10 Things I Remember About Ollie Halsall On His Birthday

1.  “Olliemay not have been the best guitarist in the world, but he was certainly amongthe top two."  --John Halsey, 1997


2.  Everytime I hear a recording featuring Ollie playing that I haven’t heard before, Iwant to hear more “new” Ollie pieces.  Every time I hear Ollie playing, Iwant to listen to that piece of music over again and then again.


3.  Before we metOllie, we knew Kevin Ayers, who spoke about him so often that we felt him as aknown presence.  By the time we first knew Kevin, Ollie was anindispensible constituent ingredient in his music.  I don’t think Kevinhad any regard for anyone’s musical opinion but Ollie’s.

4. When we finally metand spent time with Ollie, we anticipated his humor (which was hilarious andconcentrated on deflating pretension), but were surprised by his courtesy,kindness, love of opera, and by his hypnotic effect on our cats, U andSanta.  Santa really loved him.


5.  Ollie’s modestyamazed me also.  I remember him dismissing some thrilling instrumentalpassages he played as merely “flypast” (the UK equivalent expression to“flyover” a la Blue Angels air shows) moments that were included as a matter ofcommercial necessity.  He was really about getting down to the heart andsoul of emotional material and all about subtlety and “touch.”

6.  I remember oncereading a quote from the normally frosty and fearsome Robert Fripp (who wasattending an Ayers/Cale/Nico/Eno show) where he called Ollie “theGuv’nor.”  Ollie certainly deserved the traditional accolade, but I wasunused to seeing Fripp so cuddly.


7.  Ollie’s enthusiasmfor New York’s subway system (which we told him we hated) was fascinating andsomewhat political. (Although he was an elite musician, he was definitely a manof the people.) 

8.  When we werenegotiating Kevin’s recording terms with CBS Records, his only non-negotiabledemand was that Ollie be included and flown over from London.  BusinessAffairs originally balked at the request but Paul Atkinson, the former Zombiesguitarist who handled A&R, agreed immediately and without hesitation.


 

9.  I remember theNew York City sessions very well and how the top local musicians who played onthe date admired Ollie and hung around when they had finished their parts sothat they could hear him record his solos.


10.   Although thesewere pre-internet days, I managed to learn about Ollie’s passing veryquickly.  A friend of his, Neil, managed a liquor store on the Upper EastSide of Manhattan near where we lived and, quite coincidentally,  Ihappened to walk into the store at a propitious moment.  The shockeventually passed, but I still feel the emptiness.  I think about Ollieevery day – mostly remembering funny things he said, including one punch line: “Yes,I buy all my shirts there.”  (I won’t bore you by explaining the joke,but it was a good one.) 

The OllieHalsall Archive -- Link

Braised Endives -- 2 Recipes; Gogl-Mogl; The Gold and Fizdale Cookbook

 
Fizdale (l) and Gold (r)

None of the magazines and newspapers I read these days ever seem tomention the pianists, cooks and authors Arthur Gold (1917-1990) and Robert Fizdale (1920-1995). 

This wasn't always the case. 

As musicians, Gold and Fizdale performed from the 1940s through the 1970s as a two-piano teamon the international classical concert circuit.  "The Boys," as they were known to their many celebrated musical, literary and culinary friends, championed the work of modern composers and commissioned and premiered important 20^th century piano works, including compositions byJohn Cage, Virgil Thompson, Paul Bowles, Ned Rorem, and the group of French composerspictured below, known as Les Six.

Les Six plus one (Jean Cocteau at piano) in the 1920s: Darius Milhaud, outline of Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Francis Poulenc, and Louis Durey (file photo)

As writers (a profession they adopted after Gold began suffering problems with his hands, which affected his playing), they wrote biographies, including "Misia: the Life of Misia Sert" (William Morrow 1981), "The Divine Sarah: a Biography of Sarah Bernhardt" (Knopf 1991), as well as journalism for Vogue and the excellent "Gold and Fizdale Cookbook" (Random House, 1984), a superb collection of recipes and travel/music/musician/dance and dancer lore.

The following two recipes only hint at the book’s qualities(the recipes are really good and well-written; it is also a handsome, well laid-out volume), butgive no real idea of G&F's range.

No matter – braised endives are, I think, my favorite dish [1] andGeorge Balanchine’s mother’s Gogl-Mogl recalls events from my ownchildhood.  My mother’s father wasRussian and she occasionally served something similar to my brother andme.  I hadn’t thought about that untiljust a moment ago.  Because my grandfather was basically non-communicative for most of the time I knew him (apparently, this wasn't always the case), the egg and sugar froth sparkles this memory. 

So: Vive Gold and Fizdale!  Vive Gogl-Mogl!  And Vive La Belgique -- home of the (Belgian) endive (aka witloof) and my friend Marvin Siau of Starvin Marvin and the Paranoid Androids!

