Sunday, December 18 - 7 to 9 p.m.
Cover: $5 / pay what you can
A Very Ayler Christmas
- Bernard Stepien – saxophone
- Craig Pedersen – trumpet
- Scott Warren – drums
- Philippe Charbonneau – bass
- Linsey Wellman – saxophone, bass clarinet.
Saxophonist Bernard Stepien and his little helpers introduce the music of Albert Ayler to that of the sweet baby Jesus. HO! HO! HO!
Discover the true meaning of Aylermas!
Here are some words from Bernard:
This year, our Albert Ayler – Christmas Carols concert is in a maturing phase. Our last year released CD has had a warm welcome by the Ayler experts worldwide and landed some encouraging reviews. Also, it did not take more than a few hours for out of town venues to accept our proposals and start sending promotion material to local media. Thus, this year we are playing Montreal and Toronto as a start which means that we should be totally hot by the time we hit Ottawa.
The proof of concept of mixing or better said fusing Christmas Carols and Albert Ayler composition is behind us. This year we have focused more on what to do with it. This meant more research on Ayler's artefacts and working them into the deep fibres of Christmas carols. It is now true alchemy with even sometimes a more scientific chemistry. We even managed to fuse "I Wish You A Very Christmas" with Ayler's "Spirit Rejoyce" composition and of course we had no choice than to extend the repertoire with a couple of new couplings: "God Rest you Merry, Gentlemen" with Ayler's "Prophecy", and Ayler's "Oh! Love of Life" with the worn-out carol, "Angels we have heard on high".
One thing is now sure, both Albert Ayler aficionados or experts and the general public like this project. Why? We really don't know. Maybe the constant flow of re-issues of Albert Ayler recordings and the publication of books slowly made his originally fierce avant-garde style more understandable.
Next year we will do Jingle Bells?
Merry Christmas - Joyeux Noël!
(Who was Albert Ayler? A frequent question, Albert Ayler was a saxophonist that created a unique style of music mixing Gospel, military music and Free Jazz. He became saxophonist John Coltrane’s best friend who particularly was envious of his sound and expressiveness. His music is subject to frequent re-issues even 40 years after his death and despite his totally anti-commercialistic style. Many books have also been written about him including in 2010 in France.)
www.site.uottawa.ca/~bernard/ayler_christmas.html
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