{"id":1374,"date":"2011-12-31T13:51:11","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T13:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/?p=1374"},"modified":"2025-05-20T07:41:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:41:22","slug":"ian-mclachlan-the-coming-of-albert-ayler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/1374\/ian-mclachlan-the-coming-of-albert-ayler\/","title":{"rendered":"IAN McLACHLAN: The Coming of Albert Ayler"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born July 13.1936<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father of the silent scream.\u00a0 Sweden 1961, playing \u201cJazz\u201d of un-paralleled intensity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Afro-American in Sweden 1961.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Collaboration with competent time-keepers.\u00a0 Others’ material, towing the Jazz party line (J.P.L)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some R&B and blues projects.\u00a0 Soon to realise that within him were more melodies than a human could ever brew.\u00a0 Away with modal padding, the changes, endless conservatoire arpeggios…<\/strong><\/p>\n

1964.\u00a0 Spiritual revolution.\u00a0 Beauty was about to happen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As it was in the beginning so it was in the END.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On went the No. 4 white plastic reed onto the Tenor saxophone mouthpiece \u2013 maximum vibrato, terrifying pathos.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peace goes on the Attack.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rage of the Horn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crack the snare drum, sizzle cymbal skid and scuttle of falling bin method, asymmetrical bombs dropped.\u00a0 The Bass Drum a deadly cylinder.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The upright Bass uneven, bowing, high arcing a one man string quartet no formulaic backdrops here.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Collective improvisation.\u00a0 Every sound intended.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bro.\u00a0 Donald (Ayler) learns trumpet in 6 months.\u00a0 They tour.\u00a0 No cash.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Music is circus whirls of ecstasy, dirges, funeral dances, military fanfares.\u00a0 Abstract blues, Dervish, Klezmer, upside down swing:\u00a0 A NEW FOLK MUSIC, NOT FUSION i.e. not music for export.\u00a0 This was inside him.\u00a0 He played himself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A threat to the world order, especially the Jazz World Order.\u00a0 Tear the walls down M….Fucker.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ghosts of infinite beauty<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wear the infant Happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n

ANGELS<\/strong><\/p>\n

ViBRATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOTHERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

SPIRITS<\/strong><\/p>\n

TRUTH IS MARCHING IN<\/strong><\/p>\n

(some of the composition titles).<\/strong><\/p>\n

However programming the revolutionary energies alongside mainstream artists to pull the punters did him no favours.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Few were prepared to hear his world devoid of fear and hatred where everyone is valued.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jazz was in crisis.\u00a0 Many avant-gardists were jostling for first position.\u00a0 Ayler was more than Jazz, a true Avant-Gardist\u00a0 out of this world from this world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1966 Add cello and violin.\u00a0 Melodramatic and proclamatory. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are ghettos all around even in the mind\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He was not aligned to any one political group.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just the emotional intensity of the Horn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMusic is the healing force of the universe\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1967 \u2013 Add bagpipes.\u00a0 Electric \u201crock\u201d guitar.\u00a0 A kind of utopian seeking croon in venues like university campuses.\u00a0 The sound of Albert spread far.\u00a0 Mr Coltrane questioned his own approach to improvising; some of his disciples too.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coltrane helped finance and fix a deal with more commercial record labels.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then came the soft soul, gospel a polite vocal duetting \u2013 \u201cDesert Blood\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His last days spent in a taxi flanked by two black goddesses.\u00a0 Face covered in Vaseline.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep the elements out\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the television screen destruction using his tenor saxophone as a bludgeon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 25 1970.\u00a0 His body was discovered in New Yorks East River \u2013 \u201c Water music\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ian Mclachlan lives in london with his dog and daughter and unpublished poems and rooms full of audiocassette tapes, trombones, euphoniums…incompatible dat tapes of numerous free improvised music performances.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has collaborated with poet Graham Hartill and Dutch poet Johan De Wit over the years…He is more interested in live performance than the\u00a0 recorded product….<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born July 13.1936 Father of the silent scream.\u00a0 Sweden 1961, playing \u201cJazz\u201d of un-paralleled intensity. An Afro-American in Sweden 1961. Collaboration with competent time-keepers.\u00a0 Others’ material, towing the Jazz party line (J.P.L) Some R&B and blues projects.\u00a0 Soon to realise that within him were more melodies than a human could ever brew.\u00a0 Away with modal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[29,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/issue-2-logo7.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42xiC-ma","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1374"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3740,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions\/3740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}