Al Neil, King of the Underground

Al Neil may not be the king of the underground. For many years, it would seem, he was the artistic underground of Vancouver.
In a performing career spanning five decades and a significant if not pioneering stay in as many fields of artistic endeavour—including jazz, visual collage, novels and poetry, noise music, performance art and installations—Neil, 81, has grown from scenester alchemist to elder rascal.

“It never occurred to me why no one would stop me from doing what I wanted to do,” he smirked last week in interview.
Beginning this week, a month-long series of concerts, readings and installations known as the Al Neil Project is paying homage to Vancouver’s preeminent name among interdisciplinary artists.

Why all the fuss? Neil was a vagabond artistic spirit.

“Here’s a guy who introduces Vancouver to hard bop in the ‘50s,” explains Glenn Alteen, curator at the Grunt Gallery, “then starts playing music that sounded like [the Frank Zappa-fronted] Mothers of Invention, before they even existed.”

Musician and artist Gregg Simpson, who played with Neil from the age of nineteen in the ‘60s, drumming and–long before hip hop–fingering records on a turntable, says Neil’s nearest peers in jazz are pianists Elmo Hope and Bud Powell.

Author Michael Turner, who will present a night of readings as one of the upcoming events, similarly applauds Neil’s artistic prescience, but also his precociousness. After starting the famous Cellar club in ’52, not having anywhere else to play jazz, Neil as quickly walked away a decade later when fellow musicians insisted he “just play the changes.”

“Al’s important, a conscience, but a ghost to most,” Turner says.

Unfortunately, but for a recently re-issued double CD, “Retrospective: Al Neil Trio, 1965-1968,” the documentary record of Neil’s work is scant. The absence of recordings and traces from his career is something the Al Neil Project aims to reverse, reintroducing Neil to the artistic scene he did so much to invigorate over the years.

A born and raised Vancouverite, what is most telling about Neil’s artistic trajectory is that he chose to do—and in many cases, introduce–all these trends in art, music and literature, here. Not missing a beat, Neil credits “a history of difficulty at the border.”
Neil is not just “the consummate improvisational artist,” as guitarist-composer Ron Samworth notes; in Vancouver terms, his work remains without precedent. Drawing from an impossibly wide array of influences, from the Dadaists through the Psychedelics, and gleaning as much from John Cage as Marcel Duchamp, while holding court socially and in performance with Janis Joplin, Art Pepper, Kenneth Patchen and the Grateful Dead, Neil’s work comes off as remarkably sui generis.

“He brought a fusion to performance art that is not seen anymore,” says Glenn Alteen, curator at the Grunt Gallery. “He was such an anomaly, in terms of where he was coming from and where he was going. He did not fit in. He belongs to all these communities and yet none, so nothing will give you a true sense of his total output.”

It has been a decade since Neil retired from playing piano, but Neil’s mental acuity remains sharp. He guffaws about “the Bush dilemma” as only a retired radical could, reads voraciously, and keeps one ear to the radio. He especially commends the New Orchestra Workshop’s Samworth and saxophonist Coat Cooke for “being astounding for many years now,” continuing the legacy of improvised music in Vancouver, a scene he created.

“If there was no Al Neil we would have had to invent him,” Brian Nation, a local jazz aficionado, notes. “He’s that original.”

THE AL NEIL PROJECT:
October 15, 8:00 PM, Western Front
: The LIVE 2005 event features concerts, screenings, readings and performances related to Al Neil.
October 21, 8:00 PM, Vancouver Public Library
: A series of readings, including from Neil’s work, curated by Michael Turner.
November 10, 8:00 PM, Roundhouse Community Centre
: A tribute concert presented by the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society.
November 25, 9:00 PM, Vancouver Art Gallery: FUSE night project installment of Neil’s visuals and imagery.

(More info: http://www.coastaljazz.ca/index.php?page_id=88&event_id=551)