Bernard Stepien's
A Very Ayler Christmas
Listen to the mp3 of Joy to the World - Bells
Click here to Order a copy of our CD
Bernard Stepien acknowledges the financial support of the City of Ottawa.
Click here to Order a copy of our CD
Bernard Stepien acknowledges the financial support of the City of Ottawa.
Well, for us, this almost sounds like mission accomplished.
The concept of mashing up Albert Ayler with Christmas Carols has over the last half dozen of years of concerts slowly wound up into a well accepted tradition. in fact, a few days ago, I realized that I was in deed a fool because after all of these efforts to find matches between the two repertoires and writing the mash-ups, taking fragments from both repertoires and combining them together, I found out that it was already there all the time. For the last 50 years, everybody had already noticed that Albert Ayler's art consisted in combining spirituals with military music. Few, noticed that some of the spirituals were Christmas carols. In fact, Albert Ayler did the reverse process. He took Christmas Carols and transfused them in his own composition by adding, enhancing, modifying them with his own musical concepts giving them a total new perspective. Upon the release of our first CD, critics were unanimous in saying that this was the CD Ayler would have loved to make. What we all missed is that not only the fact that it was already there but also that Albert Ayler was a marketing genius. By not saying anything to anybody, Ayler could play his music year round, especially at those fantastic European summer Jazz festivals. On our side, we are stuck playing our repertoire at Christmas time only. Well, at least we got a review right in the middle of the summer this year:
"We all have our highlights; mine was the Bernard Stepien Orchestra's holy morph of Albert Ayler and Christmas carols last December.", Lawrence Joseph, CULT#MTL august 2012
Thus, don't miss one of the following dates:
"Phenomenal mashup of Albert Ayler tunes and Christmas Carols. Ironic or sincere? Beautiful or funny? Why not all of these? You decide!!", Gordon Allen, l'Envers, Montreal.
"We all have our highlights; mine was the Bernard Stepien Orchestra’s holy morph of Albert Ayler and Christmas carols last December.", Lawrence Joseph, CULT#MTL august 2012
"This so-obvious-no-one-did-it-before wassailing mash-up works as both tribute to Ayler's spirit and as the only stocking stuffer your Grinchiest jazz-lovin' relatives will appreciate.", Lawrence Joseph, Montreal Mirror
"A Very Ayler Christmas! ultimately works for me more as a well-intentioned and raw Ayler tribute CD first, with Christmas themes appended and rendered rustically rather than reverently.", Peter Hum Ottawa Citizen
"Cette rencontre entre l'univers de la nativité et l'un des principaux initiateurs du free jazz n'est somme toute pas si iconoclaste.", Pierre Durr, Revue & Corrigée, France
"This is not a case of playing carols in the style of Albert Ayler (à la Roland Kirk’s We Free Kings), instead the Bernard Stepien Orchestra take a carol and an Ayler tune and try to meld them together. At its best, you forget which tune is which and the effect is quite magical. The whole thing does exude a playful and a joyful feeling which is quite in keeping with the spirit of Albert Ayler." Patrick Regan, Albert Ayler website
Pasadas estas fechas seguiráonando bien. ¿bien?. ¡fantastico!. "a very ayler christmas, yuletide classics meet the music of albert ayler" (independant). el saxofonista de otawa, bernard stepien, fundiendo los himnos aylerianos con tradicionales cancioncillas navideñas como anillo al dedo. parafraseando a lester bowie, "de la raiz a las fuentes". ayler lives!. Desde mi cadiera blog spot, Alguis, Spain
Thursday, Dec 8th, 8 PM Le Café des Artistes de la Lièvre, Buckingham, QC
Sunday, Dec 11th 8 PM, at Somewhere There, Toronto
Tuesday, Dec 13th, 8 PM at the Mercury Lounge, Ottawa
Saturday, Dec 17th, 9:30 PM at l’Envers, Montreal
Sunday, Dec 18th, 7 PM at the UMI café, Ottawa (IMOO series)
Bernard Stepien, Tenor saxophone
Linsey Wellman, Alto saxophone and bass clarinet
Craig Pedersen, Trumpet
Philippe Charbonneau, bass
Scott Warren, drums and percussions
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 Oh! Love of Life and 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. May be 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.
