The Lyle Lovett GiftDay Story

My friend and former colleague, veteran 3D concert Director Wayne Miller grew up with musician Lyle Lovett. The two are close friends. Lovett was turning 50 and Wayne was in a tough spot. Lovett’s birthday party was right around the corner and Wayne had no idea what to get him for a gift. I suggested a GiftDay approach. Wayne subsequently agreed and then suggested that a gift related to music would be appropriate. He explained that Lovett was not only a country, blues and jazz fan but that he was also a veritable encyclopedia of music history

Wayne’s gift for Lovett took me 5 minutes to locate. I needed only to type in Lovett’s birthdate of November 1, 1957 into Google and scroll through approximately 200-300 search result records before I had the answer...

On November 1, 1957, Steve Lacy, one of the greatest soprano saxophonists of all time (along with Sidney Bichet and John Coltrane), stepped into renowned musical facility Van Gelder Studios in New Jersey to record his seminal jazz album “Soprano Sax”. Alongside the great Wynton Kelly on piano (Kelly, a huge name himself, regularly collaborated with John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Wes Montgomery), Lacy polished off six fantastic tracks including standards written by jazz legends Duke Ellington, Cole Porter and Thelonious Monk.

Lacy was the first avant-garde jazz musician to make the soprano sax, an instrument that had become completely neglected during the Beebop era, his specialty. Indeed, Lacy is credited with single-handedly bringing the instrument back from obscurity into modern jazz. It is said in many jazz circles that Lacy was the one who inspired Coltrane himself to select the instrument as a specialty. About Lacy, Jazz writer and music historian Daniel Steiner said: “He was an extraordinary artist, a person who appears only a few times in each generation of musicians.”

I think vinyl records make for a nice gift presentation, so I located an unopened copy in mint condition for Wayne at a specialty record store in Hollywood. To ensure that Lovett could listen to the music in his car without delay, I also purchased and downloaded the album through the iTunes store. I recorded the music on a CD and also printed out on the disc a photo of Lacy to “jazz up” the presentation. Finally, I included a Lacy quote on the gift’s provenance (GiftDay’s White Glove Service always provides this document for its customers to authenticate relevant gift dates):

“We don’t determine music; music determines us.

We only follow it to the end of our life; then it goes on without us.”

Based on what Wayne had told me about Lovett, I was confident this lofty statement about music would resonate with Lovett. Sure enough, I was right. Lovett loved the album and the gesture. Wayne loved the entire gift package and concept. Needless to say, the album was an utter smash “hit”.

GiftDay endeavors to find thoughtful gifts - so that they can be used to tell the gift recipient that they are unique and special and that they have been thought about and fussed over.

Because everyone likes to be treated like a celebrity on their birthday. Even celebrities.