Alan Silva facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alan Silva
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Silva in Belgium, 1969
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alan Lee da Silva |
| Born | 22 January 1939 Bermuda, British Empire |
| Genres | Jazz, free jazz, avant-garde jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Double bassist, songwriter, bandleader, composer, keyboardist |
| Instruments | Upright bass, keyboards, electronic keyboard, trumpet, electric violin, sarangi |
| Labels | BYG Actuel, ESP Disk, Impulse!, Blue Note, (CBS, Sony, Columbia, Soul Note, Black Saint, JAPO, Hathut, MPS, ESP-Disk |
| Associated acts | Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Frank Wright, Bobby Few, Bill Dixon, François Cotinaud, Sunny Murray, Globe Unity Orchestra, Andrew Hill, Dave Burrell |
Alan Silva (born January 22, 1939) is an American musician famous for playing a style of music called free jazz. He is a multi-instrumentalist, which means he can play many different instruments. While he is best known for playing the double bass, he has also recorded music using keyboards, violin, cello, and trumpet.
Contents
Life and Music Career
Early Life
Alan Silva was born in Bermuda. His mother was from the Azores, a part of Portugal, and his father was a black Bermudian. When he was five, he and his mother moved to the United States. He grew up in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.
As a young man, Silva first learned to play the trumpet. Later, he began studying the upright bass, which became his main instrument. He became a U.S. citizen when he was a teenager and chose the stage name Alan Silva in his twenties.
A Pioneer in Free Jazz
In the 1960s, Silva became a key figure in the free jazz movement. Free jazz is a style where musicians improvise, or make up music on the spot, with a lot of freedom and energy. Silva was known for his creative and unique way of playing the bass.
He performed with some of the most famous musicians in avant-garde jazz, a type of music that pushes boundaries. These musicians included Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and Archie Shepp. He was part of an important event called the October Revolution in Jazz in 1964, which helped introduce free jazz to more people.
Moving to Paris
In the early 1970s, Silva moved to Paris, France. There, he started his own band called the Celestrial Communication Orchestra. This group was dedicated to playing free jazz with different combinations of instruments.
While in Paris, Silva also helped start a music school called the I.A.C.P. in the 1980s. The school was special because it taught jazz music in the same serious way that traditional schools taught European classical music.
Later Career
In the 1990s, Silva started playing the electronic keyboard. He said he wanted to try something new because he felt he had already explored everything he could with the bass. He also experimented with the electric violin and an Indian instrument called the sarangi.
Since the 2000s, he has returned to playing the bass more often and leads his own bands. He often performs at music festivals, like the annual Vision Festival in New York City.
Selected Albums
Alan Silva has recorded many albums as the main artist, or "leader." Here are a few of them:
- Skillfulness (1969)
- Luna Surface (1969)
- Seasons (1971)
- My Country (1989)
- Alan Silva & the Sound Visions Orchestra (2001)
- H.Con.Res.57/Treasure Box (2003)
- FreeJazzArt (2014)
Film Appearance
- 2001 – Inside Out in the Open: A documentary film about free jazz music.
