By the late 1970s, Lacy described his music as “poly-free”-- a mixture of elements from the 1950s and 60s, structured and abstract. Of this somewhat bipolar approach, Lacy noted, “There are two different kinds of jazz: offensive and defensive. If they are well played, they are both 'on the brink', due to the spontaneous nature and individual character of this music.”

From the late 1960s, Lacy was heavily involved in composition, including song cycles for voice and quintet, quintet and tape, and sonic settings for poetry and dance. His wife Irene Aebi was his frequent collaborator, typically providing the vocalized poetry or other text to accompany instrumental composition. In addition to the MacArthur grant, the French government's Ministry of Culture appointed him Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1989 and Commander in 2002. After spending over thirty years in Europe, and seeking new inspiration, he returned to the US, where he taught at the New England Conservatory of Music. He was most recently seen in the Twin Cities last fall at the All About Jazz.)

Steve Lacy made the soprano saxophone a legitimate force in modern jazz, inspiring John Coltrane’s interest in the instrument. Lee Jeske described Lacy’s playing as “interspersed with growls and short stop-time phrases which sound like dialogue in a Beckett play…once in a while Lacy will hold a high, shrill squeak until it dissipates in the air.”

We don't determine music,
The music determines us;
We only follow it
To the end of our life:
Then it goes on without us.

---Steve Lacy, Saxovision

Unless otherwise noted, Lacy quotes from Steve Lacy's Findings: My Experience With the Soprano Saxophone, CMAP Paris, 1994. Jeske quote from Jazz: The Rough Guide (1995, first ed., Carr, Fairweather & Priestley).