Jeremy Steig obit

Jeremy Steig, Flutist Who Bridged Jazz and Rock, Dies at 73

 He was not on the list.

Jeremy was born in Greenwich Village, New York in 1942. His mother, Liza Mead, was an art teacher and oil painter. His father William Steig was a cartoonist, who illustrated for The New Yorker, and later wrote the children’s picture book “Shrek”.

 

BiographyBiography

When Jeremy was two years old, his parents divorced. He then lived with his mother and his sister on Charles Street in the West Village. His childhood was influenced by his aunt, Margaret Mead, a cultural anthropologist, his grandfather Joseph Steig, who painted in oil as a hobby (both of whom lived nearby), and his father William, who was devoted to the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.

 

Biography

Music Lessons

At six, Jeremy began playing the recorder as part of his music lessons. When he turned eleven, at his mother’s suggestion, he began his flute lessons with Paige Brook of the New York Philharmonic. Around this time, he attended a music camp in Indian Hill, where he heard live jazz for the first time. It was a performance by a band of senior students (Chuck Israels, Perry Robinson, Jon Mayer, and Arnie Wise).

Music Lessons

High School and Gigging

At High School of Music and Art (now LaGuardia High School of Music and Art & Performing Arts), jazz was not taught, but there, Jeremy met other students who later became a jazz musician, such as Larry Willis and Eddie Gomez. Jeremy asked his mom to take him to the legendary Five Spot club. After hearing Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane perform, he decided to become a jazz musician. At the age of 16, he started gigging in the neighborhood. Bobby Jaspar, who was also a Villager, was a good friend and mentor.

In 1962, while visiting Bermuda with his amateur band, Jeremy was involved in a motorbike accident that left him paralyzed on the left side of his face. He also lost his left hearing, but devised his own mouthpiece and continued to play the flute.

High School and GiggingHigh School and Gigging

Flute Fever and the 1960s

John Hammond offered to record him, which led to the release of his first leader album, “Flute Fever” (Columbia) in 1964. He then briefly worked with Paul Winter’s band. Around this time, Jeremy was also active in anti-Vietnam War concerts, and frequently played on “Radio Unnameable” by DJ Bob Fass at WBAI Radio.

Flute Fever and the 1960s

During a gig with Junior Wells, Jimi Hendrix sat in. Jeremy and Jimi got on and jammed at the Gaslight on MacDougal Street and other venues.

In 1967, he formed the pioneering jazz-rock band Jeremy & The Satyrs, and played at the Fillmore in SF. In New York, he sat in with the Bill Evans Trio at the Village Gate. In 1969, Bill invited Jeremy to record with his trio on “What’s New” (Verve).

Flute Fever and the 1960s

Jazz Rock (Fusion)

In the 1970s, he released many albums, including “Energy” (Capitol) and “Temple of Birth” (Columbia). In 1972, he joined Art Blakey’s band in the Munich Olympics. He often performed in Europe, including tours with Eddie Gomez and Joe Chambers, and concerts with European musicians in jazz festivals.

Jazz Rock (Fusion)

Another Accident, Jazz in Decline

Just before turning 40, Jeremy was riding his bicycle near his home when he was hit by a cab that ran a red light and broke his neck. It took him six months to recover, and he disappeared from the scene.

With the advent of the rock and pop era, jazz music went into decline.

Homebound at his West Village apartment, Jeremy worked on the “flute band” project, overdubbing his original flute music.

For sheet music, visit https://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/www.jeremysteig.info

In the late 1990s, he accompanied Eddie Gomez’s trio on a tour of Japan as a featured artist. In 1998, he met Asako, when he bought a fountain pen at a department store in Morioka, Japan.

From New York to Yokohama

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York in 2001, Jeremy’s phone was dead for 3 months. With ashes falling from the sky, he kept the windows tightly closed. He composed “People Dust”, which he later recorded on his quartet album.

Married Asako in New York in 2003.

In 2004, he started playing with his own band for the first time in about 20 years. He performed monthly at the Cornelia Street Cafe in the West Village and played with Vic Juris at the Yokohama Jazz Promenade in Japan.

