THE GLOBE AND MAIL
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005

Sui generis statesman
PERFORMANCE

J

udging by comments from his
peers, Al Neil is the embodiment of avant-garde art. But
can a man in the midst of a
month-long homage still lay claim
to the tide King of the Underground?
In a performing career spanning
five decades and artistic endeavours ranging from visual collage to
poetry to jazz, it would seem that
81-year-old Al Neil has grown from
scenester alchemist to elder rascal.
Beginning this week as part of the
Live Biennale of Performance Art, a
series of concerts, readings and installations dubbed the Al Neil Project honours Vancouver's pre-eminent interdisciplinary artist.
The fuss is pardy a product of
Neil's musical prescience. "Here's a
guy who introduces Vancouver to
hard bop in the 1950s," explains
Glenn Alteen, curator at the Grunt
Gallery, "then starts playing music
that sounded like Mothers of Invention, before they even existed."
Musician and artist Gregg Simpson, who played with Neil from the
age of 19, drumming and — long
before hip-hop — scratching records on a turntable, says Neil's
nearest peers in jazz are pianists Elmo Hope and Bud Powell.
Neil is not just "the consummate
improvisational artist," though,

guitarist-composer Ron Samworth
says. Both his visual art and music
draw from an impossibly wide array
of influences, from the Dadaists to
the psychedelics, John Cage to Marcel Duchamp. Neil also held court
— either socially or in performance
— with legends including Janis Joplin, Art Pepper, Kenneth Patchen
and the Grateful Dead.
"He brought a fusion to performance art that is not seen any more,"
Alteen says. "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."
Unfortunately, but for a recendy
reissued double CD Retrospective:
Al Neil Trio, 1965-1968, the documentary record of Neil's work is
scant. "Al's important — a conscience —but a ghost to most," says
author Michael Turner, who will
present a night of readings as part
of the upcoming events.
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.
"If there was no Al Neil we would
have had to invent him," says Brian
Nation, a local jazz aficionado.
"He's that original."
As for the man himself, he says:
"Long ago, I learned that nobody
would stop me from doing whatever I wanted to do."

The Al Neil Project
Oct-15- A tribute including vocalizations of Neil's texts by Kate Hammett-Vaughan, a screening of David Rimmer's film Al Neil: A Portrait
and a reading from Neil's work by
Michael Turner. 8 p.m. $10. The
Western Front, 303 East 8th Ave.,
604-875-9516.
Oct- 21. A series of readings, including pieces by Neil himself, curated by Michael Turner. 8 p.m.
Free. Vancouver Public Library, 350
W.Georgia St.
Nov-10- A tribute concert presented by the Coastal Jazz and Blues
Society. 8 p.m. $12. Roundhouse
Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews.
Nov. 25. Visuals and imagery from
Neil's performance art are mounted at the Vancouver Art Gallery. 9
p.m. $10.750 Hornby St.
For detailed information on TheAl
Neil Project contact Grunt Gallery
604-875-9516 or visit www.livevancouver.bc.ca.

28fh annua!

International
Festival of Authors
October 19-29, 2005
Elizabeth Kostova, Kate Mosse
& Louise Welsh
Saturday, October 22, 12 pm
Brigantine Room
Kostova reads from her blockbuster The
Historian, Mosse reads from Labyrinth, a
new novel which spans eight hundred years
of history \n the south of France. Welsh
reads immTambouriame Must D/e, a
thrilling historical murder mystery.

Special to The Globe and Mail

Will Ferguson
Sunday, October 23, 3 pm
Studio Theatre
Ferguson's debut novel Happiness won
the Leacock Medal for Humour. He presents
Hitching Rides With Buddha, a coniedic
travelogue of his experiences with cherry
blossoms and automobiles in Japan, He
will be interviewed by Antanas Sileika.

Tickets/Info: 416-973*4000
www.reaciings-org

THE GLOBE AND MAIL
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HARBOUR CASTLE

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Al Neil's work in mediums from music to collage continues to influence fellow artists and creators,

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