How To Write a Book

without realizing you’re doing it

Five years ago this week, while my wife AJ and I planned our December wedding, I wrapped up a more imminent family project: reissuing my uncle Alan Braufman’s 1975 free jazz album, valley of search. I owned an original copy, and the second release on the now legendary India Navigation record label was a personal artifact that I revisited once or twice per year. More than anything, I loved the memories that I associated with the music: My uncle Alan’s run-down New York City loft apartment at 501 Canal Street; the gritty, smoke-covered sights and smells of downtown NYC back then; three-year-old me playing drums with Alan in the same room in which the album was recorded.

Alan & Nabil / NYC 1975 ish

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Alan played saxophone with artists from Carla Bley to the Psychedelic Furs, and he released two albums under the name Alan Michael, but he never released another Alan Braufman album. Finally in 2016, Alan reunited with his longtime friend and musical collaborator Cooper-Moore (who went by Gene Ashton back in the vos years), to perform at a music school in Harlem. When I posted some photos from the performance, I was shocked by the response—several friends commented that they knew about Alan Braufman, Cooper-Moore, and valley of search. A quick search led me to find that the album was a rare, expensive prize on the record collector website Discogs, and that a poor-quality recording of the album had racked up an astounding 10,000 plays on YouTube. I immediately knew that we had to reissue the album.

Valley of Search album jacket back + front cover / 1975

I spent much of 2017 gathering artwork assets, trying to reach the musicians who played on the album, and most importantly, listening a lot and reminiscing with Alan and Cooper-Moore about that wonderful, carefree time in the ‘70s. I’d started writing in 2016—my business partner and I had recently sold our Seattle record store, Sonic Boom Records, and I’d published my first piece about the early days of the shop—and all of this valley of search activity brought back a flood of memories. So I started to write about them.

As the June 2018 album reissue approached, I’d written a lot about my magical—albeit non-traditional—childhood experiences at 501 Canal Street, and I’d received either a pass or a non reply from every New York media outlet I thought might publish my piece. So the new target date became the August 3, 2018 reunion concert, where Alan, Cooper-Moore, and an amazing band of New York Musicians would perform valley of search live for the first time ever since its 1975 release. 

Alan Braufman live at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust / August 3, 2018

One outlet hadn’t yet been approached with my piece—the New York Times. I didn’t know anyone there and it felt ambitious, so I tapped my music publicist friend and colleague Carrie, who kindly offered to help. On August 1, 2018, Alan and I spent an afternoon on Brooklyn’s Lot Radio playing records and telling stories. In the car on the way to a WNYC live session, Carrie called to say that the New York Times had agreed to run my piece. It was a magical moment—sitting in the car next to Alan, having just told stories about this incredible time and place, while en route to a live performance of this music. The stars had aligned.

When I spoke with the Times editor, I was nervous that he’d change his mind, or that he'd completely tear my piece apart. He didn’t, but he did say in a roundabout way that it was too long: “You should save a lot of this for the book.” I laughed, but he didn’t. That lack of laughter was the first inkling that I might have started to write something longer than an article.

The New York Times / August 9, 2018

On August 3, 2018, Alan and his band performed a sold out concert at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust. My New York Times piece was finished and ready to run as soon as Alan and I did a photoshoot together, which happened  just before the show. Gabriela Bhaskar took a ton of great photos that afternoon. A few are in the Times piece, and there’s a gallery with many more. This album reissue project and the surrounding synergy was the first big step towards writing my memoir, and it led to Alan Braufman’s 2020 album The Fire Still Burns, and the new album he’ll record this fall.

Read the New York Times piece

Listen to Alan & Nabil in 2018 on WNYC’s All Things Considered

Watch Alan’s August 2018 WNYC performance and National Sawdust performance

Alan’s music is on all streaming platforms—most importantly, Bandcamp, where it’s all 50% off this weekend w/ code: VOS5

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I’m headed back to Los Angeles and Seattle-ish in a few weeks. LA is 8/23 with Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast at the amazing bookstore Reparations Club. Seattle is actually in nearby Port Townsend, WA on 8/25 at the Thing festival, where I’ll be in conversation with my former bandmate, John Roderick.

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Wed Aug 23: Los Angeles, CA @ Reparations Club / in conversation with The Stacks podcast host Traci Thomas. 7pm

Fri Aug 25: Port Townsend, WA @ Thing (music festival) / in conversation with John Roderick. 12:45pm (early)

Fall will be officially titled “Back to School” with events at universities and venues in Arizona, North Carolina, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin, and more.. Event details and updates can always be found HERE.

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My memoir My Life in the Sunshine is out now. I’d love it if you picked up a copy at your local independent bookstore. It’s also available at all the big places, and for your Kindle as well. There’s an audiobook that I spent 20 hours of my life reading (it’ll only take 7 hours to listen). You can listen to the 5-minute intro for free on Spotify.

I hope to see you somewhere soon.

Nabil Ayers / Brooklyn

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