Following on from an incredible batch of LPs in 2021, reissuing crucial artifacts from the seminal free jazz imprint, Ictus Records, the Holidays / Ictus collaboration continues with two more reissues from the label's catalog, Andrea Centazzo’s 1978 LP, “U.S.A. Concerts”, and 1979's "The Bay", by The Rova Saxophone Quartet with Andrea Centazzo, as well as two incredible LPs from their archives - “The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2” - capturing the seminal saxophonist, Steve Lacy, in concert in 1976.

Since their founding during the early years of the new millennium, the Italian imprint, Holidays Records, has stood at the vanguard of forward-thinking sound, building a carefully curated catalog of releases that collectively build context and conversation across numerous avenues of exploration - contemporary and historical sitting side by side - within the wider field of experimental and improvised music. Every step of the way, they’ve seemed to step up the game. Back in 2021, Holidays joined forces with the legendary free jazz imprint, Ictus Records, founded by the percussionist and composer, Andrea Centazzo in 1976, and reissued four of the label’s most celebrated releases, Steve Lacy and Andrea Centazzo’s “Clangs”, Derek Bailey and Andrea Centazzo’s “Drops”, Steve Lacy, Andrea Centazzo, and Kent Carter’s “Trio Live”, and John Zorn, Andrea Centazzo, Eugene Chadbourne, Tom Cora, Toshinori Kondo, and Polly Bradfield’s “Environment for Sextet”. We’ve been waiting on bated breath to see what comes next, and now finally they’re back with another batch of four incredible LPs from Ictus, Andrea Centazzo’s “U.S.A. Concerts”, originally issued in 1978, The Rova Saxophone Quartet’s “The Bay”, originally issued in 1978, and two LPs of material by Steve Lacy drawn from the label’s archives. They stand among the most important and sinfully overlooked documents of the movement of global improvisation that unfurled during the 1970s.

The Italian imprint, Ictus, was founded in 1976 by percussionist and composer, Andrea Centazzo, and his wife Carla Lugli. Running for just under a decade, until relaunching during the mid-2000s, the label produced a couple of dozen highly celebrated releases, the majority of which loosely fall under the banner of free jazz. Holidays Records and Ictus’ second batch of releases from the label’s historic archives logically begins with Andrea Centazzo’s “U.S.A. Concerts”, originally issued in 1978 and out of print on vinyl for the majority of the time since.

“U.S.A. Concerts” draws on the same rough period when Centazzo was working in the United States as “Environment for Sextet”, which was reissued in the previous Holidays / Ictus batch, and features many of the same players - Polly Bradfield on violin, Eugene Chadbourne on guitar, Tom Cora on cello, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet, and John Zorn on saxophone - in different configurations. In fact, the first, second, and seventh tracks - “Sextet Improvisation”, “Duet Improvisation # 1”, “Duet Improvisation # 4” - were all recorded on the same day at the same location - WKCR Radio in New York on November 7, 1978 - as the aforementioned album.

Beginning with the brilliant textural and tonal explorations of the full ensemble encountered in “Sextet Improvisation”, the album quickly moves toward quieter and more restrained investigations of roughly similar ground, moving through a series of duo improvisations between the percussionist and Eugene Chadbourne, Tom Cora, and the under-celebrated saxophonist, Jack Wright, whose howling horn is transformed to otherworldly effect by the reverberance of the space within which he works.

From here Centazzo embraces the trio form with an improvisation with two more under-celebrated figures from the American scene - Davey Williams playing guitar and banjo, and LaDonna Smith on violin, viola, and voice - capturing a performance in Jackson, Mississippi on November 19, 1978, during which the three fire responsive statements that hang like barbs in the spacious air, before concluding the LP with a brilliant suite of duos with Toshinori Kondo, Williams, and Smith.

Offering incredible insight into Centazzo’s unique sensibility, as well as into the work of a new generation of stunning improvisers as they emerged at the tail end of the 70s, before going on to help define the 80s free jazz sound, “U.S.A. Concerts” is a crucial artefact of free music at the juncture; fire on the boundaries of outright noise. An endlessly surprising journey shifting between airy open passages that feature striking combinations of players, it’s sure to knock the socks off more than a few well-seasoned fans.

