Saxophonist Steve Frieder on new Steve World Volume 1 EP
Photos by Charlie Weinmann
Steve Frieder and I spent a recent morning strolling around an Eagle Rock neighborhood snapping portraits and talking about life. Steve is a full-time musician, composer and band leader based in up-state New York. I first learned about Steve through the music of PWNT which features several tasty saxophone and flute bits that would catch anyone’s ear. Steve’s new EP, Steve World Volume 1, was released about a week ago and has garnered approval from peers and fans of funky jazzy saxophone music, including none other than Dave Koz himself. Steve and I spoke about where he’s come from as an artist and what went into this collection of songs which have been in the works for several years.
Tell us a bit about how you’ve arrived to where you are now as an artist.
I have a background in jazz and jazz composition, but over the years I've been called to play other styles like pop, funk, R&B or improvised music.Recently I've just been putting together all of these influences into the music. In Steve World there are many different elements of American music and also classical inspiration. I like to write ballads that are rubato, they're sort of freely moving in their time. Other songs have swing feels or funk grooves, and some are completely improvised. I grew up with my mom, rest in peace, playing Beethoven, Bach and Chopin on piano. My folks would put on a ton of records, The Beatles, Steely Dan, War, Stevie Wonder etc.… I have two uncles that are musicians. One who is no longer with us was a classical pianist. And my other uncle is like a punk, rock and roll singer-songwriter. So I grew being exposed to a wide spectrum of American popular music, classical and romantic music, that kind of stuff. I feel blessed to have had that in my childhood.
At times it’s challenging to describe my music to fans or bookers. It sounds cliche, like, oh, “it's a mix of all genres, it’s crossover jazz”…As a saxophone player, people want to know well, are you a jazzer? Are you an R&B player? Are you playing trad jazz? Are you a classical saxophonist? And I'm kind of like, man, I don't know. I don't care about that stuff anymore.
When did that change for you?
I think when I entered college. I went to a music conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, that was pretty traditional in its teachings of jazz and bebop language. The whole jazz education industry thing, it was very rooted in that. However, I was really into playing free improvisation, free playing. I was into Albert Ayler and Coltrane and all that stuff. I was a little defiant against the straight ahead. I ended up transferring to the New School, which had a more open-minded program. By the end of my senior year, I was really studying Charlie Parker and honing bebop language. I had this sort of backward developmentwhere I started off as an improviser and slowly grew to appreciate more structured music. I studied a lot of species counterpoint, became obsessed with the music of Bach and started relating it to jazz and improvisation.
Steve World Vol. 1 came out a little over a week ago—can you talk about some of the other music you’ve released predating the new record?
Right after college I made a jazz record that I don't really talk about much called “After Time”. You can find it out there but it was one of those things where I had printed a thousand CDs and ended up throwing out most of them. For me, it became dated very fast because I developed as a musician and didn’t really relate to it as much. Fast forward: I have a weird alter ego named Lazar Friedman, who is a seltzer aficionado (“afizzionado”). Lazar only rates unflavored seltzers.
That’s sounds amazing.
His stage name is LZ Seltz. I released a single called “Natural Flavors.” Besides that, earlier this year I released a woodwind ensemble piece called “Paul's Promise, a Dedication to Paul Robeson and the Peekskill Riots”. A very important civil rights event that happened in 1949 in Peekskill known as the Peekskill Riots. It is something that I've been very passionate about learning. You can research it. Then I released a cassette album called “The Pink Cassette” that contained more experimental works, woodwind quartets, and improvised pieces.
Towards the end of 2024, I released three singles: “Waves and Light,” “Spirit Chant” and "Ball Lightning.” Those are all going to be included on the Steve World EPs.
Fantastic! Let’s talk about the vibe of this new release, who's on it and maybe things that make Steve World Vol. 1 stand alone from other releases of yours.
So two years ago I had an idea about tracking an original album at Kosta’s [Galanopoulos] studio. He was in Long Beach at the time. I ended upcalling some homies of mine from Hudson Valley and New York. I said to them, “Hey, I want to fly you guys out to L.A. Let's rehearse this music and cut it at Kosta’s because he's an amazing producer and engineer.” So in January of 2023, we tracked this music. Sam Smith plays bass, Christopher James Talio is on guitar and the drummer is Bryan Kopchak. So yeah, those guys are amazing, they're great friends of mine and I feel like it’s a group that really understands my intention behind my music. When you bring your friends into it, there's more love, you know? It felt special to cut it in a place that was not home and feel like we’re here on this mission.
What might you say a good setting could be for the new music to be enjoyed in?
Volume 1 is very beat oriented, with the exception of the ballad. If you are into jam, funky, instrumental music, something you could party to, this is for you. The first track called “Trash Magic” is a dirty funk tune with sax solos and guitar solos. It’s a sound that you might be more familiar with. “Waves and Light,” which I released already, gets into a bit of a reggae groove at parts. The third track called “Awakening” is a freely improvised piece that we did with the addition of pianist/composer Rex Darnell, who lives here in Los Angeles. He joined us on piano and we did this slow, ballad-like improvisation that really resonated with me. And the last track is called “Karellen.” If I ever had a hit song, this probably was it. It's inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s classic science fiction novel “Childhood's End,”. There's a character named called Karellen. He’s an overlord alien that comes down to earth and imbues humanity with certain types of knowledge, and that is only the beginning, or the end? It's a fascinating story. So this track is sci fi inspired. There’s a siren like section followed by a drum and bass breakdown, and it eventually climaxes into anthem like, stadium rock moment. I've been playing it live for years and anytime people come see my show they love “Karellen.” So here is the studio cut.
How did you get in touch with Dave Koz?
Dave hit me up on Instagram when I was doing the Boy George Culture Club tour in 2023. We did a Hollywood Bowl, which was amazing. Davemessaged me, 'hey man, my friend saw you play with Culture Club at Hollywood Bowl and they said you were awesome and I should check you out and I checked out your stuff and it's really cool.’ We developed an online correspondence and he's been very gracious and willing to give some advice. I sent him this music to check out. He had some really nice, insightful things to say.
"It’s so hard to come up with something completely new when it comes to saxophone driven music these days…but these tracks carve a new path...The instrumentation, interplay and approach provides something truly fresh in this world. “Trash Magic” was my favorite—that’s a big smile!" - Dave Koz
What are your plans for Vol. 2?
I think the second EP is definitely within the same sonic world, but it’s captures a bit more of the esoteric. It features the wilder side of Steve World, you know? It has a more aggressive and ambitious approach and there’s more complex harmonies, rhythm, and free improvisation. Volume 1 showcases the amicable ‘funky sax man,’ and Volume 2 presents a ‘searching’ version of myself.
