Josh Sinton + Ideal Bread

“They really own this music, turning each tune inside out, never paying stale homage to Lacy but celebrating the multi-faceted nature of his music.”
—Signal to Noise

During the last few years of his life, jazz innovator Steve Lacy moved back to the United States—after more than 30 years of living as an expatriate in Paris—to take on the one and only faculty engagement of his career, here at New England Conservatory.

At NEC, Lacy's students included baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton '03 M.M., who since 2006 has worked with his band Ideal Bread to perform Lacy's compositions. The band has two recordings under its belt, and it has drawn on Sinton's transcriptions to address the "paucity of scores" documenting Lacy's work.

Sinton returns to NEC for this lecture/demonstration, bringing Ideal Bread with him. Recordings of Lacy's music will be followed by versions performed live by the band. Sinton will address questions from the audience, as well as ones he and the band have asked themselves:

• What are the technical limitations of adapting Lacy's material?
• Why do a repertory band?
• How can you use performing creative music as an inquisitive methodology?
• What was Steve Lacy's response to the jazz tradition?
• What are some of the creative issues in keeping a band going in the arena of creative music?

Ideal Bread begins a New England tour tonight at the Lily Pad in Cambridge.

The group appearing today will be the regular lineup of Josh Sinton on baritone saxophone, Kirk Knuffke on cornet, Tomas Fujiwara on drums. Guest Adam Hopkins sits in for regular bassist Richard Giddens, who has a hand injury.

Read Jon Garelick's 2010 Boston Phoenix story about Josh Sinton and Steve Lacy.