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brownie on ayler

alocispepraluger102
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alocispepraluger102 Newbie

alocispepraluger102

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http://www.ayler.org/albert/html/ayler_remembered.html

Guy Kopelowicz

The first time I heard Albert Ayler was when I purchased the 'Spiritual Unity' ESP album that came out in 1964. The music just enthralled me. By the time 'Bells' came out, I was a devoted Ayler fan.

There was very little documentation on the new jazz scene in the French magazines (or elsewhere) around then. In the summer of 1965 I had a three-week holiday from my regular job and decided to head to New York for a look-see at the scene and eventually report all about it in the magazine Jazz Hot where I was publishing some articles.

So in September of that year I was on my way to New York to explore the new music that was being produced there and listen to the musicians who were involved in the so-called October Revolution.

Ayler was a focal point.

A few hours after my arrival, I ran into Sonny Murray who was standing outside Slug's on the Lower East Side. Murray was helping there in the capacity of club bouncer. He had been offered the part-time job through Henry Grimes with whom he was sharing a flat. Grimes was playing at the club that night as part of the Charles Lloyd quartet.

I asked Murray if he knew where I could meet Albert Ayler. Murray said that Ayler had been inside the club that evening but had left shortly before I walked in. Murray added that Ayler would be making a recording session soon and that this would be probably the only opportunity to hear Ayler during my three-week stay.

The session was scheduled for September 23 at Judson Hall on West 57th Street

opposite the Carnegie Hall.

When I arrived there, most of the musicians were already there. Gary Peacock who travelled by train from Boston was the last one to arrive. While waiting for him to show up, Albert and Don Ayler and Charles Tyler rehearsed music in unison.

The music they were playing turned out to be the French national anthem 'La Marseillaise'. For an instant, I was presumptuous enough to think it was a musical welcome for me.

Albert Ayler was blowing and marching around the studio. The engineer stopped him to indicate how far he could move around the premises when the recording session would actually take place.

Call Cobbs, a veteran musician who played piano with Johnny Hodges in 1954 when the Hodges band included John Coltrane, was in a corner getting acquainted with an electric harpsichord he would use for the tune 'Angel' which he played with Ayler and the rhythm section.

There had been no previous rehearsal of the all new material. Soon after that, Gary Peacock arrived. The full band assembled for a quick soundcheck and at 4.30 pm the recording proceeding started. Two hours later, all the music for the album had been recorded.

During the session, Albert Ayler gave quick indications to the musicians on the next tune, then the music was taped.

Bernard Stollman who had stepped in before the session began and had asked Ayler and the musicians if everything was all right, went into the recording booth and stayed there throughout the session.

I was also impressed by Sonny Murray's drumming. His set-up was as simple as could be imagined; one bass drum, one snare drum, one hi-hat and a single cymbal. He was using metal drumsticks that looked to be made out of aluminium. In addition to the musicians involved, present at the session were Stollman, the recording engineer, pianist Burton Greene and a photographer who turned out to be W. Eugene Smith, one of the greatest photographers of all time. I was awe-struck by Smith's presence. I was a novice photographer then and my equipment was even more minimal than Murray's drum kit. I had brought a camera to take some photos at the session. I had a simple reflex camera with the basic 50mm lens. Smith was equipped with four Mamiya reflex cameras. I talked to him before the session got underway.

Smith couldn't be nicer after I mentioned how much I admired his photos and did everything to make me feel at ease.

Then, the music came.

I can't recall any equivalent to the impact of hearing Albert Ayler's music live. The full blast of his (and his players') sound just about shattered one's ears and had your mouth wide open in amazement. The impact was overwhelming. You loved it or you hated it. I loved it. The first tune which became the album title turned out to be a variation on 'La Marseillaise'. I couldn't believe what Ayler and his musicians played and was totally enthralled by its energy. No need to elaborate further on the music at that point, the ESP album speaks for itself.

There were no second takes. 'It's always like that with Albert', Murray told me. When the tunes were done, the musicians went to the control booth to listen to the tapes. They seemed happy with the music.