Finally, people are very busy attending Christmas parties or travelling. The tour should provide you with the opportunity to fit one of our concerts into your busy schedule. See you all there…
mp3- Spirits vs Angels From The Realm Of Glory
Exactly on the same date in 2006 we produced this concert for the first time under very adverse weather conditions (5mm of freezing rain). Many people could not attend and even two musicians preferred to stay home. But despite these adverse conditions a number of people came anyway and were delighted. This year a number of people, audience or musicians alike pressed me to re-enact this project with many more ideas that brewed in between. So, here it is!
Three years later, the concept of playing Christmas Carols with extreme avant-garde material of the late saxophonist Albert Ayler is no longer considered as adventurous. By now, everybody knows it works. The proof of concept is behind us. The reason for this enthusiasm is very simple: Albert Ayler based his compositions mostly on spiritual music which makes the transition to Carols a natural but also all of that avant-garde hype seem to mix well with the energy usually found in Black Church where Ayler played in his teens. Ayler’s music in his days was perceived differently: musicians, including stars like John Coltrane, one of his best friends, loved his music, his tone and especially the then out fashioned vibrato. The club owners, except for the Village Vanguard, could not see a source of revenue in this for them terrifying music and that as if it was not enough was mixed with Black Church elements. That didn’t go well with the tradition of sinning that was associated with Jazz clubs all the way since the New Orleans days. Military music, the other component of Ayler’s music, is nothing new either since this is where it also started for Jazz. New Orleans music was directly inspired from the format of French Louisiana military music bands. Consequently, Alyler managed to go full circle with the process of Jazz making.
However, and thanks to musicians like John Coltrane, Albert Ayler had access to the prestigious record label Impulse and got well documented and is up to this date well known and revered by aficionados.
As usual, singing along is welcome and who knows, with a federal election looming we even expect our prime minister, Steven Harper to show up at our concert and get into some caroling with us. He found out quickly that elections can now be won on YouTube.
Merry Christmas - Joyeux Noël
Bernard Stepien
Exactement à la même date en 2006, nous avons produit ce concert pour la première fois mais dans un contexte climatique extrême (5 mm de pluie verglaçante). Beaucoup de gens ont préférés rester à la maison y compris deux des musiciens de l'orchestre. Cependant, malgré ces circonstances, pas mal de gens ont réussis à assister à cet évènement et ont été ravis du résultat. Cette année, un bon nombre de gens aussi bien spectateurs que musiciens m'ont poussé à récidiver, le tout alimenté des nombreuses discussions qui ont suivies le premier évènement il y a trois ans.
Trois années plus tard, le concept de jouer des chansons de Noël en les mélangeant à de la musique avantgardiste extrême du saxophoniste Albert Ayler n'effraye plus personne. Bien au contraire. Maintenant tout le monde sait que ça marche. La raison de cet enthousiasme est simple: Albert Ayler a basé sa musique sur la musique negro-spirituals ce qui nous permet une transition vers les chansons de Noël tout en douceur et pour ce qui en est du débordement d'énergie du Jazz d'avantgarde, là non plus il n'y a pas de problème étant donné qu'il y a un niveau d'énergie comparable dans la musique de l'Église Noire ou Ayler jouait dans sa jeunesse.
La musique d'Albert Ayler était perçue différemment à son époque, il y a près de 40 ans. D'un côté les musiciens de Jazz y compris le saxophoniste John Coltrane, un de ses meilleurs amis, adoraient sa musique et particulièrement sa sonorité et en particulier son vibrato ringard. De l'autre côté, les acteurs du business du spectacle à l'exception de club phare qu'était le Village Vanguard, ne pouvait pas voir comment on pouvait faire de l'argent avec cette musique térrifiante et de plus mélangée avec des éléments de l'Église Noire. Après tout, l'industrie du Jazz était encore associée avec la tradition du péché originel que représentait le club de Jazz qui tirait ses origines dans les bordels de la Nouvelle Orléans. La musique militaire, l'autre composante d'Albert Ayler qu'il a appris à cette fois ci Orléans en France n'était plus ou moins rien de nouveau pour lui. Après tout, le Jazz de la Nouvelle Orléans était directement inspiré par les fanfares de musique militaire française. On pourrait donc avec Albert Ayler parler d'un double retour aux sources.
