About a year after recording his debut Soprano Sax, Lacy went back into the studio to record his followup. This session was to be a little different. He kept bassist Buell Neidlinger, but added two musicians: pianist Mal Waldron and drummer Elvin Jones.
At the time, neither was as famous as they’d become. Jones was a few years away from joining John Coltrane’s group and was mostly known for his work with Sonny Rollins. Waldron, meanwhile, had been working as Billie Holiday’s accompanist and as the house pianist for Prestige Records. Still, it was an inspired choice to have them record with Lacy and would be the start of a working relationship between Lacy and Waldron that’d last until the pianist died in 2002.
Reflections was also the start of a long association between Lacy and the music of Thelonious Monk. He played one of Monk’s tunes on his debut, but this was something different: a whole session dedicated to the pianist’s themes. It’s an idea that has been done hundreds of times now, but in 1959 nobody had done this before. According to the liners, some of these songs had never even been recorded by anyone other than Monk! It’s hard now to think about how this must’ve been recieved by Prestige Records. Maybe that’s why it came out on their New Jazz sub label?
Reflections opens with “Four In One.” Lacy kicks the record off with a blast of energy, tearing into the theme while Waldron holds down the melody and the rhythm section pushes the music forward. The tempo shifts slightly as Lacy moves into his solo, with Jones riding his cymbals between occasional snare rolls. Lacy takes his horn into the higher range, playing quick little figures. After a bit, he moves out of the way for Waldron to solo. His playing echoes the quick angular phrases you associate with Monk, but never feels like he’s trying to copy his playing as it unfolds into a nice, almost fluid solo. By the time the song ends, we’re just six minutes into the record and it’s already more exciting than anything from Soprano Sax.
The title track is a slower ballad and a chance for Lacy to stretch out, playing long notes on his horn. He gets a nice, sweet sound, and Waldron’s playing is just soft enough to carry the melody but not overpower him. The same goes for Jones, who keeps things restrained. There’s an interesting moment where Lacy finds a lick he must’ve liked: he plays the same pattern a few times, then with a flourish plays it again with a few extra notes at the end, like it’s the variation of a theme. Waldron gets a solo too, although it’s rather short.
“Hanging In” opens with Waldron taking short stabs at his piano before Lacy and the band kick in with the theme. His off-centre, almost swaggering chords give this one a weird, almost off-kilter feeling where you think the piano is slightly behind the beat. But it all works, especially when Lacy takes off for his solo: at times, one can hear traces of his Dixieland past, but at others he leans into Monk’s tune. It’s a good performance.
Side one ends with “Bye-Ya,” a bouncy Monk number that would quickly become a standard (and one of my favourites of his) but wasn’t widely known at the time. Here the chemistry between Lacy and Waldron is at its most apparent: in the theme they play off each other and almost finish each other’s thoughts (compare it to Don Pullen and Jane Bunnett playing the same song with similar instrumentation - there it’s like Pullen is guiding Bunnett along). It’s a short, hard swinging performance. A total gem, I think.
“Let's Call This” opens the second half of Reflections with one of Monk’s trickier pieces. Here the theme seems like it’s being played on the upswing, a quick rising succession of notes. But the band moves through it with ease and Lacy takes the first solo, playing quick bursts around the higher register of his horn. At times, he practically squeaks. But throughout, he plays with a lot of energy and his enthusiasm comes through in his performance. There’s a bit where Neidlinger takes a bit of a solo, then Waldron comes in with a slower solo where he moves around the melody with ease. It’s another standout performance.
“Ask Me Now” works best as a showcase for Waldron. Lacy does get some playing in before the focus moves to the piano chair, but it’s Waldron who shines here with a slow, deliberate solo where he plays like the spotlight is fixed on him. He pauses between phrases, then will take a bit of a run. It’s tasteful and enjoyable playing. Those who might think of him as more of an outside player might want to listen to him here.
Finally, the record closes off with “Skippy.” The pace is almost electric here, with the band going at full tilt. Lacy rips into a theme that sounds like someone going up and down a flight of stairs before launching into an intense solo. He rips off licks while Waldron pushes him along with quick bursts of piano. When it’s his turn to play, it’s as if he can’t get his ideas across quickly enough, moving from phrase to phrase.
Overall, Reflections is a marked improvement from Lacy’s debut. It feels more assured of itself, played with more energy and excitement. It’s as if the training wheels came off and the engineer just decided to roll tape - although I admit I don’t know exactly how the session went. But most of all, one hears the way Lacy and Waldron click on this record. Before long, Jones would be playing in one of the most accomplished jazz groups of all time and Neidlinger would be playing classical. But for the next few decades, Lacy and Waldron would appear on each other’s records.
According to Monk biographer Robin Kelley, Lacy hand delivered a copy of this record to Monk. He must have liked it, since Lacy became part of Monk’s band, playing in a five piece alongside Charlie Rouse. There’s even a tape of this lineup playing in Philadelphia in 1960 (sadly, Riverside never recorded this lineup in the studio). But it was short lived and before long, Lacy was back to his solo career.