The Whammies

The Whammies, featuring an all-star cast of musicians from the Amsterdam, Chicago, and Boston improvisation scenes, focus on re-interpreting selections from the late saxophone iconoclast Steve Lacy's vast archive of compositions. Since it’s founding in 2012, the group has played tours in the United States and Europe, and has released three CDs with both Lacy’s more and lesser known works. Critic Troy Collins (All About Jazz) has called the first Whammies CD: “…far more than just a spirited tribute to an acknowledged master of improvised music, it is a testament to Lacy's merit as a composer of note.”

Dijkstra first saw Lacy and Bennink play together in 1983 in the Netherlands, when Dijkstra was a teenage saxophone student. “I was charmed by the clarity of Lacy’s sound, and the simple elegance of his melodies,” he remembers. “At that moment, I knew I wanted to become an improvising musician.” Lacy’s book "Findings" later became Dijkstra’s “saxophone bible.” When Lacy joined the faculty of New England Conservatory in 2002, Dijkstra jumped at the chance to take lessons with him. “His story is so different from other saxophone teachers – ‘Let’s go play with the ducks in the pond.’ Lacy taught me that you can make music out of anything.”

Dijkstra has been researching the vast archive of over 500 scores and notes Lacy left behind when he died in 2004. Lacy’s original dedications were rarely noted on album jackets or even in liner notes, but give insight into Lacy’s compositional process. The focus is mostly on the material from Lacy’s more experimental period in the 1970’s. “These earlier pieces contain dense, repetitive counterpoint writing, that lends itself very well to open-form improvisation and surprises on the spot, in my opinion”, says Dijkstra. The Whammies’ book includes several pieces that Lacy never recorded, and others that were only recorded as a solo version. After two years of playing, The Whammies have developed an open, “instant arranging” approach towards Lacy’s source material, in which each member has the freedom to introduce backgrounds, solos, smaller groupings, or the next tune, to move the music forward.