“Ideal Bread is the initiative of Josh Sinton, who first encountered Steve Lacy in 2002 as the baritone saxophonist was completing his Masters in Jazz Performance at New England Conservatory. Until then, Sinton had only a passing familiarity with such core-collection Lacy recordings like Evidence with Don Cherry. His ongoing exposure to Lacy at NEC – which included extensive rehearsals and occasional copyist duties – increasingly pulled Sinton into what he considered to be "the deep inscrutable mystery of (Lacy's) compositions."  Realizing that unraveling this mystery would be a life long preoccupation, Sinton formed Ideal Bread upon arriving in New York in 2004; trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and bassist Reuben Radding were enlisted first, with drummer Tomas Fujiwara signing on later. Unlike most ensembles, whose scrambling for gigs and recording deals have created an almost rabidly frothing race to the bottom of a flooded market, Ideal Bread was true to Lacy’s practice of mulling, spending almost three years shedding and playing the very occasional gig before recording The Ideal Bread, released in a micro edition of 250 copies. It is a must-hear album for anyone who has a serious interest in Lacy's music and heard the promise of Lacy work with Charles Tyler on One Fell Swoop (1986; Silkheart). The baritone-trumpet front line transforms chestnuts like “Esteem;” whereas the theme necessitated Lacy to reach into his highest register to evoke a hallowed, even eerie ambiance, Sinton and Knuffke use their lower pitched voicings to more visceral ends. The instrumentation places a distinctly robust emphasis on the more overtly jazzy phrases on pieces like “Trickles” and “The Uh Uh Uh,” The ensembles are appropriately propelled by Radding, who leans towards the offsetting, space-soaking phrases and blunt attack of Kent Carter, and Fujiwara, who splits the difference between the bustling, yet unobtrusive style of John Betsch and the splashier, bomb-dropping approach of Oliver Johnson. Ideal Bread creates additional appreciable daylight between themselves and Lacy’s recordings through their judicious use of broad textures and occasional rubato forays in the improvisations. Overall, the quartet succeeds in the seemingly contrary goals in articulating what has been, to date, scantily interpreted repertoire: They establish bona fides by demonstrating how the various facets of a composer’s sensibility fit together; and they take notable risks in going off-road. The Ideal Bread lays down a serious marker for the posthumous evolution of Steve Lacy’s music.”

-Bill Shoemaker

 

Bagatellen.com, July 2008

    Sinton states in the liners how Ideal Bread intend to do for Lacy what Lacy did for Monk’s music in the early ‘60s; namely, work with the tunes to show the possibilities that lay beyond their basic structures. Here, they’re using tunes mostly from the mid- to late-70s as springboards, including cuts from Trickles (Black Saint, 1976) and the underrated NY Capers & Quirks (Hat Hut, 1981). The earliest piece here is “Esteem,” first recorded in 1972 on The Gap (America), which its composer dedicated to Johnny Hodges. Whereas the original was a poem of piercing tones, Ideal Bread moves the piece into an elegiac melody of orchestral weight – massive in unison yet microcosmic from bar to bar.

    Radding takes the first solo spot into a mini-concerto, his arco thick and trailed by throaty whispers of horsehairs and Fujiwara’s mallets. Sinton’s baritone is smoke and slippery cadences, building into growls and slurs but harping on delicacy of digits. Likewise, Knuffke’s stately pathos tells one more about “Esteem” in a few held half-valves than most trumpeters could in a lifetime. Sinton and Knuffke make an interesting front-line pair, hard-charging baritone panning sound while the trumpeter’s self-assured assimilation of the postbop language into free playing is extraordinarily fresh and gimmick-free.

    “Bud’s Brother” was written for Richie Powell, like all of Lacy’s tunes having a curious dedicatee whose connection to the theme might seem spurious. After all, one of the most raucous lines on The Gap, “La Motte Piquet,” was appended with the composer’s statement that “Sonny Clark always liked this sort of tune.” Uh huh. The head of “Bud’s Brother” is a deft trip of ascending and descending flicks, singsong and blur. Sinton takes the first solo, worrying thematic fragments and toying with them like a dog shaking a stuffed toy as Radding and Fujiwara skip the tempo like stones. Soon, a baritone pyramid is built and the trio is far from anything Lacy could’ve imagined. Knuffke is steely cry, working threads over a massive ensemble drone until he and Fujiwara take the reins as a duo, brassy particulates assembled in clear lines atop a blur of gong-and-tom motion.

    The only unfortunate thing about The Ideal Bread is the fact that it is a limited edition CDR release, and will probably be long gone by the time the jazz world catches up. It’s a shame because not only is the playing extraordinary, but the germinating ideas and the conviction with which the group approaches them is something that a lot of people in this music could learn from.”

