John B Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 I've seen a recent post on another board that Malachi Favors has passed away. I am really hoping this is not true but, give the source, I believe it to be true. If it is, my condolences go out to his family and friends. I will be breaking out the Nessa box and spending some time with the AEC this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Sorry to say it is true. I received a call early this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Oh my God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 I will be breaking out the Nessa box and spending some time with the AEC this weekend. me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 not good. damn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Been thinking of Malachi all day and the following incident keeps popping into my head, but it needs a bit of a “set-up” from me. When we recorded Roscoe’s “The Maze” for 8 percussionists Roscoe rented a 19 foot Ryder truck to drive all the equipment from Madison and Chicago to Woodstock, NY for the rehearsals. We had arranged for the Creative Music Studio to house and feed the musicians for a week of rehearsals. Then we went into NYC to the CBS 30th Street studio for the recording. Afterwards Malachi drove the truckload back to Chicago. I met him there to help unload the stuff, return the truck to Ryder and pay the final bill. On the way to the Ryder location Malachi started complaining about the truck and how it was “unsafe to drive”. He wanted to vent to the Ryder people before I paid the bill. He kept repeating that the engine kept cutting out on the highway, endangering his life. It turns out the truck had a governor on it to keep it from reaching a certain speed and Malachi repeatedly hit the limiter. The thought of him barreling through the hills of Pennsylvania in a truck loaded with drums, bells, gongs, etc. brought a smile to my face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Very sad news. Great story, Chuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Wow...an artist I'd just "discovered" recently, and gone already... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 http://www.jazzhouse.org/files/panken8.php3?read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Very sad news! ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 (edited) Man, what sad, sad news. I wrote a short story set in Harlem in 1953 (Joe Milazzo and David Gitin have read it) and gave the protagonist the last name of Favors--done definitely as a tribute to Malachi. Think I'll break out that AEC box as well. Edited February 4, 2004 by ghost of miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrugs Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 Sad news indeed. Thanks for sharing that Chuck. I printed it and put it in with my copy of L-R-G/The Maze/S II Examples. It enhances the already wonderful picture inside the gatefold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 (edited) Shrugs, at the risk of seeming really anal, I went to my "LRG/Maze" file and discovered I still have such things as toll receipts from the journey. To put stuff in perspective, Ann and I stayed at the Gramercy Park Hotel for two nights and the total bill was $101.60. The Ryder truck contract reveals the breakdown of the odometer (1062 miles out, 562 miles back). I was charged for the "reading". Messing with all these details reduces the pain and brings back pleasure. Edited February 1, 2004 by Chuck Nessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 Another neat story about Malachi. At some point in the '60s, my wonderful wife Ann gave Malachi a cutting from a plant he admired in our apartment. In the mid '70s Malachi (again at our place) thanked Ann for the plant and said he still had it. He had taken it to Europe and brought it back. He still brought this up in 1998 at the re-staging of The Maze and LRG at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 i saw this man and his long standing group play just last semester at the jazz alley in seattle, and it was an exceptional performance of improvised jazz. it was definetly one of the best shows i saw last semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 I didn't know Malachi personally, and only had the blessing of seeing him perform twice, but this makes two AEC guys gone now, and I find myself being touched by their passings much more than I would have anticipated. Losing them makes me realize just how much I took their music, and more importantly, their spirits, as deep to heart as I think I possibly could, which is a place I let very, VERY few people get to. There is just so much LIFE in that music, so much character and personality and experience and reality and all that stuff that is conviniently and wholly inadequately labelled as "life", that it makes me feel like it and the people who made it are indestructable, that anybody who can be THAT fucking REAL must have figured out a way to hang out without ever needing to go home. But we all have to go home, don't we. If we didn't, we wouldn't be real. Get in line. 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...). The Natural And The Spiritual. God bless Malachi Favors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 Very sad news! Just had to listen to 'A Jackson in Your House' this morning. What a great player he was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 very sad, too young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Lightning Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 I didn't know Malachi personally, and only had the blessing of seeing him perform twice, but this makes two AEC guys gone now, and I find myself being touched by their passings much more than I would have anticipated. Losing them makes me realize just how much I took their music, and more importantly, their spirits, as deep to heart as I think I possibly could, which is a place I let very, VERY few people get to. There is just so much LIFE in that music, so much character and personality and experience and reality and all that stuff that is conviniently and wholly inadequately labelled as "life", that it makes me feel like it and the people who made it are indestructable, that anybody who can be THAT fucking REAL must have figured out a way to hang out without ever needing to go home. But we all have to go home, don't we. If we didn't, we wouldn't be real. Get in line. 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...). The Natural And The Spiritual. God bless Malachi Favors. it hurt me much more than anticipated as well. I have only recently "discovered" the AEC and their music. It was my most recent complete mindphukk. thanks for those words Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 Damn. This just hurts. Chuck, thanks for sharing those stories. Reading them made this a little easier for me, and I'm sure it helped others, too. I hope that writing and sharing them made your loss a little lighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazaro Vega Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 RIP Malachi Favors. Will be playing his music this week on the air, including the solo Tutankahman (sp) which found a new bass place, plus the Ritual Trio with Pharaoh recorded at the Wealthy Street Theater in Grand Rapids. He plays some extended solos on that. From Truck Parham to Milt Hinton to Israel Crosby, Wilbur Ware, Malachi and Fred Hopkins the story of the bass in Chicago is grand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 This is very sad. May he rest in peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny E Posted February 2, 2004 Report Share Posted February 2, 2004 i saw this man and his long standing group play just last semester at the jazz alley in seattle, and it was an exceptional performance of improvised jazz. it was definetly one of the best shows i saw last semester. I was at that show as well. Wonderful, just wonderful. Malachi had a playful spirit in his peformances - I imaged that's how he was off stage as well. I loved that sound tube he would pick up every once in a while and start spinning it over his head, and his megaphone. And there was a soulful quality to his bass tone that really comforted me. Does anyone (chuck?) know how he died? He looked good in the fall when I saw him. Also, Lazaro you should play the song "Way Way Way Down Yonder" from the album 'Sightsong' that he did with Muhal Richard Abrams. That track is one of my all-time favorite bass solos. Sad. I hope he had a painless and peaceful passing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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