RIP Archie Alleyne Canadian Jazz Legend and Drummer
When I heard that local Toronto jazz musician, trailblazer and drummer Archie Alleyne had died June 8th 2015, it made me nostalgic. In respect to his long career I decided to listen to his LP record Up There.
I savoured handling the LP and reading the liner notes. I enjoyed the tactile process of taking it out of the album sleeve and then the thin paper cellophane liner. I placed the Sony earphones on and heard the telltale slightly scratching sound of a record. It took me back to listening to him play, quietly and slowly in the room with all the noise associated with a busy club, bar or restaurant.
Did you know the Toronto Reference Library Arts Department still has over 15,000 LP records for you to listen to? We also have over 22,000 CDs. And we have free listening stations for both CDs and two record players. There are several CDs that feature his work including Kollage, featuring Archie Alleyne and Doug Richardson.
There were many obituaries written about Archie Alleyne and I like the different takes on him from the CBC and the Toronto Star. I also thought this online interview with him really gave him a chance to speak in his own voice and fill in the details of his life.
But I was also struck by the information about him on the website of the Archie Alleyne Scholarship Fund for young musicians to further their training and education and its message of "without a past …. there is no future".
If you're not able to come and listen to his record then you might enjoy the following Youtube clips including two performances, one solo interview and a moderated talk with some other black Canadian musicians.
If you're interested in jazz you'll enjoy this other blog post by Beau on jazz books.
Don't forget to check out the streaming music databases available through the Toronto Public Library's catalogue and the Naxos Music Library (Jazz).
The Library also has many music scores including ones on drumming and jazz. The largest collection of over 30,000 music scores that you can borrow is found at the Arts Department of the Toronto Reference Library.
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