Jeremy Steig

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jeremy Steig, the son of New Yorker cartoonist William Steig, is notable as one of the few jazz flutists playing flute exclusively, as opposed to doubling from other woodwinds (others are James Newton, and, for most of his career, Herbie Mann).

After a start in mainstream jazz, with albums with Bill Evans and Denny Zeitlin, Steig became an early force in the jazz-rock fusion experiments of the late 1960s and early 70s. His album Energy, later re-released with additional material, under different titles, featured keyboard player Jan Hammer and bassist Eddie Gomez, and was recorded at Electric Lady Studios under the hand of sometime Jimi Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer.

Steig addressed the tonal color restrictions of the instrument by the use of "modern" acoustic techniques (voice multiphonics and overtones similar to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, key percussion) electronic effects, and by using the entire battery of flute-family instruments, from piccolo to bass flute (including the obscure Sousa-era alto piccolo), often over-dubbed and multi-tracked together.

Steig was involved in a motorcycle accident which left him paralyzed on one side. For some years afterward, he played the flute with the help of a special mouthpiece.

His song Howlin' For Judy from his 1970 album "Legwork" is the source of the main sample in the 1994 Beastie Boys' single "Sure Shot".