On the same trip to the United States that produced “U.S.A. Concerts” and “Environment for Sextet”, Andrea Centazzo also connected with the San Francisco-based Rova Saxophone Quartet, formed the previous year by Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt and Bruce Ackley (all playing various saxophones). While not as well-known now as they once were, over the last 40+ years the ensemble has produced dozens of albums and collaborated with diverse figures like Anthony Braxton, Alvin Curran, Terry Riley, and Henry Kaiser. The first of those collaborations captured on tape was "The Bay", recorded in California during December of 1978.

In Centazzo’s own words: “At the end of the 1970s this group (R.O.V.A.) of four saxophone players appeared on the scene of improvised and jazz music, bringing with them a gust of fresh air in their unusual approach to themes, technical dexterity and daring choices of language contamination”. Launching in with the almost symphonic piece, “Trobar Clus”, which takes up the majority of the first side and deploys complex clusters of tones and rhythms to startling effect, the album progresses through a series of pieces that follow Centazzo’s disposition toward working across diverse arrangements of players, breaking down into trios, duos, and full ensemble works, each composed by the quartet, Centazzo, or in collaboration between the two.

Utilizing compositional structures that allow broad spaces for improvisation, while highlighting each player’s highly individual skill set within various ensembles, trios, duets and solos, “The Bay” is a stunning piece of much neglected creativity, riding the American and Italian scenes, from the mid to late 1970s, as well as drawing the ear back toward the origins of The Rova Saxophone Quartet.

The final two LPs in the latest Holidays / Ictus batch, “The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2”, both draw on the same period that the veteran saxophonist produced “Clangs” and “Trio Live”, both recorded in 1976 during two weeks that he was touring Italy with Andrea Centazzo, released in 1976 and 77 respectively, and reissued in 2021’s batch. Gathering four sides of material, issued as two individual LPs, we are offered an incredible insight into that moment’s striking collaborations with Centazzo and the bassist Kent Carter, forming in duo and trio configurations.

“The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2” encounter Lacy - one of the giants of American free jazz - already 2 decades into a career defined by brilliant collaborations with Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, and Thelonious Monk, among others, as well as a sprawling body of visionary work as a leader. Like so much of his work leading into this period, it draws upon the saxophonist’s belief that an artist should ‘play what you feel’, a position that Centazzo - roughly 15 years Lacy’s junior - recalls as having torn down the curtain that separated his technique from his creativity.

The first volume of Steve Lacy pieces from the Ictus Archives features five pieces: “Figment”, “Coastline”, “Swab”, “Hooky”, and “The Duck”, encountering the saxophonist playing solo live renditions of some of his classic pieces from the period (“Coastline” appeared on his seminal FMP LP “Stabs / Solo In Berlin”) and in two duos with Andrea Centazzo, one of which, “The Duck”, was previously issued as a solo piece (also on “Stabs / Solo In Berlin”) and now emerges in this new form. The recordings featured across the album’s two sides were captured on February 18th 1976 in a concert in Udine, Italy and have never before been issued in such a focused form.

Across both LPs - “The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2” - the lyricism of Lacy’s playing sets them apart from the more brittle and textural temperance featured throughout much of the label’s output. While this is especially noteworthy within the three solo gestures encountered on the first volume and the three on the second - “Name”, “The Way”, and “Bone”, recorded on December 5th, 1976, in Udine, Italy - the two duos with Centazzo on the first, and the trio (“Feline”) on the second, similarly stand distinct, with each player issuing rapid fire interventions within an airy sense of space.

Viewed collectively or as individual gestures, Steve Lacy’s “The Ictus Archives Vol. 1” and “The Ictus Archives Vol. 2” represent crucial artefacts of the seminal saxophonist at the height of his career, never before encountered in these full concert formations, and thus pushing the historical importance of the Holidays / Ictus collaboration to the next level.