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(From Down Beat Vol. 34 No. 10, 1967) Albert Ayler
Village Theater, New York City
Personnel: Donald Ayler, trumpet; George Steele, trombone; Albert Ayler, tenor and alto saxophones; Michel Sampson, violin, viola; Joel Friedman, cello; William Folwell, Alan Silva, basses; William (Beaver) Harris, drums. This concert was the first time I heard the Ayler brothers in person.
Before going, I reread the interview with the Aylers that Nat Hentoff did (DB, Nov. 17, 1966) because I wanted to check the two major impressions I’d had when I first read the article: l, the Aylers had been unusually articulate about what they were trying to do musically, and 2, they both expressed an interest in, and a knowledge of, New Orleans jazz. The few times I’d heard them perform on records had not led me to believe that they knew where they were going or had ever heard any jazz other than their own.
A chance to share either revelation or misery with someone else became possible when an artist, Phil Featheringill, agreed to go with me. (Older jazz fans will recall that Featheringill once operated a jazz record shop in Chicago and had his own label, Session, during the ’40s.)
Featheringill and I, jazz fans whose involvement predates the swing era, have always had a similar feeling about old and new jazz. In the midst of the moldy fig v. bopper controversy, we didn’t take sides—to us, an essential of jazz was the freedom it allowed a creative artist to express himself now, the way it is.
After hearing Ayler, we still agreed.
The group had a valid “sound” of its own. It’s still experimental, far from perfect, and sometimes tedious (as in this concert’s overlong performance of, I assume, Truth Is Marching In), but the over-all feeling we both had was that we had experienced moments of high stimulation and excitement.
I recalled the comments made by the brothers during the aforesaid interview. “Don’t focus on the notes,” said Don in explaining how to listen to the music.
“You have to relate sound to sound inside the music and try to listen to everything together,” Albert added.
In this connection a curious thing happened. While the group was playing Light in Darkness, Featheringill nudged me and said, “Try listening with your eyes closed.” Upon following this suggestion, I began to understand what Don AyIer meant when he said, “Follow the sound, the pitches, the colors. You have to watch them move.”
The entire program featured Ayler music. Printed sheets distributed to the listeners listed 10 compositions by Albert and three by Don, but only eight were played. Since no announcements were made, I’m not sure what the titles were, but for the record, Albert’s numbers listed were Jesus, Light in Darkness, Change Has Come, Heavenly Home, Space Race, Ghost!!, Spirits Rebel, Truth Is Marching In, Passing Through, and Divine Peace Maker; Don’s were Our Prayer, Spiritual Love, and Peace.
Two-thirds of the concert was actually performed by a septet. The harpsichord player, Call Cobbs, listed on the program, failed to appear. For the last three numbers, trombonist Steele joined the group.
Absent from the music was the nihilistic impulsiveness that has been saxophonist Ayler’s on some of his recordings. His harsh sounds are being replaced by a much more lyrical approach. His brother, with whom he is in close musical alliance, performs with thought waves that emulate, but also offer contrast to, Albert’s playing.
But the most significant facet of Albert’s current group is the rapport and inspiration between the horns and the strings. Albert is able to achieve a saxophone timbre that is near a violin’s.
Sampson is a young Dutch violinist who joined the group last summer. He is a classically trained musician and was a soloist with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra before his current association with Ayler. His work is especially effective on the viola, an instrument tuned a fifth lower than the violin. Sampson’s best playing came in duets with the horns.
There also were fascinating improvised solos by cellist Friedman.
Albert used two basses, and when he was not soloing, he seemed to devote his time listening closely, with an appreciative smile, to the bass duets. Bassist Folwell, like Sampson, is a classical player. He played almost exclusively arco, while the other bass player, Silva, alternated pizzicato and bowing. Rarely have I been as intrigued by the use of strings in a jazz context; Ayler’s music somehow seems right for their use.
Drummer Harris, who has played frequently with Archie Shepp, has been with the Aylers for several months. Although he is one of the new drummers of the Milford Graves-Sunny Murray school, he amazed Featheringill and me by playing in the swing idiom on his one solo.
As expected, Albert played frequently in the upper register of both tenor and alto—Featheringill remarked, “We used to call those ‘freak tones’”—but the result was not jarring: he didn’t shriek. One got the impression that the unfamiliar sounds could become quite pleasant when one is used to them through exposure. Only a saxophonist with mastery of his instrument could possibly play in this register with the control evidenced by Ayler.
Some of the group’s work is based directly on the traditional polyphony of the old New Orleans brass bands. The front line of the two brothers and violinist Sampson playing collectively is apt to cause a listener to disbelieve his ears for a moment and think he is hearing a New Orleans parade band.
In fact, the sources for Ayler’s music are likely to come from almost anywhere. There was Eastern European folk-dance music (polkas and schottisches) and mariachi music, as well as the marching band sound.
It was encouraging to a couple of old-time jazz listeners to know that where it’s at is still within reach. —George Hoefer Back to Concerts |
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