Ghosts

Derek Horton & Leon Thomas Johnson


 

 

The sequenced photographs were taken in New York City: on the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge; outside 48 East 3rd Street, Manhattan; and off Congress Street Pier, Brooklyn. The saxophone improvisation takes as reference points: Sonny Rollins' 'East Broadway Rundown', Sun Ra's 'Springtime In Chicago', and Albert Ayler's 'Ghosts'.

Sonny Rollins spent hundreds of hours in the early 1960's practising on Williamsburg Bridge. At the same time, Sun Ra lived collectively with his Arkestra at 48 East 3rd. And, after drowning in the East River in 1970, Albert Ayler's body was washed up at Congress Street Pier.