Alan silva and the celestial communication orchestra seasons full album
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 performed in 1964's October Revolution as a pioneer in the free jazz movement, and for Ayler's Live in Greenwich Village album. He has lived mainly in Paris since the early 1970s, 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 in Central Paris, 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.
As leader
Luna Surface with Anthony Braxton, Dave Burrell, Leroy Jenkins, Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur III, Malachi Favors, Claude Delcloo, Beb Guérin, Kenneth Terroade, Bernard Vitet (BYG Actuel, 1969)
Seasons with Lester Bowie, Dave Burrell, Jerome Cooper, Joseph Jarman, Joachim Kühn, Steve Lacy, Roscoe Mitchell, Robin Kenyatta, Michel Portal, Malachi Favors, Irène Aebi, Ronnie Beer, Kent Carter, Dieter Gewissler, Bobby Few, Beb Guérin, Oliver Johnson, Famoudou Don Moye, Alan Shorter, Bernard Vitet, Jouk Minor, 1970
Alan Silva/Celestrial Communications Orchestra: The Shout - Portrait for a Small Woman (Sun Records, 1978, with Georges Menousek, Georges Gaumont, Jo Maka, François Cotinaud, Jouk Minor, Denis Colin, Robert Garrison, Pierre Sauvageot, Bernard Vitet, Itaru Oki, Adolf Winkler, Michael Zwerin, Pierre Faure, Jacques Dolias, Catherine Lienhardt, Bruno Girard, Helene Bass, Pierre Jacquet, Armand Assouline, Michel Coffi, Muhammad Ali)
Alan Silva/Celestrial Communications Orchestra: Desert Mirage (Pierre Faure, Carl Schlosser, Aldridge Hansberry (fl), Catherine Carrot (acl) Jean Querlier (htb) Denis Colin (bcl) Pascal Morrow, Bruno Girard (vl) Didier Petit (vcl), Jeff Beer, Serge Adam, Bernard Vitet, Itaru Oki (tp, bugle) Michael Zwerin, Doménico Criseo (tb) Georges Gaumont, François Cotinaud, Arthur Doyle (st) Philippe Sellam, Sébastien Franck (as) Henri Grinberg (ss) Antoine Mizrahi, François Leymarie, Rosine Feferman (b) Francis Gorgé (g) Adrien Bitan, Jacques Marugg (vib) Bernard Drouillet, Ron Pittner, Gilles Premel (dm), François Cotinaud (arrangements) IACP, 1982
Inner Song (Center of the World)
Crimson Lip (Improvising Beings)
Stinging Nettles (Improvising Beings)
Take Some Risks with Bruno Girard, Misha Lobko, Didier Petit, Roger Turner, 1989
In the Tradition with Johannes Bauer, Roger Turner, 1993
A Hero’s Welcome: Pieces For Rare Occasions with William Parker, 1998
Emancipation Suite with William Parker, Edward Jordan, 1999
Alan Silva and the Sound Visions Orchestra with J. D. Parran, Art Baron, Edward Jordan, Bill Lowe, Raphe Malik, Steve Swell, Joe Daly, Andrew Lamb, Rob Brown, Mark Hennen, Jackson Krall, Sabir Mateen, Karen Borca, Taylor Ho Bynum, Ori Kaplan, Stephen Haynes, Elliott Levin, Wilber Morris, Mark Taylor, Joe Daley, 1999
Transmissions with Oluyemi Thomas, 2000
Skillfullness with Karl Berger, Dave Burrell, Becky Friend, Mike Ephron, Lawrence Cooke, 2001
HR57 Treasure Box with Baikida Carroll, Wilber Morris, Marshall Allen, J. D. Parran, Roy Campbell, Oki Itaru, Joseph Bowie, Joseph Daley, Bobby Few, Bill Lowe, Warren Smith, Steve Swell, Francis Wong, Jackson Krall, Kidd Jordan, Oluyemi Thomas, Sabir Mateen, Karen Borca, Daniel Carter, Johannes Bauer, Ijeoma Thomas, 2003
