Steve MacKay
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Steve Mackay is an American tenor saxophone player, best known for his participation on The Stooges' influential second album Fun House.
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[edit] Style
His distinctive and powerful soloing style draws heavily from instro rock and drag music in equal proportion to the experimental free jazz approaches of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. This was a marriage that was far from common at this time - a marriage of two styles whose proponents had little appreciation for each other's work. Mackay's voice on the middle-period Stooges recordings and tours is an undeniable precedent to early-80s jazz musicians like John Zorn.
[edit] The Stooges
Mackay was familiar to The Stooges from his work in Detroit's avant-rock pioneers Carnal Kitchen. He was recruited by lead singer Iggy Pop a mere two days before the Stooges left Detroit for Los Angeles to record the album, after having sat in with the band several times.
Mackay toured with the group throughout 1970 but parted company with the Stooges in October 1970.[1].
[edit] Later work
For the next ten years, Mackay would play with a wild cross-section of underground music icons: Violent Femmes, Snakefinger, Commander Cody, Zu, Andre Williams, The Moonlighters, Clubfoot Orchestra, and a handful of other efforts (including Van Rozay from San Jose) continued into the late 1980s. As the 90s approached, Mackay's profile gradually lowered as he took up residence near San Francisco and began work as an electrician.
As it happened, the wide perception in music history was that Steve Mackay was dead. As of the year 2000, Stooges biography pages on websites for MTV, VH1, and Rolling Stone Magazine included an item indicating that Mackay had died in the 1970s. The origin of this story is unknown, but journalist Nick Kent reported the 'fact'[1]. The small record label and noise collective Radon disproved the rumor by contacting Mackay and arranging to release his first solo recordings.
Radon released the "Death City" single in 1999, and Mackay began to perform and record regularly with a revolving line-up of musicians associated with Radon. The first full-scale tour of Steve Mackay and the Radon Ensemble was mounted in July of 2003; with a percussion-heavy lineup featuring bassist Marlon Kasberg (Liquorball), drummer Sam Lohman (Nimrod, 36), multi-instrumentalist Travis McAlister (Nequaquam Vacuum), scrap percussionist and vocalist Noah Mickens (Nequaquam Vacuum), and drummer and band leader Scott Nydegger (Sikhara). Other musicians who have performed and recorded with The Radon Ensemble since then include multi-instrumentalist Tyler Armstrong (Nequaquam Vacuum), projectionist Ed Cooper (Projexorcism), bassist Giovanni Donadini (With Love), electronic noisician Nyko Esterle (Ripit), multi-instrumentalist Kamilsky (Koonda Holaa and the Beetchees), multi-instrumentalist Dan Kauffman (Barbez), bassist Jason LaFarge (Pineal Ventana), saxophonist Vinnie Pastornato (Temple of Bon Matin), multi-instrumentalist Fabrizio Modonese-Polumbo (Larsen), saxophonist Shane Pringle (Pineal Ventana), multi-instrumentalist Frank Pullen (Obe'Skupla), instrument builder John Sharp (Mr. Natural), flautist Suzanne Thorpe (Mercury Rev), drummer Jason Waugaman (Obe'Skupla), electronic noisician John Wiese (Bastard Noise), and drummer Ed Wilcox (Temple of Bon Matin).
[edit] The Stooges reunion
Mackay rejoined The Stooges in 2003 when they played their first show in 29 years at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and he has performed with them ever since. He appears the live Stooges releases, the DVD Live in Detroit and the live album Telluric Chaos, and tours regularly with the reunited band. He also appears the Stooges' newest studio album The Weirdness (released in March, 2007).
Mackay has also appeared at recent live shows by the Violent Femmes, with whom he has played off and on since appearing on their albums Hallowed Ground and The Blind Leading the Naked.
While Mackay's profile continues to climb in the mainstream, Radon has released the Smegma - Steve Mackay collaboration CD "30 Years of Service" in 2005, and the full-length Steve Mackay CD Michigan and Arcturus in 2006. His solo discography also includes a self-released collection of solo and group demos from the 1980s called En Voyage, and such compilations as Popular Electronic Uzak, You've Got Your Orders 3, and Multiball Magazine Issue 2. The Steve Mackay Ensemble has continued to perform live and on radio, and will embark on a tour of the U.S. and Europe in 2006.
Steve also has been associated with Clubfoot Orchestra and it various members since the mid 1980's. He performs and records with OG Clubfoot member Dick Deluxe's Revue (Don't Borax the Borax Man 2005) and when in SF usually performs at the Bay Area Boat Club's Third Thursday parties - often with Deluxe and CFO founder Richard Marriott.
[edit] References
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