Alan Silva

Biography

Silva was born a British subject to an Azorean/Portuguese mother, Irene da Silva, and a black Bermudian father known only as "Ruby." He emigrated to the United States at age five with his mother, eventually acquiring U.S. citizenship by age 18 or 19. In his twenties he adopted the stage name Alan Silva. He was quoted in a Bermudan newspaper in 1988 as saying that although he left the island young, he always considered himself Bermudian.

Raised in Harlem, New York City, he first studied the trumpet and later moved on to upright bass. Silva performed with Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Sunny Murray, and Archie Shepp. He took part in the 1964 October Revolution in Jazz and the 1967 live album Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village. Since the early 1970s he has lived mainly in Paris, France, where he formed the Celestrial Communication Orchestra.

In the 1990s he picked up the electronic keyboard, declaring that his bass playing no longer surprised him; he has also used electric violin and electric sarangi. In the 1980s he opened the I.A.C.P. (Institute for Art, Culture and Perception) in Central Paris with François Cotinaud and Denis Colin. Since around 2000 he has performed more frequently as a bassist and bandleader, notably at New York City's annual Vision Festivals.