In Wednesday’s (2/3) Los Angeles Times, Steve Lopez writes, “I was beginning to think we’d never get around to making the CD that Nathaniel Anthony Ayers has been talking about for years. Last summer, on a trip to San Francisco, where Mr. Ayers was honored for his spirit by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, we came up with the perfect name for it: ‘Putting on Ayers.’ … A few weeks ago, it all seemed to be coming together. We had a day booked in a Silver Lake studio. A pal of his, Joe Russo, had agreed to fly in from Connecticut to record with him. L.A. Philharmonic pianist Joanne Pearce Martin and violinist Robert Gupta had juggled schedules. And Michael Balzary, also known as Flea of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers, was eager to join us.” Ayers had second thoughts, but went ahead with the sessions. “Mr. Ayers played violin, cello, bass, piano and trumpet with varying degrees of success. … He’s got his own sound, for sure, unstructured and sometimes unresolved, manic, lost. He plays his life, and he plays it in a jazzy, bluesy voice framed by the classical training.”
Posted February 4, 2010
