Boston Herald
‘Astral’ Projection
Van Morrison revisits a landmark work

When Van Morrison ventured into the slipstream to record his legendary 1968 album “Astral Weeks,” he didn’t do it alone. Alongside the young Irish singer/songwriter were some of the top jazzmen of the day, including bassist Richard Davis, drummer Connie Kay, guitarist Jay Berliner - and one feisty, 22-year-old Concord native.

Flute and saxophone player John Payne, who now runs the John Payne Music Center in Brookline, and Morrison were both living in Cambridge in ’68. Payne wound up playing on “Astral Weeks,” a milestone in the Morrison canon that the unpredictable artist decided to re-record live last November at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert and its release on CD drew critical raves; now Morrison returns to Boston on Tuesday to play “Astral Weeks” at Citi Wang Theatre.

How did Payne and Morrison meet?

“A bass player named Tom Kilbania I knew from jam sessions asked me to come and sit in with this singer he was working with,” Payne remembered.

A jazz musician, Payne hadn’t heard of Morrison, who had scored American hits as a member of the Northern Irish band Them and on his own with “Brown-Eyed Girl.” Payne was going to skip the session, but his brother convinced him that Morrison was an up-and-coming pop star. So Payne grabbed his sax and traveled to a Boston coffeehouse called the Catacombs to check out the singer.

“As you know, Van’s short,” Payne said. “Well, I’m tall. So when I went to say hi to him he kind of went, ‘Ugh,’ and didn’t ask me to sit in. I listened to the first set and wasn’t that impressed and almost left. Then Van asked me if I wanted to sit in for the second set. Well, that was the first time I’d played with someone of his caliber. I felt that he could hear me and was responding, changing his voice as he listened to what I was playing.

“The second song we did was ‘Brown-Eyed Girl,’ and I realized that this wasn’t some song he was covering, this was his song,” Payne continued. “The next night he asked me back. After that he asked me to join the band.”

When Morrison moved to New York to record “Astral Weeks” and look for better gigs, he brought Payne with him. Payne quickly discovered Morrison was last year’s fashion and that finding work would be a hard-fought battle.

Morrison and band scored support slots for folk hero Tim Hardin and blues master John Lee Hooker, but few people showed up to see the opening act. Payne recalls playing to single-digit audiences some nights.

And he wasn’t fairing much better in the recording studio.

“I was not supposed to be on recordings (with Morrison),” Payne said. “They had some session flute player there the first night of the sessions and he was good. But being 22 and young and brash, I kept telling the producer, ‘Let’s do one more song that I can play on.’ The producer finally let me play. But I didn’t even bring my flute, so I had to borrow the other guy’s, and he wanted time and a half for just sitting there. Well, the song we did was ‘Astral Weeks.’ After that night they decided to keep me as the flute player.”

At the nexus of folk, rock and jazz, the “Astral Weeks” album is unique. Payne knew it from the moment the sessions started. The mix of Berliner’s classical guitar flourishes, Kay’s easy rhythms, Davis’ thumping, woody bass and Payne’s hummingbird flute trills formed the backdrop for Morrison’s magical, mystical Irish verse.

“People think there were a lot of rehearsals,” Payne said, “but there were no rehearsals. Zero. These musicians just came in and did it. They probably don’t even remember the sessions. They probably had two more sessions to do that day.

“And there were very few takes. The whole album was done in three sessions,” Payne added. “But these guys knew how to leave space. They knew how to pick up on what was going on and play into it. It’s the sound of something coming together for the first time.”

Payne remembers having his mind blown listening to Van become the Man from the production booth. But Payne, the unknown kid of the sessions, got to blow some minds, too.

“It was just Van, Richard Davis and I for ‘Slim Slow Slider,’ ” he said. “The take we did was maybe 10 minutes longer than what you hear on the recording. We just kept improvising; we went into some baroque stuff; Van even did some improvising on guitar. When we came into the control room everyone was completely silent. Maybe they were just tired and I’m projecting, but it was amazing.”

It likely wasn’t fatigue that floored the control room, but the interplay between the three artists. “Slim Slow Slider,” the closing cut on “Astral Weeks,” is a standout on an album of standouts.

Morrison seemed to agree: You can hear the singer give a little chuckle as Payne enters with a lilting soprano sax run.

But what was heard on the finished album is only an abbreviated version of the take. As the trio begins its strange jam, the track is cut short.

“I’d like to hear that (whole take) again sometime,” Payne said. “Someone should go to Warner Brothers and dig it up.”

As amazing as the sessions and resulting album were, the release didn’t do much to further Morrison’s career. “Astral Weeks” bombed at first.

“I’ll tell you much how much of a flop it was,” Payne said. “We used to go and try and find it for fun. We used to have to go to three or four record stores to find a copy buried in the M section.”

Eventually, Payne wanted to get back into jazz and headed back to Boston. Though Morrison and Payne crossed paths a few more times over the next couple years, including some hang time at Morrison’s house in Woodstock, N.Y., the two eventually lost touch.

Payne wishes Morrison would have called him for this “Astral Weeks” revival tour. He would have liked a chance to play with Van the Man once more, but he’s not bitter.

“I’m not sad that I’m not on (the new ‘Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl’ album), but I don’t want to hear it now,” he said. “It’s just something that’s in the past for me.”

Well, unless Morrison calls and asks him to join the band for a few numbers on Tuesday.
- Jed Gottlieb

Van Morrison, Tuesday at Citi Wang Theatre. Tickets: $65-$350; 800-432-7250.