Donald Ayler RIP

[jake shields]

Just saw this - sad news he was really a great trumpet player. You can play the little link to the song "Our Prayer" as you read the article

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

[Andy Wilson]

From www.ayler.org:

Donald Ayler

(5th October 1942 - 21st October 2007)

Richard Koloda emailed me on Monday with the sad news of the death of Donald Ayler. The funeral was held on Tuesday and Richard kindly sent this report:

“Don Ayler suffered a sudden heart attack on Sunday October 21st, and passed away very quickly at the home he had been in, in Northfield Ohio. Because of the suddenness of the death, an autopsy was done. I had found out on October 29th, when my friend Imam Shaheed called me at work.

The funeral was held at 11 am on October 30th. It was a sunny day, and moderately warm at 62 degrees. Don was buried in Section 27, lot 200, Grave 3. He was buried next to his mother (his brother is buried in the miltary section).
The hearse from Nesbitt Funeral Home arrived, as did the few mourners. I met his cousins Claytene Wright, Sandra Wright, and Robert Johnson. His father was present, as was his niece Desiree and his nephew, Curtis Roundtree.
Among the friends (besides myself), were his two guardians, a Ms. Formica, and a young man named Jude. The other friends present were Joe Phillips’ brother, Imam Mutawef Shaheed, Robert Taylor (a Cleveland discjockey), Carrie
Roundtree, and Al Rollins.

The coffin was lifted from the hearse by the pallbearers; myself, Imam Shaheed, Al Rollins, Bob Taylor, the funeral director, and I believe the other pall bearer was Robert Johnson, or Mr. Phillips. The coffin and its contents were quite light during the short walk to the plot. A Reverend Girney read a brief passage from Romans, along with the standard, ‘it was his time according to God’s will’. The funeral director opened the casket at the head one final
time, and moved the cloth covering Don’s face. We filed past one final time paiyng our respects. Don looked at peace. He was wearing a gray sweater and dark pants. We silently said a final prayer, and the funeral director placed the cloth back over his face and closed the coffin. We said our final prayers, each of us placing a red rose over the coffin. We watched it lowered into the grave, and the lid placed over the vault. We departed taking our memories of a fun guy.”

[Andy Wilson]

It's about time that the film about Ayler got a general release (i forget its' name, but i saw it at the ICA last year and it is excellemnt). it would be a fitting tribute.

[Nick M]

The film's called "My Name is Albert Ayler".

http://www.mynameisalbertayler.com/

(you need to have pop-ups enabled to browse the site)

I'd never heard anything by Albert Ayler before going to see that, and after getting home from the ICA that evening I immediately ordered "Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings" from Amazon, and absolutely extraordinary it is too. There are passages on that which are among the best music I've ever heard (and this is coming from someone who's never done more than dabble in jazz and its offshoots. I don't know why but there's something about Ayler's music that I seem to immediately and instinctively "get", in a way I don't with some of the other figures in the jazz pantheon).