as the core band to work with Morrison, who innately fused jazz, folk, Celtic music, R&B, soul, blues and gospel in the free-form songs that came to constitute “Astral Weeks.” Merenstein contacted jazz bassist Richard Davis, then brought in guitarist Jay Berliner, drummer Connie Kay and percussionist Warren Smith Jr. It was just stunning, and I knew I wanted to work with him at that moment.” I heard 30 seconds, a minute and it went right through me, and I got the poetry of it. “Thirty seconds into it,” Merenstein recalled, “my whole being was vibrating, because having spent all that time with jazz players, when he was playing, I could hear - the lyric I got right away I knew he was being reborn. “And the first tune he played was ‘Astral Weeks.’ “And I went up and it was at Ace Recording Studio at 1 Boylston Place, and there was Van Morrison, very timidly sitting on a stool, and I came in very timidly sitting on a stool and he played,” Merenstein said.
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