Malachi Favors

[mikeweil]

This one hurts. Deeply. Compared to Chuck, Larry, and some others, I have no reason why it should. They knew the man in a way that I didn't. But still, this one hurts in a way that I haven't felt since Joe Henderson passed (sorry Chuck, sorry Larry, but...).

Of course it hurts, Jim, because his and the AEOC's is music we grew up with, that put an imprint on us in our formative years as young exploring musicians, musically, emotionally, as role models: They lived something we were striving for. And they encouraged us to follow our own path. This applies to Malachi Favors, Joe Henderson, Bill Perkins, John Lewis. It is the generation of our musical fathers that slowly passes, one after another, and leaves us to carry the torch. It moves me just as much when one of these musicians leaves us as if he was a family member - we are a spiritual family, after all.

Thanks, Malachi, for holding it up so long, and may you rest in peace.

I never saw him nor the AEOC live, just Bowie with Jack deJohnette's Directions, but his bass sound lingers in my memory, although I haven't listened to their music in a long time. Thanks for influential encouragement, this was and is important music.

[JSngry]

One of the two times I saw him live was w/his own group, in Chicago, at the "alternative" (Underground?) Chicago Jazz Festival in 1981. Forget who all was in the group, but I think Vandy Harris (or maybe Ari Brown) was on tenor, and there was an incredible singer, apparently lost to all since I've repeatedly tried to get info on her w/o success, names Ka'tetta Aton. A thoroughly amazing night of music.

I'll remember for the rest of my life, I hope, several spots where the music got going REALLY good and Malachi was pulling the strings on his bass like an archer's bow, WAAAAYYYY past where any human being should be able to pull them. Yet his pitch remained perfect, and his tone true. You'd have to have seen it to believe it.

This was a man who understood the bass, was all about being the instrument and knowing it more than intimately. This was not a man who played the bass, or who played music and just happened to use on the bass to do it. This was a man who dug as deeply as possible into his instrument (and I suspect his life, as well as those of others, from the ancient tot he future), and brought it all up and out through that instrument of his in a way that only his instrument could purvey. It takes wisdom to play any instrument with that much depth and command, but the bass may very well be the most demanding of al in those respects. Malachi had unsurpassed wisdom, depth, and command.

In the deepest possible sense, he was a master. Their numbers have always been few, and they seem to be getting fewer. Pay attention to him and his peers, even if you don't understand them now. With any luck, someday you will.

[Chuck Nessa]

Does anyone (chuck?) know how he died? He looked good in the fall when I saw him.

Malachi had health problems on and off for the last few years. He had recently been in and out of the hospital with some frequency. He told family and friends he had a stomach infection. This way he avoided pity and covered the cancer. I've heard both stomach and pancreatic cancer - don't know the answer. I may get details, whether I want them or not, at the funeral on Thursday.

[Guest Chaney]

A slight tangent but perhaps of interest:

Joseph Jarman : All The Voices Are There Again

Very sad.

[JohnS]

This is so sad, we'll all miss him terribly.

[Lazaro Vega]

Malachi marathon on www.kcrw.org all day today.

Thanks for the "request" on Sight Song. That is a wonderful performance. Have it on LP.

[Lazaro Vega]

Yes Clem. My bad. Did you get a chance to tune in? Heard some and it was extensive.

[blue lake]

By Howard Reich

Tribune arts critic

February 3, 2004

For roughly half a century, the magnificent Chicago bassist Malachi

Favors was a catalyst for new ideas in jazz, influencing generations

of players and anchoring one of the most widely esteemed bands in the

musical avant-garde, the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Mr. Favors' death at age 76 of pancreatic cancer Friday, Jan. 30, in

Illinois Masonic Hospital left his colleagues struggling to find

language to do justice to his achievements.

"This man contributed so much, it's almost impossible to put into

words," said tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson, whose South Side club,

the Velvet Lounge, frequently was a forum for Mr. Favors.

"He played here just about a month ago, and, as usual, a lot of

people came to hear him," Anderson said. "They came because he had

one of the greatest bass sounds anyone has ever heard. His low notes

were so deep and his rhythms seemed to float."

Indeed, Mr. Favors' approach to his instrument was distinct. His

darkly sonorous tone, seemingly nonchalant virtuosity and penchant

for saying a great deal in a few carefully chosen notes made him a

deeply admired figure.

"His technique was superb, but when you listened to him, the

importance of the experience went way beyond technique," said Tatsu

Aoki, a noted Chicago bassist who collaborated with Mr. Favors on the

landmark 1999 duet "2 X 4."

