Frank Lacy Jr.

[Dr Dave]

Without doubt the finest trombonist/vocalist alive will be leading a quintet this Saturday, April 5, at the Jazz Gallery in NYC. If anyone plans to attend Frank Lacy's gig, please post a detailed review, OK? Thanks. If he sings "Devil Woman" (the Mingus tune, not the Marty Robbins hit, yuk-yuk-yuk) and somebody accidentally records it, I will pay an amount larger than the annual per-capita income of Ethiopia to obtain a copy.

[Chris Castelle]

I really dig Lacy's playing on a couple of albums from the early 90's on the Enja label: Marty Ehrlich's Side By Side and Michael Formanek's Low Profile. Ane excellent player in the Dicky Wells/Vick Dickenson/Jimmy Knepper/Roswell Rudd/I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of other great players out vein. He came across as a pretty frustrated and somewhat menacing dude in a Downbeat interview five years ago, and the discography that concluded the interview said something like, "Frank Lacy doesn't have as many records out as, say, Steve Lacy," a situation that doesn't seem to have changed at all in the intervening half-decade. Good to see with in a high-profile gig as a leader.

He's great on Threadgill's Easily Slip Into Another World, too. Forgot about that one.

[Dr Dave]

He was Bu's musical director for a while, too. Frank has a lot of fire, I'm not surprised to hear he sounded "menacing." He's just trying to get his due, like we all are. And it says something, I don't know what, that Steve Lacy has more recordings than Frank Lacy. Maybe Steve has been a better businessman, yeah? hat-hut, etc.

[Fred K]

I've always enjoyed Frank Lacy's playing as a sideman. The one time I saw him live was 3 or 4 years ago in DC at the old Twins location. Frank showed up 2 hours late for the show and his back-up band had to start without him. After he settled in, he put on a great show though. I've heard from other people that he is unreliable on live dates (and maybe in the studio as well...?).

[Dr Dave]

All I can say is that the last time I saw him--with the Mingus Big Band--he was the emotional heart of the music.

Afterward, he bitched endlessly about the lousy mike/monitor setup for his vocals.

[shrugs]

Spotted Dick Is Pudding!!

[MRS]

The Good Shepherd? He who puts the ass in class? Good to see you, Dave.

[Other Steve]

I've always enjoyed Frank's work, in many of the same settings that Chris mentioned as well as others such as Roy Hargrove's band and the big band he was leading himself for a stretch at the Knitting Factory not so long ago. I've also heard many rumors of unreliability, unpredictability and difficulty, but frankly, when the man plays, he's brilliant.

New Yorkers will have a very different opportunity to hear Frank in a very different setting April 22-27, when he sits in all week with the "Masters of Groove" (Reuben Wilson, Grant Green Jr. and Bernard Purdie) as they play music by James Brown at the Jazz Standard. The other featured guest is John Stubblefield. Sounds good 'n' (cold) sweaty.

[Tom Storer]

Originally posted by Dr Dave
And it says something, I don't know what, that Steve Lacy has more recordings than Frank Lacy.

Don't forget that Steve L. also has 25 years more career than Frank L.!

[Dr Dave]

As always, clarification appreciated, Tom.

[relyles]

Frank Lacy is one of my favorite trombone players and I have enjoyed his relatively few contributions to recordings that I own. I also was fortunate enough to see him play with Blakey years ago. My most recent live experience, however, was hearing him a couple of years ago playing in R&B singer D'Angelo's horn section with Roy Hargrove. There was a definate strong James Brown influence in the music and both Lacy and Hargrove had some very good solo spots showing their versatality and ability to groove in that format and still retain their individual sounds. Obviously, D'Angelo's music may not appeal to every hard core jazz/improvised music fan, but on that evening I must confess that I was very entertained and was happy to hear Lacy's trombone.

[shrugs]

anybody know what he's been up to lately?

[Captain Hate]

I thought I saw him mentioned in a review in Cadence early in the year as a sideman in a more mainstream setting than I'd normally expect. At least that's what I gathered from it.

Maybe he's playing "Where's Waldo" with Craig Harris.

[shrugs]

He played with the last Hargrove band that was worth a damn.
Larry Willis and Lacy were worth the trip alone.

[Pete C]

Still active in the Mingus Big Band/Orchestra/Dynasty.

[Gary Sisco]

I get fairly regular emails announcing Craig Harris shows at what used to be Sweet Basil.