I talked at length with Albert Ayler at a party which was held at the Lafayette Street apartment of Dutch jazz fan Elisabeth Van Der Mei a few days after the session. Elisabeth had moved in from Holland in 1964 and was very much into the new music and had made friends with all the musicians. She was hired as assistant by Bernard Stollman shortly after the 'Spirits Rejoice' session. Ayler had a lot of memories of his stay - when he was in the Army - in Orleans, France in 1960 and had sojourned there for nearly two years. He also mentioned travelling to Paris to jam at clubs whenever he could. I was pretty familiar with that scene but I had missed his appearances since I was a conscript in the French Army in Algeria at that time. We had fun when we found out we had marched at the same Bastille Day parade in 1960. I did not remember there was a US Army unit at that parade but Ayler confirmed he was in that one and had marched down the Champs-Elysées. I had marched the same avenue during that parade with my French Army infantry regiment.

Ayler was at the party with his brother Donald, Charles Tyler and the Cleveland trumpet player Norman Howard. Ayler told me he never rehearsed with his musicians. He said that he and the musicians around him felt the same things and that was enough.

Albert Ayler was opening later in the week at Slug's and he invited me to the club but it turned out the opening night was to be held on the day I was to return to Paris.

When the Ayler band played at the Paris Jazz Festival in 1966, I went to the hotel he and his band were staying to pick him up and head to the Salle Pleyel for the concert, which is out now on the HatArt release. There was a small problem before the musicians left the hotel because some of their luggage had not arrived in time. Albert Ayler was desperately looking for proper shoes to appear at the concert. He even asked me if I could loan him my shoes. It turned out they were too big for him. He however managed to get a decent pair. The Paris audience reaction to Ayler's music was interesting. The whole audience was stunned. A number of people could not stand the intensity of the music and booed but most of the audience just enjoyed it and Ayler and his musicians got a lot of applause.

There were two concerts that evening. The first one is the one that is on records. The second which was held very late in the evening was sparsely attended.

Cecil Taylor was at the concerts. He congratulated Ayler at length when they met after Ayler's appearance.

Actress Catherine Deneuve also attended the concert. She was with her then companion British photographer David Bailey.

When Ayler appeared at the 'Nuits de la Fondation Maeght' concerts in Saint-Paul de Vence, on the French Riviera, in late July 1970 I tried to go there but could not leave Paris because of work commitments. And when a few days after those concerts, Alain Corneau, a friend who turned later into one of the best-known French film directors, called me at work from Nice airport after the concerts to ask if I could rush to Orly airport to meet Ayler and his musicians to help them through the airport to catch their plane home, I had to tell him I just could not since I was in the middle of a very busy assignment. I felt terrible.

Four months later, Ayler would be gone.

(Guy Kopelowicz’s photo of the ‘Spirits Rejoice’ session is on the Band Photos page)

***

Edited by alocispepraluger102
brownie Rookie

brownie

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Thanks <_<

Rereading this always brings back lots of memories from that trip to New York (the first of numerous visits to the States).

Still amazed that I managed to meet in so short a time so many of the musicians I wanted to listen to and write about: Sonny Murray, Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Burton Greene, Charles Tyler, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Paul Bley among those.

brownie Rookie

brownie

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One of my eternal regrets was not being able to free myself from work obligations when I was asked to meet Ayler and is group when they were to fly through Paris after their performances at the Maeght foundation in Saint-Paul de Vence.

From what I remember the group changed its plans (probably because none in the group spoke french) and did not travel through Paris airports.

B. Goren. Newbie

B. Goren.

Posted
Posted

Thanks <_<

Rereading this always brings back lots of memories from that trip to New York (the first of numerous visits to the States).

Still amazed that I managed to meet in so short a time so many of the musicians I wanted to listen to and write about: Sonny Murray, Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Burton Greene, Charles Tyler, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Paul Bley among those.

I envy you...

  • 2 years later...
JSngry Grand Master

JSngry

Posted
Posted

No....I just meant that "coat and tie" used to be regular street wear for many people back in the day.

Although I gotta tell ya' - wearing a tux to do anything (yeah, anything) in ain't that big a deal after you've done it a few times, and if you get a comfortable one that fits well.

PHILLYQ Newbie

PHILLYQ

Posted
Posted

Aloc, many thanks for posting it and brownie, many many thanks for writing such a great piece and for helping to document such a great movement in music. I LOVE this place

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