Heureusement, grâce à l'intervention de musiciens de Jazz célèbres comme le saxophoniste John Coltrane, Albert Ayler a été abondement enregistré et ce, sur des étiquettes de prestige comme le célèbre label Impulse et sa musique a été du coup largement diffusée et est rééditée encore aujourd'hui à la joie des aficionados.
Comme d'habitude, vous pourrez chanter les chansons de Noël avec nous. Cette année, avec une élection fédéral qui plane sur nos têtes nous nous attendons même à voir notre premier ministre, Stephen Harper se pointer à notre concert et chanter en choeur avec nous. Lui aussi à fini par comprendre que les élections ça se gagne sur YouTube.
Joyeux Noël
Bernard Stepien
Friday, December 22nd, 2006, 7:00 to 10:00 PM
at the Mercury Lounge
56 Byward Market
Ottawa
Bernard Stepien, Tenor and Soprano Saxophones
Linsey Wellman, Alto, Soprano Saxophones and flutes
Anna Williams, vocal
Mark Molnar, cello
Thomas Posner, bass
Scott Warren, drums and percussions
and guests
Again, this year we have decided to produce a concert strategically positioned on the last Christmas shopping day and in the Ottawa Byward market where most of you get the ultimate delicacies for the Christmas table. The program this year will be somewhat stretched but surely will provide you with a break from boring Christmas parties small talk. Starting at 7 PM, this will give you the opportunity to stop by without any major detour from your shopping routes.
During the '60s, the work of Tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler was considered as revolutionary within an already quite revolutionary context. The basic principles of his music have been summarized by French critic Jean-Louis Comolli as unresolved contradictions and full scale paradoxes. These qualities raised the interest of legendary saxophonist John Coltrane who became his friend and introduced him to the successful jazz label Impulse on which most of Ayler's work can be heard. Among the catalog of contradictions is the use of military music mixed with spirituals, the intensive use of vibrato that most jazz musicians have strictly eliminated from their style.
The idea of playing Christmas carols in the style of Albert Ayler has been around for saxophonist Bernard Stepien for a number of years. Early experiments have been attempted with success at jam sessions with members of this group and even now out of town French pianist Jean-François Delannoy. The crystallization of these attempts has been the acquisition of Albert Ayler's 1964 recording of spirituals played in a very plain way and that was not released by anyone back then but have since become a major collector's item. Albert Ayler never recorded Christmas carols during his short career. However, the concept must probably have crossed his mind and he surely must have performed such repertoire in his home town. Bernard Stepien's strong northeastern European background also played a significant role in this project. In Northern Europe, Christmas goes way back to pre-christian times with the cults associated with the winter solstice. So, for saxophonist Bernard Stepien, Christmas music is kind of built-in!
As usual, singing along is welcome.
Merry Christmas
Dans les années 60, le saxophoniste Albert Ayler a accompli une révolution dans la musique de Jazz dans un contexte déjà passablement révolutionnaire. Sa musique a été décrite par le critique français Jean-Louis Comolli, co-auteur du dictionnaire du Jazz chez Robert Laffont, comme un lieu d'exposition de contradictions non résolues et de paradoxes entiers. Malgré celà, sa place dans l'histoire du Jazz est irrévocablement importante et donne lieu à des rééditions fréquentes. Parmi ses contradictions, le trait le plus marquant est le mélange extrème de genres musicaux, dans son cas, la musique militaire napoléonienne avec les négro-spirituals sans parler de l'utilisation de techniques instrumentales comme un fort vibrato qui avait été abandonné par la quasi-totalité des saxophonistes de jazz auparavant.
Le saxophoniste Bernard Stepien, leader du groupe, a eu l'idée de remplacer le matériel négro-spirituel habituellement utilisé par Albert Ayler par des chansons de Noël apportant ainsi une contradiction supplémentaire à son oeuvre. Son origine ethnique nord-européenne l'a exposé intensivement aux rituels de célébration de Noël qui remontent dans la nuit des temps ou Noël était surtout associé au solstice d'hiver. Les études avec le pianiste de jazz Cecil Taylor en 2001 à New York ont fait le reste, c'est à dire un style d'improvisation basé sur le dévelopement mélodique cellulaire.
Joyeux Noël