New Albert Ayler biography

[ghost of miles]

Out tomorrow:

Holy Ghost

Amazon link

Edited November 14, 2022 by ghost of miles

[unitstructures]

Wonder how this compares to Spirits Rejoice, also published recently?

[felser]

Fascinating subject, but I'm concerned about readability.  The writing on the blurb the author submitted for Amazon is painfully bad.

[Daniel A]

I agree that the blurb is terrible. This review seems rather positive:

http://www.ayler.co.uk/html/what_s_new.html

Let's wait for a review from these quarters.

[T.D.]

I just saw this in a bookshop and it got my attention.

Looking around at reviews, they're pretty positive, but I couldn't find a serious in-depth review from a "name" source.

Would have purchased immediately, but the book looked/felt kinda slim after Saxophone Colossus, which I just finished.

Likely will get it eventually, but on the fence for now.

[romualdo]

About the Author

Richard Koloda has a master's degree in Musicology from Cleveland State University (having written a thesis on the piano music of Frederic Rzewski). He was a contributor to the critically acclaimed documentary My Name Is Albert Ayler by Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin and was a consultant on Revenant Records' ten-CD retrospective of Ayler, which has been called 'the Sistine Chapel of box sets'. Richard lives in Wayland, Ohio, where he practices law. When he is not in court, he is working on his second book (not about music).

[T.D.]

3 hours ago, romualdo said:

About the Author

Richard Koloda has a master's degree in Musicology from Cleveland State University (having written a thesis on the piano music of Frederic Rzewski). He was a contributor to the critically acclaimed documentary My Name Is Albert Ayler by Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin and was a consultant on Revenant Records' ten-CD retrospective of Ayler, which has been called 'the Sistine Chapel of box sets'. Richard lives in Wayland, Ohio, where he practices law. When he is not in court, he is working on his second book (not about music).

Thanks, I saw that much in my limited perusal at the shop. Looks more than respectable.

Mid-afternoon Monday I just didn't have time to skim through more content. Hope to return later this week and take a closer look.

[Added] On Goodreads (a source I often consult for book reviews)

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/62803294-holy-ghost#other_reviews

there's some equivocal language within a positive review:

Richard Koloda's biography is a massive undertaking which gathers a phenomenal amount of research material. The bibliography section alone takes up about 20% of the book. It is obviously difficult to assemble a complete life story when many of the contemporaries from over 50 to 60 years ago are now gone as well. Much of the book is limited to quotes from reviews and reactions to live performances and recording sessions and releases, so that it reads much like a gigography and sessionography. The human element is mostly missing and the glimpses that we have of it are quite sad e.g. Ayler making a visit home to Cleveland and going to a schoolyard in order to see his estranged son Curtis and having to ask which one he was among the other kids, before giving him $1. Then there is of course the even more sad speculation as to the reasons behind Ayler's apparent suicide by drowning in the East River of New York City from where his body was recovered in November 1970. Still it is a terrific achievement to have pulled this all together and Koloda deserves all the acclaim for having done so.

I'm still going to make a closer inspection at the bookshop, but if these impressions verify I'll go for the (much cheaper) Kindle edition rather than paper. Given the Kindle price, I'll definitely read it.

Edited January 10, 2023 by T.D.

[colinmce]

I read the book this week, and found it a bit of a disappointment overall. It reads more like a longform article than an intensive biography. It's very glossy; compared to a work like Robin Kelley's Monk bio (admittedly the gold standard of jazz biography) or even Jack Chambers' problematic yet exhaustive Miles book, there is ultimately very little in the way of specifics or deep sourcing. In terms of the latter, it relies almost entirely on reviews and interviews from a small handful of publications (Coda, Downbeat, Cadence, The Cricket etc.); there is very little in the way of primary sourcing. Maybe this is difficult to obtain for a figure of Ayler's relative stature, I can't rightly say, but the line in the above Goodreads review ("a massive undertaking which gathers a phenomenal amount of research material") is frankly grossly overstated. As you move through the discography, the format becomes almost mind-numbing: the album, the songs, critical response, rinse & repeat. (And speaking of the discography, this text does not have one which is a glaring omission. I don't have the copy in front of me but I don't believe it contains an index either?).

There is almost no background on his collaborators-- names come up with about a sentence of context before moving on. Again, most of the critical analysis of the music is outsourced to block quotes from other writers (and I counted at least two which were repeated within a few pages). If you're already versed in jazz history, and in Ayler's music and history, this is fine, you can fill the rest in yourself. But someone coming in cold would have very little context for the progression of free jazz, the context of the music in New York City at the time, the shifting roles of the instruments, i.e. what exactly Sunny Murray's innovations were, how they were developed with Cecil Taylor, etc. Much mention is made of course of the building blocks of Ayler's music, but no specifics at all beyond "marches", "blues", "New Orleans" etc. One illustrative aside that I found quite bizarre was the assertion re: Love Cry that Alan Silva and Milford Graves are less musically rigorous than Peacock and Murray, that they deal with sound rather than specific musical ideas. This, of course, could not be further from the truth. It's a missed opportunity to examine in a substantial way how their approaches differ. Essentially, musicians other than the Aylers are given rather short shrift in the text (with the possible exception of Michel Samson, oddly enough). Maybe this is a quibble, not all biographies need double as critical analyses, but I don't think I've ever read a satisfactory jazz text that did not engage on this level at least somewhat deeper than what you find here. The many overlapping perspectives ultimately create a lot of noise and add up to very little understanding.

