The legendary giant of free jazz
April 1, 2013 8:42 AM   Subscribe

 
Awesome! Excited to watch this.

I worked on an Ayler documentary in the early 2000's, while I was in college, helping record sound at a dozen or so free jazz (Milford Graves) or noise (Merzbow) shows, for footage for the doc. I'm not sure it ever came out. But it was a great way to learn about Ayler and free jazz. Highlight: three of us sitting in Marc Ribot's tiny apartment studio in the east village while he played Ayler interpretations on guitar, on camera, for about an hour.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 9:15 AM on April 1, 2013 [2 favorites]


Thanks for this, flapjax!
posted by box at 9:22 AM on April 1, 2013


SmileyChewtrain, you've just mentioned one guy I've played or recorded with a few times (Ribot) and one guy I took some lessons with (Graves) and one guy I've seen perform here in Japan (Merzbow).

Hopefully you'll find out, at some point, if the dock you worked on was ever released.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:24 AM on April 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


Excellent. I'm excited to watch this.
posted by OmieWise at 9:45 AM on April 1, 2013


Flapjax - woah, that's awesome! I actually just did a bit of googling and came up with this page on the director's site. I'm still not sure he's finished it but if you scroll down to "Spirits Rejoice" you can see some pictures from the film and a bit of an overview.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 9:55 AM on April 1, 2013


Nice timing - I'm currently expecting "Spritual Unity" to arrive in my mailbox any day now.
posted by davebush at 10:36 AM on April 1, 2013


I love Albert Ayler! Thanks for this!
posted by ob at 10:51 AM on April 1, 2013


Oh, Flapjax!

I've been waiting for the full length doco to become available online for almost five years, especially since I unfortunately missed the one (one!) screening it had in my (and Ayler's) home town.

I was ready to buy a DVD, as promised by the film's homesite, but the site hasn't been updated in some time, and no DVD offer has surfaced.

Thanks for staying on top of this.

"You think this is about you? This isn't about you."
posted by Herodios at 11:20 AM on April 1, 2013


This album just disappeared off Amazon MP3 a few weeks ago. Odd, I was really looking forward to it.
posted by Apropos of Something at 11:51 AM on April 1, 2013


Free Jazz is.. I don't know.. sometimes I feel like it's people who have no idea how to play an instrument, let alone a damn thing about theory/melody/harmony/rhythm/etc.. making a big racket and calling it art since Jazz is one of those genres that everything from Magma to Kenny G applies.

But I am also very ignorant on the subject of Free Jazz. The only Free Jazz record I own being Ornette Colemans album of the same name. Though I have heard the composer of the original Space Ghost Coast To Coast theme tune referred to as Free Jazz, and I love that tune..

Can any of the jazz fetishists here write a brief introductory course? Because when I think of the word Free Jazz, this is what comes to mind.
posted by mediocre at 5:49 PM on April 1, 2013


sometimes I feel like it's people who have no idea how to play an instrument, let alone a damn thing about theory/melody/harmony/rhythm/etc

Your feeling, then, is based on incorrect or incomplete knowledge, because that's very rarely the case.

when I think of the word Free Jazz, this is what comes to mind.

The actress's displeased reaction upon hearing the Benny Goodman + Miles Davis (which I thought sounded GREAT!) brings to mind one of my favorite Miles stories: a woman comes up to Miles after a set at one of his nightclub engagements and says "Mr. Davis, I don't understand the music you're playing", to which he replies "It took me twenty years of study and practice to work up to what I wanted to play in this performance. How can you expect to listen five minutes and understand it?"

So, yeah, there's a certain learning curve, a training of the ear and the mind, that's probably* necessary to appreciate the aesthetic and language of *free jazz*. Ultimately, though, the form is perhaps just not your cup of tea, and, hey, nothing wrong with that. But expressions of disdain like "no idea how to play an instrument" and "racket" serve only to paint you as someone who hasn't really thought about this very much but is nonetheless ready to dismiss it in the most negative of terms. You probably aspire to something higher than that in yourself, I'd imagine.

making a big racket and calling it art

This is my New Favorite Phrase.

*I say "probably" because that's not always the case. I know people who just instinctively like free jazz, on a gut level, without any particular knowledge about jazz history or whatever.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:46 PM on April 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


How can you expect to listen five minutes and understand it?

Maybe invest five seconds to check Wiccuhpeedia to start:
. . . Ayler studied at the Academy of Music in Cleveland with jazz saxophonist Benny Miller. He also played the oboe in high school.

As a teen Ayler played with such skill that he was known around Cleveland as "Little Bird," after virtuoso saxophonist Charlie Parker. . . .

at the age of 16, Ayler began playing bar-walking, honking, R&B-style tenor with blues singer and harmonica player Little Walter, spending two summer vacations with Walter's band.

After graduating from high school, Ayler joined the United States Army, where he jammed with other enlisted musicians, including tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. He also played in the regiment band. In 1959 he was stationed in France, where he was further exposed to the martial music that would be a core influence on his later work.

After his discharge from the army, Ayler kicked around Los Angeles and Cleveland trying to find work, but his increasingly iconoclastic playing, which had moved away from traditional harmony, was not welcomed by traditionalists. . . .

That 'big racket' represented the development of his own voice and vision, however hard for the rest of us to understand it. Rest assured, Ayler could've played straight bop or lounge jazz if he'd wanted to, but he wasn't able to want to.
 
posted by Herodios at 7:05 PM on April 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


Man, I wish I could just will Jazz Plus Jazz Equals Jazz into being a real show.

I envision one recording playing in each stereo channel, like those old Triple Play Stereo records (or, if you'd prefer, like Ornette Coleman's Double Quartet, or Ken Vandermark's Barrage Double Trio).
posted by box at 7:13 PM on April 1, 2013


(or, if you'd prefer, like Ornette Coleman's Double Quartet, or Ken Vandermark's Barrage Double Trio).

Don't forget Ned Rothenberg's Double Band!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:19 PM on April 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


Here's another thought about those clusters of notes, honks, and squeals that go into the 'big racket'.

There've been a number of stories recently about how much more complex some birds calls are than they sound to us as casual listeners. Slowing down the big racket of warbling reveals complex melodies and rhythms that we can't normally hear, but that the birds do.

Maybe Ayler and some of the other sound cluster players of the avant garde have put more there than we can hear without some help, concentration, and respect.
 
posted by Herodios at 7:21 PM on April 1, 2013


Man, I wish I could just will Jazz Plus Jazz Equals Jazz into being a real show. . . or, if you'd prefer, like Ornette Coleman's Double Quartet. . . etc.

Anthony Braxton's Composition 82: For Four Orchestra was inspired by attending marching band competitions as a child, hearing two or more ensembles play different tunes simultaneously, some approaching, some receding.
 
posted by Herodios at 7:26 PM on April 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


Maybe Ayler and some of the other sound cluster players of the avant garde have put more there than we can hear without some help, concentration, and respect.

That's right. Let's see some respect for the founding fathers.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:52 PM on April 1, 2013 [2 favorites]


Video's gone.
posted by OmieWise at 5:26 PM on April 5, 2013


Video's gone.

Yup. Real bummer. Word to the wise, as always, you wanna watch something on YouTube more than once? Download it. I regret that I didn't follow my own advice this time.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:31 AM on April 6, 2013


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