 

WIRE, June 2008 (#292)

“Repertory was like religion for Steve Lacy, who performed Thelonious Monk’s music obsessively for over four decades. For all his eccentricities, the late saxophonist never obscured the tunes themselves, inviting the listener to savour their innate weirdness. On their absorbing debut, Ideal Bread, a Brooklyn quartet lead by baritonist Josh Sinton and devoted exclusively to Lacy’s music, offer a similarly lucid approach to the source material.

Some other gambits, such as precipitous drop into pointillist Improv on “Capers”, feel contrived. But overall the disc functions both as an exacting yet refreshingly unfussy homage to Lacy’s work and a snapshot of four versatile, highly sympathetic improvisors in their prime.”

-Hank Shteamer

 

Cadence Magazine, July/August/September 2008

“Moving to instrumental matters. To call the quartet Ideal Bread a Steve Lacy cover band is at once to define them precisely but also to minimize what they do. Yes, all the compositions here are by Lacy, and baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton and crew are faithful to their essence, and yet their are no slavish imitations or perfunctory head statements with solos. Rather Ideal Bread probes the innards of the pieces, elaborating them in expansive, at times, surprising treatments. The opening “Trickles” certainly can serve as a fruitful jamming vehicle. After all, that’s how Lacy with Roswell Rudd treated it. Instead Ideal Bread concentrates on teasing out the textures and angles as an ensemble. Sinton has assembled a crew of sympathetic souls. The frontline is oddly, probably coincidentally, a mirror of the Rudd and Lacy band with its low reed and high brass instead of high reed and low brass. Sinton is a daring instrumentalist, pushing his horn to its limits. At the top of his range, he possesses an alto-like purity; in the middle the bite of a tenor, and low down he can growl ferociously. Knuffke in contrast plays more subtle colors, full of breathy smears of sound, and vocal half-valved mutterings. He uses his resources to full effect on “Kitty Malone.”

    Bassist Reuben Radding, a profound and accomplished composer in his own right, is ideally suited to his role, laying down fat, intelligent lines and contributing to the sonic palette of little and off-beat sounds. His arco solo on “Esteem” is magnificent, but just as fine is the way the hum of his bowing sets and maintains the tune’s somber tone. Drummer Tomas Fujiwara weaves through the ensemble, his malleted figures tumbling and rumbling underneath. He’s equally effective setting a groove or adding splashes of free-time color. One “Capers,” he’s called upon to shift from time to no-time. His open and joyous swing beat leads the band through the upbeat “The Uh Uh Uh” that brings the session to a joyous close.”

-David Dupont

 

 

Citizen Jazz, June 2008.

“Objet bizarre et d’une facture toute artisanale, The Ideal Bread est le premier album d’une formation entièrement dédiée à la reprise de compositions de Steve Lacy. Tous les morceaux de l’album N.Y. Capers and Quirks y sont repris, plus quelques autres que l’on retrouve essentiellement en enregistrements live. Le soprano fait ici place à un baryton joué par l’initiateur du projet, Josh Sinton, disciple du maître.

Sur le feuillet qui sert de livret, un dialogue pour le moins offensif entre Sinton et un personnage indéterminé qui lui reproche de « piller » Lacy. Dans le débat « musique improvisée contre musique de répertoire » qui traverse le monde jazz depuis des décennies, Josh Sinton publie cet album comme un manifeste. Il revendique le droit de jouer « straight » les œuvres d’un des maîtres du « free », tout en assignant à l’improvisation une place donnée, dans la vieille tradition du jazz : thème, chorus, reprise du thème.

On se demande si les convictions artistiques de Sinton avaient besoin de ce discours imprimé : son disque parle de lui-même. Entouré d’instrumentistes de qualité dont le dévouement à la « cause » ne fait pas le moindre doute, il produit une musique dense et cohérente. Il y a dans le jeu du quartet un engagement et une sincérité palpables. Le passage du soprano au baryton enlève à la musique de Steve Lacy un peu de son acidité caractéristique et produit une sonorité plus ronde, moins anguleuse, avec une tessiture très ample aussi car Josh Sinton explore abondamment les aigus de son baryton. Le résultat est finalement plus proche, par le son, d’Old and New Dreams que des trios et quartets de Lacy. C’est en particulier le cas d’« Esteem », de « We Don’t » ou de « The Uh Uh Uh ». La trompette de Kirk Kuffke, souvent utilisée à l’octave avec le baryton, n’y est sans doute pas étrangère.

Les passages improvisés, même si leur place est balisée, sont aventureux : en témoignent le jeu collectif de « Capers » ou le bruitisme introverti, plein de silences et de sons étouffés, du doux-amer « Kitty Malone ». On note également de beaux dialogues entre la batterie et la contrebasse, en particulier sur « We Don’t ».

