Alan Lee da Silva (born 22 January 1939 in Bermuda) is an American free jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known as a double bassist. He has recorded on keyboards, violin, cello and trumpet among other instruments.
Biography Silva was born a British subject to an Azorean/Portuguese mother, Irene da Silva, and a black Bermudian father known only as "Ruby". He emigrated to the United States at the age of five with his mother, eventually acquiring U.S. citizenship by the age of 18 or 19. He adopted the stage name of Alan Silva in his twenties.
Silva was quoted in a Bermudan newspaper in 1988 as saying that although he left the island at a young age, he always considered himself Bermudian. He was raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, where he first began studying the trumpet, and moved on to study the upright bass.
Silva is known as one of the most inventive bass players in jazz and has performed with many in the world of avant-garde jazz, including Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Sunny Murray, and Archie Shepp.
Silva performed in 1964's October Revolution in Jazz as a pioneer in the free jazz movement, and for the 1967 live album Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village. Since the early 1970s, Silva has lived mainly in Paris, France, where he formed the Celestrial Communication Orchestra, a group dedicated to the performance of free jazz with various instrumental combinations. In the 1990s he picked up the electronic keyboard, declaring that his bass playing no longer surprised him. He has also used the electric violin and electric sarangi on his recordings.
In the 1980s, Silva opened a music school I.A.C.P. (Institute for Art, Culture and Perception) in Central Paris, together with François Cotinaud and Denis Colin, introducing the concept of a Jazz Conservatory patterned after France's traditional conservatories devoted to European classical music epochs.
Since around 2000, he has performed more frequently as a bassist and bandleader, notably at New York City's annual Vision Festivals.
Discography As leader or co-leader Recording dateAlbumLabelRelease datePersonnel1968-11-01SkillfulnessESP-Disk1969With Karl Berger, Dave Burrell, Becky Friend, Mike Ephron, Lawrence Cooke1969-08-17Luna SurfaceBYG1969With the Celestrial Communication Orchestra1970-12-29SeasonsBYG1971With the Celestrial Communication Orchestra1971-01-01My CountryLeo1989With the Celestrial Communication Orchestra1974-09-01Inner SongCenter of the World1974Solo bass, piano, organ, and voice1978-11-01The Shout - Portrait for a Small WomanChiaroscuro1979With the Celestrial Communication Orchestra1982-06-25Desert MirageIACP1982With the Celestrial Communication Orchestra1986-11-23Take Some RisksIn Situ1989With Roger Turner, Misha Lobko, Didier Petit, Bruno Girard 1993-04-14In the TraditionIn Situ1996With Johannes Bauer and Roger Turner1998-03-06A Hero's Welcome: Pieces for Rare OccasionsEremite1999With William Parker1999-05-29Emancipation SuiteBoxholder2002With Kidd Jordan and William Parker1999-05-31Alan Silva & the Sound Visions OrchestraEremite2001With the Sound Visions Orchestra1999-10-16TransmissionsEremite1999With Oluyemi Thomas2000-12-01The All-Star GameEremite2003With Marshall Allen, Kidd Jordan, William Parker, and Hamid Drake2001-05-24H.Con.Res.57/Treasure BoxEremite2003With the Celestrial Communication Orchestra2006-11-01Stinging NettlesImprovising Beings2014With Lucien Johnson and Makoto Sato 2008-08-28Parallel WorldsLong Song2012With Burton Greene2009-08-29Crimson LipImprovising Beings2011With Keiko Higuchi, Sabu Toyozumi, Takuo Tanikawa2011-04-17Plug InMultikulti Project2013With Roger Turner 2014-07-21Free Electric BandFortune2016With Mette Rasmussen and Ståle Liavik Solberg2014-11-22FreeJazzArtRogueArt2014With Jacques Coursil
As sideman
with Albert Ayler Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village (Impulse!, 1967) – live recorded in 1966–67 Love Cry (Impulse!, 1968) – recorded in 1966–67
with Abdelhai Bennani Enfance (Marge, 1998) Entrelacs (Tampon Ramier, 2003) – live recorded in 1999 New Today, New Everyday (Improvising Beings, 2012) Free Form Improvisation Ensemble 2013 (Improvising Beings, 2015)[2CD]
with Dave Burrell Echo (BYG Actuel, 1969) After Love (America, 1971) – recorded in 1970
with Bill Dixon Bill Dixon in Italy Volume One (Soul Note, 1980) Bill Dixon in Italy Volume Two (Soul Note, 1981) Considerations 1 (Fore, 1981) November 1981 (Soul Note, 1982)
with Bobby Few More Or Less Few (Center of the World) Rhapsody in Few (Black Saint) Solos & Duets with Frank Wright (Sun Records)
with Sunny Murray Sunny Murray (ESP Disk, 1966) Big Chief (Pathé, 1969) Sunshine (BYG Actuel, 1969) Homage to Africa (BYG Actuel, 1970) Aigu-Grave (Marge, 1980) Perles Noires Volume 1 (Eremite, 2005) – live recorded in 2002–04
with Sun Ra Sun Ra-Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold (Saturn, 1976) – live recorded in 1964 Nuit de la Fondation Maeght Vol. 1 (Shandar) Nuit de la Fondation Maeght Vol. 2 (Shandar) It's After the End of the World (MPS, 1970) – live Out In Space (MPS)
with Archie Shepp Poem for Malcolm (BYG Actuel, 1969) Live at the Pan-African Festival (BYG Actuel, 1971) – live recorded in 1969
with Cecil Taylor Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966) Conquistador! (Blue Note, 1968) – recorded in 1966 Les Grandes Répétitions (CBS/Sony, [not released]) – recorded in 1966 It is in the Brewing Luminous (hat Hut, 1981) – live recorded in 1980
with Frank Wright Center of the World (Center of the World, 1972) – live Last Polka in Nancy? (Center of the World, 1973) – live Solos & Duets with Bobby Few (Sun, 1975) Unity (ESP-Disk, 2006)
with others Jacques Coursil, Trails of Tears (Sunnyside, 2010) – recorded in 2007–09 The Globe Unity Orchestra, Intergalactic Blow (JAPO, 1983) Burton Greene, Firmanence (Fore, 1980) Andrew Hill, Strange Serenade (Soul Note, 1980) Franz Koglmann and Bill Dixon, Opium for Franz (Pipe, 1977) – recorded in 1976; 3 tracks reissued on Opium (Between the Lines, 2001) Shipen Lebzelter, Rock and Other Four Letter Words (Columbia, 1968) Jimmy Lyons, Other Afternoons (BYG Actuel, 1970) – recorded in 1969 Grachan Moncur III, New Africa (BYG Actuel, 1969) Itaru Oki, Paris-Ohraï (Ohraï, 2001) William Parker, Requiem with Charles Gayle (Splasc(H), 2006) Francois Tusques, Intercommunal Music (Shandar, 1971)
Filmography 2001 – Inside Out in the Open (2001). Directed by Alan Roth.
References
External links Alan Silva discography from Center of the World site FMP releases The Celestrial Communication Orchestra on Discogs I.A.C.P. (Institute for Art, Culture and Perception)