"I believe that in the history of jazz bass playing, he is one of

the few people who sounded completely original. He did not play a lot

of notes, but his sound was so deep and great you could not miss the

soulfulness of it."

One of 10 children born to a religious family in Lexington, Miss.,

Mr. Favors attributed his early interest in the acoustic bass to the

work of Wilbur Ware, a legendary Chicago player with whom Mr. Favors

studied after moving north. By the mid-1950s, Mr. Favors had become a

leading figure in Chicago music, recording with the innovative

pianist Andrew Hill, performing with bands led by the visionary

reedist Roscoe Mitchell and, in 1961, joining pianist Muhal Richard

Abrams' ground-breaking Experimental Band. That ensemble set the

stage for the emergence, in 1965, of the Association for the

Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a Chicago collective that

helped redefine the jazz avant-garde.

But it wasn't until 1969--when Mr. Favors joined with Mitchell,

reedist Joseph Jarman, trumpeter Lester Bowie and, soon after,

drummer Don Moye in Paris--that the Art Ensemble became a potent

force in new music.

Mr. Favors, who often added to his name the African word Maghostut

(meaning "I am the Host") and sometimes appeared wearing face paint,

produced an ample discography, including his solo recording "Natural

and the Spiritual" and a plethora of Art Ensemble of Chicago releases.

Though many reference works cite 1937 as the year of Mr. Favors'

birth, his daughter, Malba Favors Allen, said he was born on Aug. 22,

1927.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Favors is survived by brothers James and

George; sisters Rosetta Rinner, Mary Golden and Nayyinah Nusaddiq;

and two grandchildren.

A wake will held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Love Community Church, 1701

W. 167th St., Hazel Crest, followed by a service at 11 a.m.

[Chuck Nessa]

I'm just back from the funeral. and I sent this message to a few friends. I decided to post it to the group:

Saw Roscoe only long enough to clasp hands. Had conversations with

George Lewis and Leo Smith. Visitation at 10, service at 11. Service

ended at 2:30, another hour talking. Wanting to beat a winter storm, I

did not go to the burial or subsequent "get together" at a rented space.

Sorry to have missed that.

Lots of musicians and tons of people from Malachi's church and family.

Large church full.

Really too bad it takes this to see old friends.

[John C]

Obituary by Val Wilmer in Guardian today. Accompanied by very good photo by Wilmer.

Guardian Obituary

[Lazaro Vega]

The Trib has his b-date as ten years earlier, 76. Anyone?

[blue lake]

Tonight's radio program featured Horace Tapscott, but inside of that the midnight hour, "Out On Blue Lake," was dedicated to Malachi Favors. Playlist --

12 a.m.

Malachi Favors (solo) Tutankahamen "The Art Ensemble 1967/68" Nessa

Art Ensemble Tutankahamen "Tribute to Lester " ECM

Pharoah Sanders with the Ritual Trio (Ari Brown, Malachi Favors, Kahil El'Zabar) at the Wealthy Theater, Grand Rapids, May 2001, Pharoah's Song (station recording for airplay only).

Ahmed Abdullah Mystery of Two "Liquid Magic " Silkheart

Dennis Gonzalez New Dallas Sextet Good Friends "Namesake" Silkheart

Art Ensemble Tatas-Matoes "Art Ensemble 1967/68 " Nessa

After a jazz datebook, played Horace Tapscott's 35 minute solo suite "Struggle X (An Afro-American Dream)" from the Nimbus Solo Sessions Vol. 2 (early '80's).

Edited February 12, 2004 by blue lake

[Gary]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/jon3/jon3.shtml

This weeks BBC Jazz on 3 has a small tribute to Malachi & interview with Roscoe Mitchell. Click the listen again link to hear it.

[Guest Chaney]

A sweet ONE FINAL NOTE article written by Dennis Gonzalez...

Words For Mal : Remembering Malachi Favors

[RainyDay]

The AEC was at Yoshi's last fall and I had the good fortune to see them, mostly due to Dennis Gonzalez who strongly urged me to go. It was my first time seeing the band, and the only time I will ever see Favors. The face paint had a particularly celebratory effect since it was the week of Halloween. Saw more folks that I knew in the audience than is usual. This was the must-see band to check out. The band sounded GREAT and the crowd was adoringly responsive. I remember kicking myself for not ever having taken the time to see them before. Malachi Favors stood out. His playing stood out. He looked frail but he played strong. Apparently he was quite ill at this time. What a trooper. What a bass player. RIP.