Braised Endives

(Endive Braisées)

12 medium-size endives

1 stick (1/4 pound) butter

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Juice of half a lemon

¼ cup chicken broth or water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

     Trim off the rootends with a small knife, and discard any wilted outer leaves.  Never let endive sit in water, as that willexaggerate the bitterness.  If they arefairly clean to start with, just wipe them with a damp cloth.

     Generously butterthe bottom of a 3-quart flameproof enameled casserole and arrange the endivesclose together in two layers.   Seasoneach layer with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Dot with the remaining butter. Add the broth or water.  Simmer,covered, for 10 minutes, then boil, uncovered, for another 10 minutes, or untilthe liquid has reduced to a few tablespoons. Cut a round of paper to fit the top of the casserole and butter it well.  Lay the paper, buttered side down, on theendive, cover the casserole and bake for about 1 hour.

OPTIONAL:  Whencooked, arrange the braised endives in a shallow baking dish, dot with morebutter, and brown under the broiler for a minute or two.

6 servings.

GOGL-MOGL

“Like Proust’sMadeleine, gogl-mogl, a frothy mixture of egg yolks whipped with sugar, evokedBalanchine’s childhood for him.  ‘Atbedtime, my brother, sister and I sat around Mama in a semi-circle.  She had a glass of gogl-mogl and aspoon.  While she fed one, the other twowatched to see who got the biggest spoonful. We were like little birds in a nest fed by the mama bird.”

6 egg yolks

6 tablespoons sugar

½ tablespoon vanilla

Put all the ingredients in the top of a double-boiler oversimmering water.  Beating continuously,heat until light, fluffy, and somewhat thick. Pour into a bowl or into wineglasses and chill.

NOTE: 

[1]   Because, as I mentioned, braised endives areabout my favorite thing to eat, I thought I would include the preparation below, which is the one I use mostoften. I think it's one of Pierre Franey's 60 Minute Gourmet recipes and is simpler and much quicker to make than the Gold and Fizdale version.  Endive season is upon us. We recently found a good and inexpensivelocal source for this prized, once much rarer item.

Braised Shredded Endives

1 1/4 lbs. fresh Belgian endive

2 tbsp. butter
Juice of half a lemon or lime

Salt and freshly ground pepper totaste

1/4 tsp. sugar

1.  Trim off the ends of each endive.  Place the endives on a flat surface and cuton the diagonal into very thin strips. There should be about 6 cups of shredded endives.

2.  Heat the butter in a heavy skillet and addthe endives.  Add the lemon juice, salt,pepper and sugar.

3.  Cook, stirringoften, about 3 minutes or until wilted. Cover and cook about 8 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking, stirring often, about 3 or 4 minutes untillightly browned.

 

Musical accompaniment:

A.  George Auric: Une Valse Pour Deux Pianos Pour Arthur Gold et Robert Fizdale

B:  Starvin Marvin and the Paranoid Androids: Working For Success

Fool After Midnight

A wise adviser once advised me this way:

"Don’t  move your mouth 

Till you've got something to say;

Talk in the morning, but when the Moon comes up,

Take my advice boy and Keep Your Mouth Shut."

Late at night when I'm feeling Divine,

I make the same mistakes Every Time.

I make myself promises that I always forget;

I talk too much, do stupid things

I always regret.

I’m just a Fool after Midnight,

My senses fade after daylight.

I’m just a fool.

Note:  This is another in a series "illustrating" song lyrics by Kevin Ayers.  Fool After Midnight, a really magical, wistful, depressive Kevin song (I apologize for the tautology)  appeared on the Kevin Ayers/Ollie Halsall collaboration album As Close As You Think,  released on the Illuminated label in the UK in 1987. You can listen to the recording by visiting This Link and searching for the record, song and "play" button at the lower right.  As Close As You Think was recorded at the home studio of former King Crimson/Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell, and, as I hope you will hear, is delightful, but definitely more on the order of a very good demo (Kevin's a highly resourceful and sophisticated recordist) than a polished master version, which would, no doubt, have featured real drums and a fewer synthesized sounds.  I'm sorry Kevin has never revisited the song, but maybe the mood and inclination didn't last.  I post it here partly because it brings back some Fool After Midnight memories of time spent running around with with Kevin and sometimes Ollie several years earlier than the song in Manhattan, Brooklyn and on Long Island.  I hope the various King Arthur legend illustrations I have chosen suit the lyric and do not seem irrelevant or superfluous.  If they do, the song paints its own, vivid mental pictures.


ILLUSTRATION KEY:

1. Aubrey Beardsley, Merlin and Nimue, 1893.

2.  William Morris, King Arthur and Sir Lancelot,  1862.

3.  Julia Margaret Cameron, The Parting of Lancelot and Guinivere, 1874.

4.  Gustave Dore, Guinivere, 1877 (illustration to Tennyson's Idylls of the King).