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Scottish National Jazz Orchestra Plays Ayler at St. Giles' Cathedral
BySt. Giles' Cathedral
Where Rivers Meet
Edinburgh, Scotland
May 15, 2021

Albert Ayler
saxophone, tenor1936 - 1970

John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967

Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto1930 - 2015
Ayler developed his style of free jazz following the route of church music, R&B, jazz, and military band music while serving in the army until, finally, the whole of his experience coalesced into his style while in Paris. He traveled extensively from his Cleveland, Ohio home and played in Scandinavia, Holland, France, and New York City. Most of Ayler's recorded work was released after his tragic end in New York's East River at the young age of 34. The popular music of that time was The Beach Boys and

The Beatles
band / ensemble / orchestraAyler's music was often difficult, cacophonic and perplexing. To add contrastor more confusionhe would sometimes add a piece of straight New Orleans marching band music. For their performance at St. Giles' Cathedral, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra honored Ayler's works and surprising performance shifts with an interpretation of "When the Saints Go Marchin' In" materializing out of the melee. Artistic director Tommy Smith, OBE, also invited Russian performance artist Maria Rud to paint amidst all the music inside the 12th-century Gothic structure in Edinburgh, Scotland.
There are no charts for Ayler's music, so Smith scored the music while also playing tenor saxophone. Still, three identifiable themes emerged. "Ghosts" from Ayler's Love Cry (Impulse, 1967) displayed Caribbean echoes of

Sonny Rollins
saxophoneb.1930
Pete Johnstone
piano
Calum Gourlay
bassAyler's work continues to represent absolute freedom for the musician, coming from a time when Black Americans had very little actual or political freedom even 100 years after emancipation. They were still striving for a professional level of respect for their music, however they chose to interpret, present, or shock with it. The SNJO's performance continued this tradition, straddling the outer reaches of melodic reason and moving still even further from anything resembling easy listening
Tags
Live Review
The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
Martin McFie
United Kingdom
Edinburgh
Albert Ayler
John Coltrane
Ornette Coleman
The Beatles
Sonny Rollins
Pete Johnstone
Calum Gourlay
Alyn Cosker
Comments
About The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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