Big Lazy – Mid-Century Americana NYC Trio with Cinematic Sweep, Blending Experimental Guitar Instrumentals with a Death-Surf-Jazz-Noir Twang Sound

Step into the evocative world of Big Lazy, the NYC-based instrumental trio led by composer and guitarist Stephen Ulrich. With a stripped-down lineup of electric guitar, upright bass, and drums, Big Lazy crafts richly cinematic soundscapes that blend noir, surf, jazz, blues, and rockabilly into something entirely their own.

Known for scoring HBO’s Bored to Death and the acclaimed documentary Art and Craft, Ulrich leads the band with a guitar style that is moody, atmospheric, and unmistakably original. Whether evoking smoky back rooms or wide open highways, Big Lazy delivers a performance that feels like the soundtrack to an unwritten film.

Join us at Godfrey Daniels for an intimate night with one of the most distinctive instrumental acts to emerge from New York’s downtown scene.

BIG LAZY
biglazymusic.com

Big Lazy has flourished for over two decades in New York’s downtown music scene, playing their singular brand of noir and twang from dive bars to the The Whitney Museum of American Art. Big Lazy founder Stephen Ulrich is the composer for the HBO series Bored to Death and the art forgery documentary Art and Craft.

Simultaneously noir and pastoral, gothic and modern, Big Lazy’s music conjures images from big sky country to seedy back rooms with deftness and a cinematic clarity. With sparse instrumentation - electric guitar, acoustic bass and drums - the trio forges American music from archetypes in Blues, Jazz, Surf, and Rockabilly.

Dear Trouble features NYC luminaries Marc Ribot, Steven Bernstein, Peter Hess (Philip Glass ensemble) and Marlysse Rose Simmons (Miramar). With a nod toward classic guitar instrumentals­, the new album captures the essence of the trio’s legendary live shows. 

"The Big Apple Crème de la Crème." -Robert Christgau 

Big Lazy, the elegantly gritty instrumental trio led by the extraordinary guitarist Stephen Ulrich…The band, which was formerly known as Lazy Boy and recently lost a long-running battle with the La-Z-Boy corporation over its name, plays stunningly beautiful music that evokes everything from truckers' romps to the haunting film scores of Bernard Hermann.  – The New Yorker

Ultimately, Ulrich’s blend of mid-century Americana, cinematic sweep, and a dash of the experimental is exciting and refreshing. In fact, this is some of the most titillating guitarmanship we’ve heard in a while.