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October 30 2024

Truth Is Marching In (again)

Sorry, a little earlier than usual - just putting the finishing touches to my nuclear bunker. Meanwhile, Jeff Lederer’s project to save us all continues.

More details from Jeff Lederer’s site, which also includes his article, ‘Truth is Marching In....Truthing and Lying in Politics, and Jazz’, and this:

There’s a review of the “Guilty”!!! album in DownBeat, by Frank Alkyer (almost...), which does, quite obviously, include a version of ‘Truth Is Marching In’.

Let’s hope so.

Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe

Dirk Goedeking let me know that a new version of the late Impulse album (perhaps more noted for its title than the music it contains) has been released by Elemental Music - the label which gave us the complete radio recordings from Albert Ayler’s concerts at the Fondation Maeght.

And let us never forget that “A man is like a tree, a tree is like a man...” (no matter how hard we try).

Talking of the late Impulses, Dirk also unearthed a review of New Grass which I’d missed. This is a very measured one by Ken Waxman from 2006 and is on the JazzWord site. Dirk particularly liked his description of Albert’s saxophone playing on the album as “like ham hocks incongruously peaking out of a Big Mac”.

Book Corner

1. Tim Witham exposed the extent of my ignorance when he emailed about a novel by a member of the Wu Ming collective (which I had never come across) called New Thing. Published in Italy in 2004, Tim got hold of a French translation published by Métailié in 2007 and managed to make some sense of it (I bow to his superior French teachers):

‘Plenty of Ayler references in it. It's an interesting idea and reading in French gave me an extra kick, though I don't think it's the best Wu Ming piece.
Anyway, I thought you might be interested, if you haven't already covered it. Its form is interviews and statements from the main protagonists. The plot involves a series of murders of (fictional) free jazz musicians, in and around the New York avant garde about the time of Coltrane's death. It certainly treats its context with great respect.’

According to the description of the Italian original on the Good Reads site (translated by google)

'Brooklyn, spring 1967. After the violent deaths of some avant-garde jazz musicians, the African-American vox populi spreads the legend (or the true story?) of the murderer known by the nickname "Son of Whiteman". Does it really exist? And if so, is he an agent of the FBI or some other sector of the establishment? Almost forty years later, a plethora of characters, interviewed by no one knows exactly who, tell the story of the "Son of Whiteman", of a young reporter who disappeared into thin air, of Black Power, as well as of Ayler's new jazz, Shepp and their tutelary deity, John Coltrane. Roberto Bui (Wu Ming 1) has been part of the Luther Blisset collective since the beginning and then of Wu Ming. This is his first "solo" novel.'

And this is the publisher’s blurb for the French edition:

‘1967, the United States is shaken by racial unrest and protests against the war in Vietnam. In New York, after the violent death of some avant-garde jazz musicians, the assassinations were claimed by Whiteman's son. Is he acting on his own behalf or is he an instrument of the establishment? Forty years later, survivors tell the story of the young journalist Sonia Langmut, who disappeared a few weeks after investigating the facts.

In the background, the rise of Black Power and the new thing: the free jazz of Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon, and their tutelary divinity, John Coltrane, who, on the verge of dying during the period of murders, evokes his life, his greatness and his weaknesses.

Written in a syncopated mode in full agreement with its subject, with fantastic escapes, flights of birds over the city and the talk of the ghetto, the story succeeds in a few pages in restoring, behind the speeches of the revolt and the manipulations of power, the voice of an entire era.’

Now I just have to wait for the English translation (still waiting for that German book about Slugs’ Saloon, Albert Ayler oder Die Zukunft der Schönheit (Albert Ayler or The Future of Beauty) by Friedrich Christian Delius).

[Italian or French - take your pick.]

2. Richard Koloda, author of Holy Ghost: The Life And Death Of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler is being interviewed by Sal Cataldi on WGXC on 13th November, 10 - 11 am on the Reading is Funktamental programme:

   ‘A lawyer by trade and a jazz musicologist by passion, Richard Koloda has spent over two decades creating the most authoritative look at the life and music of free jazz pioneer Albert Ayler. His book follows Albert's life from his childhood and apprenticeship in Cleveland to his glory days in France and Scandinavia to his mysterious end via a drowning/suicide (or murder?) in the East River. My earlier print review of this fascinating book can be found at NYSMusic.com.
   "Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show/podcast about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. Occasionally, the host is joined by notable musicians who have written about their careers. Recent guests have included eccentric British singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera, Traffic co-founder Dave Mason, and Moon Zappa. Expect a great conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it.
   Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, the jazz ensemble Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books, and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.’

