff we've done."

Learn more about Sinton and Ideal Bread at http://joshsinton.com