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Posted in music on August 13, 2009
Rashied Ali, RIP
Newport's jazz festival - which this year has been christened George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival 55 - once again will bring some of the music's biggest and most popular practitioners to Fort Adams State Park in Rhode Island. But buried within this weekend's schedule, and relegated to a smaller stage, is a trio making a once-in-a-lifetime appearance in our neck of the woods: a free-jazz group called By Any Means.Rashied Ali didn't end up performing with By Any Means at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 9th. His brother Muhammad took his place. And now, along with the news of Les Paul, comes word that "Rashied Ali died on 12 August 2009 in a New York City hospital after suffering a heart attack and undergoing heart surgery." RIP. Videos below...The trio of alto saxophonist Charles Gayle, bassist William Parker, and drummer Rashied Ali play with a potency and urgency that can make your hairs stand on end. They also just happened to have made one of the greatest albums in free jazz, a 1993 date called "Touchin' on Trane,'' a collection of tunes inspired by, rather than composed by, John Coltrane. (For contractual reasons, the album was released under the artists' individual names rather than by By Any Means.) In 2008, more than 20 years after it formed, By Any Means finally released a proper album, a superb two-CD set called "Live at Crescendo'' that was recorded at a club in Sweden.
Now, for the first time, the New York-based trio will play a date in New England, at one of the most revered events in jazz lore - the Newport jazz festival.
It's not as though By Any Means has been touring extensively and merely skipped by us through the years. Free jazz is an acquired taste, sort of a professional jam session, and even its most popular artists draw relatively small crowds. By Any Means has performed only sporadically - disbanding for years at a time before regrouping - and even in a good year these guys play together only five or six times.
Though the trio claims to have no leader, Ali, 75, is its senior and most famous member. He played with Coltrane during the saxophonist's final years, most notably on the groundbreaking duo album "Interstellar Space,'' on which Ali made his mark as a drummer who eschewed keeping time and instead improvised completely independent of structure.
[Boston Globe - August 7, 2009]
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Posted on August 13, 2009 12:53 PM
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Comments (20)
FUCK
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 12:56 PM
First Les Paul and now Rashied Ali...pretty sad.
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 1:01 PM
sail on, rashied. you helped many do the same.
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 1:04 PM
Very sad. Saw Ali play a blistering set with guitarist James Blood Ulmer at Great Gildersleeves, back in the day.
Posted by drewo | August 13, 2009 1:29 PM
1:27 where do you live? I don't need to know who you are to come there an learn you a hard lesson, punk. Brooklyn Vegan if Rasheed Ali's page gets smutted by these punks please show some respect and take it down. No mercy.
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 1:42 PM
Oh I don't know 1:27, he was just Coltrane's drummer you fucking idiot! He can play more beats with one hand and one foot than any band you like can play all together.
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 1:44 PM
1:27 < than zero
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 1:44 PM
damn... loved his playing. just heard him talking up the new group on kcr a few weeks back.
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 1:59 PM
RIP. One of the best drummers of all time, bar none.
Posted by lorge | August 13, 2009 1:59 PM
thanks for taking down 1:27
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 2:05 PM
he could masturbate with his right foot while playing the drums.
Posted by mccoy tyner | August 13, 2009 2:33 PM
Thank you for posting this..Rashied Ali was one of the greats
Posted by Jim | August 13, 2009 3:25 PM
too sad. will there be a memorial service at the church on 54th and lex?
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 4:00 PM
So sad.
Saw him play Albert Ayler's Bells w/Prima Materia; in a trio w/Charles Gayle & William Parker; and in an apocalyptic trio w/Haino Keiji & Bill Laswell.
He brought something totally different to each group, and helped bring out unique aspects in the playing of all those guys.
A true original who kept his mind and ears and heart open for more years than I've been on this planet.
A real loss for music and for humanity in general.
Rest in peace my brother.
Posted by Lemmy | August 13, 2009 5:59 PM
thanks for posting these videos! G-d bless rashied ali always, he really helped the music become whole.
Posted by Yaakov | August 13, 2009 9:43 PM
I went to a workshop he did a few years back. Someone asked him who he listens to and he said he mostly just listens to records that he plays on. Interesting.
Great drummer though.
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2009 10:07 PM
ignore the trolls so the comments stick to reverence and praise -
saw Ali on a whim one night at Sweet Basil a few years ago and i am honored to have been there.
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 1:40 PM
ignore the trolls so the comments stick to reverence and praise -
saw Ali on a whim one night at Sweet Basil a few years ago and i am honored to have been there.
Posted by Anonymous | August 14, 2009 1:46 PM
The heavenly band just got a little stronger.
Fabulous drummer, wonderful person, and beoame one of my most favorite subjects to photograph live.
A tribute is in my gallery.
http://benjohnsonjazz.smugmug.com
Posted by Ben Johnson | August 14, 2009 2:57 PM
Rashied Ali was a personal friend and musical collaborator with my father Marion Brown. They recorded and played together in the mid to late 60's. My dad always would talk fondly of Mr. Ali, also relaying the story that it was the Marion Brown Quartet that introduced Mr. John Coltrane to Rashied Ali. My dad would say.." I thought Coltrane was coming to see me play, but he really had eyes on my drummer." Then he lets out a big laugh and smile.
Mr. Ali is now in the Love Supreme Heavenly All-Star Orchestra.
I met him a few times myself,
this post is a little late, but its never too late to show honor and respect.
R.I.P. Mr Ali
Posted by Djinji Brown | September 21, 2009 9:01 AM