BST 84354

Jeremy Steig - Wayfaring Stranger

Released - 1971

Recording and Session Information

A&R Studios, NYC, February 11, 1970
Jeremy Steig, flute; Sam Brown, guitar #6; Eddie Gomez, bass; Don Alias, drums, percussion #3-6.

All Is One
Space
Waves
In The Beginning
Mint Tea
Wayfaring Stranger

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
In the Beginning	Jeremy Steig	February 11 1970
Mint Tea	Jeremy Steig	February 11 1970
Wayfaring Stranger	Traditional	February 11 1970
Side Two
Waves	Jeremy Steig, Eddie Gómez	February 11 1970
All Is One	Jeremy Steig, Eddie Gómez	February 11 1970
Space	Jeremy Steig, Eddie Gómez	February 11 1970

Liner Notes

When I first met Jeremy Steig at the High School of Music and Art, I suspected that I had come upon a unique, if not curious, sort of individual. Unlike many of our contemporaries, he seemed at ease in school dressed pretty much the way his whims dictated, managed tremendous creative energy and above all, was a nice guy. I suspect too,, that even then (as I'm sure there are today) there were many who thought Jeremy overly relaxed, capricious, chaotic, and maybe even conceited. Yet in spite of how one might have felt, it would boon impossible to react passively toward Jeremy, or even deny that he had made lasting impression. At any rate, my first impressions of Jeremy, if anything, tended to underestimate his great talent, for even then he was fantastic flutist.

In the last few years Jeremy and I have grown considerably closer as friends, as well as musical companions. And though I've had tremendous respect for his playing and his music ever since high school, it is more recently that I've come to fully appreciate the depth of his work. He has become a master artist on his instrument. I've heard him state a melody poetically, softly and gracefully, then quickly swirl into a tune with cosmic-like energy. He's capable of playing along spontaneously with practically any musician, or for that matter, any music.

Jeremy Steig has managed to consolidate all the roots he grew up with in his native Greenwich Village into a musical language that communicates passionately on many levels. I might add, there are numerous examples of Jeremy's abilities within this very record.

This recording is particularly noteworthy for several reasons. Not only is Jeremy in outstanding form, but there are also moments in which the Interplay between the rhythm section and flute is breathtakingly beautiful. I think too, that throughout most of the album there's a real feeling of respect, love, and sympathy for each other's musical feelings. Also, Jeremy managed to scheme and program the music, so as to lead the listener on a sort of cryptic venture. Indeed Jeremy is in complete command of what I think he wants to say in this recording.

I think it also important to mention how great it was to play with guitarist Sam Brown and percussionist Don Alias. Sam can handle any musical situation. He has been one of my favorite guitarists since I first heard him play in 1961. He is heard only on Wayfaring Stranger, yet there are many lyrical moments of his that to me are very special. As for Don Alias, we had never really played together before these sessions. I don't hesitate to admit that fact, because 1 feel confident that the music conveys an immediate response to each other's moods. He was a joy throughout.

There are many moments I've shared with Jeremy since I met him at Music and Art and somehow, I suspect, there wilt be many more to come.

Eddie Gomez

Dusty Groove CD Reissue Liner Notes

Flutist Jeremy Steig was in born in September 1942, the son of famed illustrator William Steig, known for his cartoons in the New Yorker (including over 100 cover illustrations) and for creating the character Shrek, which became an incredibly successful film in 2001.

Growing up on the streets of Greenwich Village in New York City, Jeremy Steig got his start performing with the likes of pianist Bill Evans (who played on Miles Davis' seminal Kind of Blue album) - and as the 1960s moved into progressive jazz, so did Steig, hooking up with bassist Eddie Gomez (another Bill Evans sideman, as well as the bassist on the wonderful Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert, recorded in 1968 for Verve Records) and keyboardist Jan Hammer (later of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow band). Reissued and repackaged several times through the decades, Steig's early solo work with these musicians is well worth seeking out for those who enjoy the work of fellow flute travellers Roland Kirk and Herbie Mann. Although to be clear, those two were not Steig's influences; he counts Belgium flutist Bobby Jaspar as his favorite, whom devoted record collectors will remember as the husband of jazz singer Blossom Dearie. In 1994, the Beastie Boys sampled a bit of early Steig for their single "Sure Shot."

Never one to be pinned down to just one genre, under the name Jeremy & the Satyrs, Steig and company recorded an album for Reprise Records in 1968 that blended his jazz influences with the psychedelic and blues rock that was prevalent at the time. The band included Gomez on bass, keyboardist Warren Bernhardt (who later turned up on Don McLean's American Pie album, but not on the title track) and singer-guitarist Adrian Guillary. During this era, Jeremy & the Satyrs performed at the Bitter End in New York City, sharing the bill with a (fairly unknown at that time) Neil Diamond. Not long after, another band achieved popular success blending a flute player with blues, rock and jazz influences and a vocalist in a similar fashion — they called themselves Jethro Tull!

During the '60s, Steig was signed to a manager who tended to trade him around to record companies like a major league ball player, so he eventually found himself on Blue Note Records in 1970. By this point, Steig was uniquely combining traditional folk, bits of rock, and plenty of jazz, both traditional and free style. As a youngster, Steig listened to John Jacob Niles on 78 RPM record; who had written "Wayfaring Stranger," which led to Steig recording his own version, making it the title track of his one and only Blue Note LP. Once again, long time Steig cohort Eddie Gomez was or bass, along with Sam Brown on guitar and Don Alias on drums. Brown also played on the 1972 Gene Harris of the Three Sounds Blue Note LP (reissued on CD by Real Gone Music concurrently with this Steig LP). Don Alias was a monster percussionist, who had played on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Nina Simone's To Love Somebody and later appeared on several Joni Mitchell and Weather Report albums, Steig recently told me in an email from Japan, where he currently resides, "Don was famous for his congas, but he was also a great drum kit player.'

When I asked Steig to reflect on his oeuvre in terms of its impressive cross-pollination of musical genres, as represented on the Wayfaring Stranger album, he hesitantly replied,

"When I play I close my eyes and listen to the people I'm playing with. In the act of improvisation there is no time to think that I'm going to borrow from this and that type of music. I think that's the biggest fault of new young musicians. Too much thinking and not enough feeling. If we were talking about a written composition I might have had the time to think about combining styles as you suggested in your question. Live improvisation, however, is about responding to the people you're playing with and leaves no time for contemplation. While it may be your job to listen again to what I did in that moment and that moment alone and write about it, to me, it was just a moment in my life, and whatever anybody says about it is their business, and not mine. I really don't have any control over it and that's OK. When a person goes to a museum and looks at a painting he forms his or her own impression. It's never what the artist was thinking about. "

After all these years, Jeremy Steig is still performing and as mentioned earlier, is now based in Japan, those interested in hearing his current music, can enjoy it at: www.jeremysteig.info/theater-e.html

Pat Thomas
Roskilde, Denmark
October 2012