Phill Niblock has died

[rostasi]

It was bound to happen soon considering his age.
Ran a good performance space for many years.
He preferred to limit himself in what he composed.
We shared birthdays exactly a quarter century apart.
Made his mark in experimental circles.

Phill

Quote

He also developed a passion for photography. After moving to New York, he took his B Topcon single lens reflex camera along to jazz clubs and recording sessions. “I used to shoot with another photographer friend of mine and talented tenor saxophonist called Martin Bough. We became something of a double act, kind of a comedy routine. The musicians loved us, because we both knew when to shoot and when not to shoot, to stay away from microphones.” Niblock eventually built up a huge collection of photographs of jazz musicians, including many of the Duke Ellington orchestra. “I’ve finally scanned most of them – close to 1000 photographs. There’s been talk of publishing them, but I still haven’t got round to it. I should organise them better,” he admits. “There’s stuff that I can’t identify. I didn’t even put fucking dates on them. I just numbered the negatives.” In his unpublished photo archives are shots taken in 1962 at the recording session of Ellington’s Money Jungle with Charles Mingus and Max Roach. “I got there about halfway through. Mingus was on a tirade, drinking milk and really chewing up Max. He was so disruptive that Ellington took a break. It’s amazing they got so much done – that’s a fantastic session.”

By 1965 Niblock was working with the innovative Judson Dance Theater in Greenwich Village and had moved on to experimental film. “At the time everyone had to have a film to dance to,” he recalls matter of factly. His early shorts include 16mm portraits of dancer Ann Danoff, percussionist/composer Max Neuhaus, painter Raoul Middleman, and, most memorably, Sun Ra. “Martin Bough knew Sun Ra when he had his apartment on Second Avenue, and he told me Sonny was interested in making a film.” The Magic Sun, Niblock’s collaboration with The Sun Ra Solar Arkestra, filmed between 1966-68, was finally released on DVD in Atavistic’s Unheard Music Series in 2000. It’s a classic of underground cinema, a kind of Franz Kline in motion, with its superimposed reverse negative shots of Ra’s musicians in action, often so close up as to be unrecognisable, purely abstract. As a film document – not documentary – of the new jazz, it’s as essential (and challenging) as Michael Snow’s New York Eye And Ear Control. Although the film was finally cut to correspond to the length of the two Ra tracks, “Celestial Fantasy” from When Angels Speak Of Love and “The Shadow World” from The Magic City, Niblock neither shot nor edited the original footage with any particular piece of music in mind. “I was just shooting images. It took quite a long time to do – I kept shooting new parts and discarding earlier ones. But Sonny liked it very much. I used to project it behind the band when they played at Slugs, and we also used it for a big concert in Carnegie Hall in 1969.”

Edited January 9 by rostasi

[Jason Bivins]

RIP. A great artist.

[clifford_thornton]

Bough and Niblock, what a pair.

Bough shot a ton of photos of Robert Wilson, the theater director, and his troupe. I also know there were some activities at Niblock's loft back then, which may or may not have been photographed by Phill (they're uncredited in the archives). 

In retrospect I should have gone to his birthday parties; it felt weird to attend something where you don't personally know the celebrated individual, but I suppose that's how one meets other folks! At any rate, fascinating artist, and it's doubly cool to have walked the earth at the same time as someone of this stature.