Steve Lacy (July 23, 1934 - June 4, 2004), born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York, was an innovative jazz soprano saxophonist. Lacy was interested in all the arts: the visual arts and poetry in particular became important sources for him (he frequently made musical settings of his favourite writers: Robert Creeley, Tom Raworth, Brion Gysin and other Beat writers, haiku, Herman Melville...). He also collaborated with a truly extraordinary range of musicians, from traditional jazz to the avant-garde to contemporary classical music.