Anyways, these are the things that, in my opinion, it does not do well. There are many things it does do well (especially its consideration of Donald, this is almost a dual biography). As a straightforward overview of Ayler's life, it's a great start. I would like to see someone go further at some point. 

[jazzbo]

I'm about a third of the way through this one, reading it along with several other books in part because this is just not that compelling. I agree with Colin's assessment. I sure would like far more biographical material than is here, and if I wanted to I could track down all the music criticism material that is presented here by others. . . and that is a large part of the work.

[clifford_thornton]

Good to know.

Wilson's bio is pretty in-depth, though I definitely got frustrated with it at times for other reasons (we jazzbos are an opinionated lot!). I feel like Ayler's influence hasn't been touched on in a lot of critical writing -- honestly, the Village Concerts featured some of the best (extensively quoting people like Marion Brown and Anthony Braxton). A bio of the Aylers would have to touch on his lasting legacy both at home and abroad to really get me excited.

[T.D.]

A little over 100 pages into the Kindle edition of the Koloda book.

It's a disappointment, Colin's points are spot-on.

[unitstructures]

Not trying to be repetitive in my posts, but has anyone read Peter Niklas Wilson's book, Spirits Rejoice? Any better, any worse?

[Caravan]

Rather surprisingly, I found Wilson's better. Despite high expectations (or maybe because of them), Koloda's book is kind of a disaster, considering that it is supposed to be the result of years of work and research. I almost didn't find a single page without factual errors or ridiculous interpretations. It's good though that he spoke with Donald while he was still with us.

[mjazzg]

I haven't read the Koloda but enjoyed the Wilson which was a good overview and I thought pretty well written/translated.

Obviously at just 150 pages it's never going to be definitive but certainly gave a flavour of the life and Ayler's contributions to Jazz.

Edited January 17, 2023 by mjazzg

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, Caravan said:

Rather surprisingly, I found Wilson's better. Despite high expectations (or maybe because of them), Koloda's book is kind of a disaster, considering that it is supposed to be the result of years of work and research. I almost didn't find a single page without factual errors or ridiculous interpretations. It's good though that he spoke with Donald while he was still with us.

If everything you say is accurate (and I have no no reason to believe it is not) then, on a general level, I dread the thought of what "side effects" biographies like this are going to have in the longer run. If they are taken as "the gospel" by those who aren't collectors and fans of the subject of the bio anway but relative newbies or "re-users" with no real in-depth prior knowledge who use the biography as reference then the risk is real that the errors and outright blunders will be repeated and therefore perpetuated in other publications and finish being "carved in stone". To the detriment of "those who know" (and above all, who know better). And who (among those who may have the authority to do so) is going to put matters right in a way that gets widely noticed, then?

 

[John B Litweiler]

Is Peter Niklas Wilson's Ayler book in English?   Good!   I know a little of the research he did.   There's a whole lot of valuable information in Koloda's HOLY GHOST and his friend Donald Ayler's story is almost heartbreaking.   Terry Martin heard Donald's band in NYC one long-ago night when Albert sat in and IIRC Terry said yes, Donald could really play the alto saxophone.   Really, Mom and Dad Ayler seem to have been awfully perverse characters so it's no wonder the brothers were so miserable.   Charles Tyler's comment that Albert was terminally afflicted with that old-time religion is an undertone  in Koloda's book.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Yeah the English version of the Wilson book is now available at the Bastids--is it worth getting (its pretty exoensive for the size--$33, and only B&W photos)?

Edited February 7, 2023 by Hoppy T. Frog

[AllenLowe]

I am reading Koloda and I have to admit I like it. The writing seems fine, but if there as many errors as claimed, that's troubling, but I would like to see some specifics. If he depends too much on other sources, well, that's a problem I see more often in academic books. But, as I said, I would like to know what the errors are, as "disaster" is a pretty strong condemnation.

Edited February 7, 2023 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

I enjoyed reading this book and feel that I now have a better/deeper understanding of Ayler's arcs than before. 

[jazzbo]

I'm glad I made it through it. I didn't learn much I didn't already know and the writing was a chore to get through.

[JSngry]

No, didn't learn anything new (except maybe just how MUCH of a hustler he was by nature), but putting it all together linearly like this made for a good read, awkward-to-maddeningly wrong moments not withstanding. This guy was truly seat of the pants and following the narrative straight through like this really vivified it for me. 

[jazzbo]

My mileage varied.

 

[JSngry]

Well, you're in Ohio, so Cleveland is right there!