3. Not a book, but I thought I’d include it here. There was a copy of the first issue (January 1967) of a Detroit ‘underground magazine’ called Guerrilla on ebay, which had an article by Albert Ayler. Not wishing to part with money I had a look round and found it on the Roz Payne Sixties Archive. The article turned out to be an English translation of the untitled one originally published in the French Jazz Magazine in December, 1965. Another English translation later appeared in the International Times. You’ll find the Guerrilla version in the Archives along with a review of Spirits Rejoice by John B. Litweiler, which ends with an intriguing thought, never realised and now left to hang ...

‘... Given this group’s feeling for turn-of-the-century march melodies and the like, what would happen if they attempted material from the standard repertory of the classical New Orleans musician? It’s an appealing notion.’

Ornette Coleman - Town Hall, 1962

Ok this is stretching a point, but the seminal album, the first release by the iconic trio (easily as iconic as Ayler’s), was released on ESP, so it’s as relevant as an Italian novel. Anyway, Roy Morris (of Homeboy Music) told me that one of the test pressings of the original Blue Note edition of that concert was now playing on youtube. As usual I was totally ignorant of the fact that the concert was recorded by Blue Note but never released by them, instead part of the concert ended up with Bernard Stollman and ESP. The full story is on wikipedia and the youtube links are as follows:

Ornette Coleman at Town Hall Vol.1 for BNLP 4210 A

Ornette at Town Hall Vol. 2 / for BNLP 4211 B Unissued

But, rather than look at a record going round, here’s a later version of the Ornette Coleman band - the same line-up which both Roy and I, unbeknownst to each other, witnessed at the London Apollo in 1971.

Youtube roundup

There’s a fellow talking about ‘Unbelievable: The Tragic True Story Of Albert Ayler's Life’, which I couldn’t watch till the end since he kept mispronouncing ‘Ayler’. I’m always getting people’s names wrong, but with Albert there’s no excuse. Then there’s another fellow reviewing the new vinyl release of Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe, with which we began these proceedings. An then there are two versions of ‘Ghosts’. The first for guitar by Jean-Sébastien Ricard:

And the second for violin and double bass by John Garner and John Pope:

October 1 2024

Truth Is (hopefully) Marching In

Jeff Lederer’s project, ‘Truth Is Marching In’, is intended to alter the outcome of next month’s U.S. election. We wish him well and hope he has more success than the attempt to end the Vietnam War by levitating the Pentagon in 1967. Dirk Goedeking sent me the link and added his own comment:

‘Either Albert’s music might accompany a swing of the swing states or Donald Trump will get a very special congratulation to celebrate alternative facts.’

More information about the event and a new album release from Jeff Lederer, entitled Guilty, is available on his Little (i) Music site. Guilty is described as

‘“Guilty!!!” is a razor sharp, politically motivated work featuring Lederer with Kirk Knuffke, Bob Stewart, Matt Wilson, Curtis Hasselbring, and Mary LaRose in new music based on digital samples of lying political speech. Releases Oct 7 (first monday in Oct) on Little (i)!’

And Dirk spotted the nod to the cover of Jackie McLean’s It’s Time (on Blue Note, of course).

What’s New on Saturn

Dirk also sent some Ayler-unrelated information about the recent doings of the Sun Ra Arkestra, which played earlier in the year for Marshall Allen’s 100th birthday.

And you’ve just missed a concert by the Arkestra in New York celebrating the birthday of the late John Gilmore. But, here’s a 1965 performance with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers on BBC’s Jazz 625.

And here’s a link to a suitably spacey poster for an upcoming concert in San Francisco, this November.