Polémique mise à part, c’est un album intéressant et d’un abord moins difficile – pour une oreille non avertie - que son illustre modèle. Peut-être une bonne introduction à Steve Lacy ; on peut en revanche se demander si ses inconditionnels y retrouveront leurs petits. Le parallèle fait par Sinton entre son propre travail et celui de Steve Lacy autour des compositions de Monk a ses limites : là ou Lacy tirait Monk vers l’extrême hardiesse, on a le sentiment qu’Ideal Bread ramène Lacy vers une certaine « normalité ». Il arrive qu’une interprétation en dise plus long sur son époque qu’une création originale !

Une dernière chose : le label KMB Jazz publie ses albums en quantité limitée et en tirages numérotés (nous avons entre les mains le n°71 sur 250). Vous le trouverez cependant assez aisément sur l’Internet.”

-Diane Gastellu

 

 

 

freejazz-stef.blogspot.com, June 2008

“Because of the recent Kirk Knuffke CD on Clean Feed, I checked for other recordings with the trumpet-player and I came across "Ideal Bread", a band created by Josh Sinton, who plays baritone sax, and further consisting of Reuben Radding on bass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. Originally the band wanted to bring a tribute to Steve Lacy's trio recording "NY Capers & Quirks", recorded in 1979 and partly re-issued on Hat Hut records. What Ideal Bread does with Lacy's CD is more than just bringing an updated version of his music. I am not that familiar with the original material, but what they do here could stand on its own. The themes are of course the same as on the original Lacy release, but what they do with the music is really their own, moving it far into free territory, while often maintaing the structural anchor points of the pieces. Sinton's baritone sounds excellent, full of passion and depth, and his idea to add Knuffke's trumpet is a great one, not only because it relieves some of the burden to emulate on his own the power of Lacy's playing, which is not the point of this tribute, it's about the music, but it also adds variation and contrast to the overall sound. And that sound is also very coherent in the various tracks, because of its creative approach to the material, and its wonderful fusion of bop with free jazz and real avant-garde, presented in all its logical continuity, switching styles without changing mood or without losing focus. I hope we will hear more of this band in the future. Recommended.”

- Stef

 

Downtown Music Gallery, March 2008

“Ideal Bread is a local quartet featuring Josh Sinton on baritone sax, Kirk Knuffle on trumpet, Reuben Radding on contrabass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. "Ideal Bread" is also a tribute to the late saxist and composer Steve Lacy, with all eight pieces penned by Mr. Lacy. Since Steve Lacy only played the soprano sax for the length of his 50+ year career, it is unusual to hear these pieces played on the baritone sax, from the other end of the sax's range/spectrum. "Trickles" opens and is the title piece from an old Black Saint Lacy Qt disc with Roswell Rudd on trombone. This piece is a bit tricky and is played at a relaxed pace with the bari sax playing some soft blusters of notes while the bass and drums play skeletally around him, the bass taking a long, calm solo during the second half, building into a powerful quartet conclusion. "Esteem" is again a title track from a rare Lacy album recorded in 1975 with his quintet and recently reissued on Atavistic. It is a most haunting work, with soft, dark harmonies for the dreamy bari sax, cautious trumpet, bowed bass and spacious mallets on the drums. I dig the way that Mr. Sinton stretches out his notes carefully on his bari sax, often playing with a hushed elegance. Reuben Radding's superb bowed bass is a perfect partner for both Josh's austere bari and Kirk's contemplative trumpet. "Capers" is yet another fine title piece from an out-of-print Lacy disc on Hat. The main theme has that Monkish oddball melody yet the quartet move into some strange free section in the middle with some ghosts floating in here and there. I am not sure where "Bud's Brother" is from, but it is a unique song with an odd structure. The sax and trumpet plays a series of quick, twisted lines together while the rhythm team plays tightly around them. When the bari sax finally gets a chance to erupt, the rhythm team spins faster and faster underneath. "Quirks" is another album title with an appropriately quirky structure. The theme is fractured and memorable while the mid-section if fast and furiously charged. "Kitty Malone" is a stunning yet calm work that goes back and forth between different dynamic sections. "The Uh Uh Uh" is taken from the 'Esteem' album and was originally dedicated to Jimi Hendrix. Trumpeter Kirk Knuffle takes a great, high-flying solo here while the rhythm section constantly shifts gears underneath. Considering the Steve Lacy is more known as a unique stylist on his soprano sax than as a composer, this CD presents eight of his compositions, all quite different and all challenging. A brilliant idea and very well done”.

- Bruce Lee Gallanter

 

All About Jazz NY, June 2008

- Ivana Ng