In 2007, he compiled the fruits of years of home-recording since the 1990s into the solo album “Pterodactyl”,

In 2010, Jeremy and Asako moved to Yokohama, and began making videos of original short stories with soundtracks of flute music. Jeremy drew the characters on paper, which were then cut out to be placed in a miniature setting. Each scene was photographed to make a ten-minute video. (9 stories in total)

Semi-autobiographical “Jammy”

Rap together with the heroine in “Hananuruko”

In 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. Jeremy and Asako visited the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima City, where her parents were from.

This led to the creation of “Where’s Julian?”

From 2014, Jeremy played regularly in Tokyo. The year-end concert in 2015 was his last performance.

On April 13, 2016, Jeremy Steig died of cancer in Yokohama, Japan.

Discography

As leader

1963: Flute Fever (Columbia) Quartet with Denny Zeitlin

1968: Jeremy & The Satyrs (Reprise)

1969: What’s New (Verve) with Bill Evans Trio

1969: This Is Jeremy Steig (Solid State)

1970: Legwork (Solid State)

1970: Wayfaring Stranger (Blue Note)

1970: Energy (Capitol)

1971: An Open Heart - Warriors Of The Rainbow (Akashic Records) with Fantazzi & Friends; a limited edition-private pressing release.

1974: Monium (Columbia) with Eddie Gómez

1975: Temple of Birth (Columbia) with Richard Beirach and Johnny Winter

1976: Leaving (Trio [Japan] Records; reissued on Storyville in 1988) with Richard Beirach

1976: Outlaws [live] (Enja) with Eddie Gómez

1977: Firefly (CTI)

1978: Lend Me Your Ears (Creative Music Productions/CMP) with Eddie Gómez and Joe Chambers

1979: Music for Flute & Double-Bass (CMP) with Eddie Gómez

1980: Rain Forest (CMP) with Eddie Gómez

1992: Jigsaw (Triloka)

2002: What's New at F (Tokuma [Japan] Records) with Eddie Gómez Quartet

2003: Jam (Steig-Gomez Records) with Eddie Gómez

2004: Improvised (Moonbeams Records)

2005: Flute On The Edge (Steig Music Company)

2007: Pterodactyl (Steig Music Company)

2021: Liberty (Steig Music Company)

Compilations and other appearances

1969: Jazz Wave, Ltd. - On Tour [live] (Blue Note) 2LP set; various artists

1971: Portrait (United Artists) 2LP compilation of the albums: This Is Jeremy Steig, Legwork and Wayfaring Stranger.

1972: Fusion (Groove Merchant) 2LP set; reissue of Energy, with a second album (=7 tracks) of previously unreleased material.

1973: Mama Kuku [live] (MPS/BASF Records) with Association P.C.

1974: Flute Summit - Jamming At Donaueschingen Music Festival (Atlantic) with James Moody, Sahib Shihab, Chris Hinze

2008: Howlin' For Judy (Blue Note's "Rare Grooves" series) CD compilation of the albums: Legwork and Wayfaring Stranger.

As sideman

With Walter Davis Jr. Trio

 

Illumination (Denon [Japan] Records, 1977)

With Tommy Bolin

 

From The Archives - Vol. 1 (Rhino Records, 1996) a collection of "grade-A" previously unreleased "rock-jazz-fusion" material.

From The Archives - Volume 2 (Zebra Records, 1998) another collection of previously unreleased material; even better than the first volume.

With Hank Crawford

 

Hank Crawford's Back (Kudu, 1976)

Tico Rico (Kudu/CTI, 1977)

With Art Farmer

 

Crawl Space (CTI, 1977)

With Urbie Green

 

The Fox (CTI, 1976)

With Mike Mainieri

 

Journey Thru an Electric Tube (Solid State, 1968)

With Idris Muhammad

 

Turn This Mutha Out (Kudu/CTI, 1977)

Boogie To The Top (Kudu/CTI, 1978)

With Lalo Schifrin

 

Towering Toccata (CTI, 1976)

With Peter Walker

 

Rainy Day Raga (Vanguard, 1966)

With Johnny Winter

 

Still Alive and Well (Columbia, 1973)

Saints & Sinners (Columbia, 1974) note: Jeremy plays on "Dirty", a previously unreleased instrumental track recorded for but left-off the original album release; it is included on the CD reissue.

With Paul Winter Sextet

 

Jazz Meets The Folk Song (Columbia, 1964)

With Montreal

 

A Summer's Night (Stormy Forest, 1970)