And Finland

There’s a new Albert Ayler tribute album from Finland, Albert Ayler Reawakened, by a group comprising Jukka Orma (guitar), Pepa Päivinen, Dimitri Grechi Espinoza (saxophones), Ville Rauhala (bass) and Simo Laihonen (drums). More details of this 2 CD release on bandcamp and here’s a taster from youtube:

Acoustical Swing

Is the title of a blog by Pierre Crépon, which has been running for a few months now. The subject of the 21st September post is Sunny Murray, and naturally, Albert gets a mention:

‘Sunny Murray’s shimmering cymbal sound was one of the defining aspects of his playing. He discussed its inception with Graham Lock in his book Chasing the Vibration: Meetings with Creative Musicians. “I had really defined a very good open rhythm—I was trying to get away from the bass drum, as it was,” the drummer said. "I was trying to get into the rapidity of beats to produce the sensation of tones—like, if you take a piano and hit the same two notes in succession, you’ll get a third tone, and this is what I was trying to do with beats. Then, when I started playing with Albert [Ayler], I started to go for the cymbal groove. I’d had a bebop cymbal thing at first, but I knew with Albert I needed a different cymbal groove. So I’d been playing this new cymbal groove for about a year when we came to Europe—Albert, Don Cherry, Gary Peacock—and I heard a record Tony Williams had made with Miles, and Tony was trying to get into a cymbal groove—and it was my cymbal groove! I said to Albert, I’m gonna play the cymbals so fuckin’ loud till there ain’t no sound left! So there was no more sound left in the cymbals for nobody to find for six years—and by that time Tony had gone in another direction [laughs].”’

Book Corner

1. There’s a good review by Robert Iannapollo of Richard Koloda’s Holy Ghost in the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal, which concludes:

‘He clearly admires Ayler but never tarnishes the text with over-romantic, sentimental prose and clearly understands the saxophonist’s shortcomings.
Holy Ghost is a biography its subject clearly deserves. It tends to clear up a lot of the muddled, apocryphal rumors that circulated around the musician throughout his career with thorough coverage of his last days. This biography gives Ayler his just due by not glossing over the unpleasant parts. And it might even help in reviving the music of this thoroughly misunderstood jazz giant.’

The full review is available here.

Richard let me know about the recent death of the venerable jazz critic, Dan Morgenstern (New York Times obituary). Also, I didn’t know that Michael Cuscuna died last April (New York Times obituary). Richard pointed out that Morgenstern wrote the coruscating review of the Titans of the Tenor concert and Cuscuna, of course, was behind the Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings set.

Richard also mentioned that Jawbone Press (who published Holy Ghost: The Life and Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler) are preparing a new biography of Eric Dolphy.

2. Not really related to Albert Ayler. except in a negative fashion, I came across a review of In With The In Crowd (Popular Jazz In 1960s Black America) by Mike Smith at The Syncopated Times. It seems to be part of a critical backlash against the avant-garde. Here’s the opening of the review by Steve Provizer:

The book In With the In Crowd, named after Ramsey Lewis’ big 1965 hit, has two major threads. One thread is factual, devoted to giving us details about the lives of the performers whose music was popular in the black community in the 1960s and the infrastructure - radio and record labels - that brought their music to listeners. The second thread lays out the case that the kind of jazz that was commercially viable in the black community in the 1960s has been overlooked in jazz history writing. Author Mike Smith says that the attention that might have been given to popular performers like singer Nancy Wilson, pianists Ramsey Lewis and others has instead been focused on the avant-garde, aka “The New Thing,” as personified by Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and a few others.

Other recent books have a similar complaint and cover adjoining territory, including Jazz With a Beat: Small Group Swing, 1940-1960 and Bob Porter’s Soul Jazz: Jazz in the Black Community, 1945-1975. Smith’s thesis is that the need to “elevate” jazz from a popular musical form to one “equal” to European and other Western forms of music is the key factor.

Interesting ...

Ayler at No 28 in Ohio

‘New Ghosts’ (from New Grass) comes in at No. 28 of ‘The Big Bend playlist: 30 great Ohio songs’.

And, finally . . .

We began with ‘Truth Is Marching In’ and we end (courtesy again of Dirk) with this.

No idea.

What’s New July to September 2024 has been sent to the vaults.

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