Albert Ayler

The release is an important jazz event: While Ayler’s freewheeling performances at the Fondation Maeght on July 25 and 27, 1970, were excerpted on the albums Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (Shandar Records) and Live on the Riviera (ESP-Disc), presented in inferior sound, they have never been released in their entirety until now. Remastered audio by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, transferred directly from the original OrtF stereo tape reels, including over 2 hours of previously unreleased music. The is an official release by Elemental Music Records in partnership with the Albert Ayler Estate & INA France.

Spiritual Unity was the album that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant-garde, and the first jazz album ever released by Bernard Stollman's seminal ESP label. It was really the first available document of Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians, and the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic. Bassist Gary Peacock's full-toned, free-flowing ideas and drummer Sunny Murray's shifting, stream-of-consciousness rhythms (which rely heavily on shimmering cymbal work) are crucial in throwing the constraints off of Ayler's playing. Yet as liberated and ferociously primitive as Ayler sounds, the group isn't an unhinged mess - all the members listen to the subtler nuances in one another's playing, pushing and responding where appropriate…

During 1967-69 avant-garde innovator Albert Ayler recorded a series of albums for Impulse that started on a high level and gradually declined in quality. This LP, Ayler's first Impulse set, was probably his best for that label. There are two selections apiece from a pair of live appearances with Ayler having a rare outing on alto on the emotional "For John Coltrane" and the more violent "Change Has Come" while backed by cellist Joel Friedman, both Alan Silva and Bill Folwell on basses and drummer Beaver Harris. The other set (with trumpeter Donald Ayler, violinist Michel Sampson, Folwell and Henry Grimes on basses and Harris) has a strong contrast between the simple childlike melodies and the intense solos.

From the time he was signed to Impulse in 1966, it was assumed that Albert Ayler's releases on that label would be motivated by an attempt at commercialism. While the music was toned down from his earlier ESP recordings, by no means did Ayler ever make commercial records. Much in the same way John Coltrane's later-period Impulse releases weren't commercial, Ayler simply took advantage of a larger record company's distribution, trying to expose the music to more people. Ayler's uncompromising musical freedom mixed with his catchy combination of nursery rhythms and brass band marches remained prominent on Love Cry. The interplay between the Ayler brothers also remained fiery as younger sibling Donald is heard playing trumpet for the last time on a recording with his brother…

Albert Ayler - Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe (1969) {Impulse! 065 383-2 rel 2003}
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© 1969, 2003 Impulse! / Verve | 065 383-2
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

One of the last records made by avant sax legend Albert Ayler – a really mind-expanding album that's unlike anything else he ever did! By the time of the record, Ayler had made a full round trip between the New York and European jazz scenes – leaving important influences wherever he went, and trying desperately to pick up new ones the further he moved on. Here, he's working in a style that's a bit like that of Archie Shepp at the time – still steeped in free jazz and new thing ideals, but infused with a free-thinking approach to the music that allows for bold new styles and sounds.

Albert Ayler - Goin' Home (1964) {Black Lion BLCD760197 rel 1994}
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© 1964, 1994 Black Lion Records | BLCD760197
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Albert Ayler was confronted with a spiritual anxiety that both plagued and comforted him throughout his life. This is frighteningly clear listening to the highly intense musical yin and yang that was present February 24, 1964, when the tracks for Goin' Home and Witches and Devils were recorded. Ayler plays tenor and soprano saxophones on "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Deep River," "Goin Home," "Down by the Riverside," "When the Saints Go Marchin In," and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." These traditional compositions are treated with reverence and a lack of improvisation, played in a quietly passionate but respectful manner.

Albert Ayler - Holy Ghost, Rare & Unissued Recordings 1962 to 1970 (2004) {10CD Set, Revenant Records RVN 213}
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© 1962-70, 2004 Revenant Records | RVN 213
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

An amazing package – one that's almost as essential to Albert Ayler's catalog as his classic albums on ESP from the 60s! The 9CD set is filled with rare material from Ayler – early recordings from Scandinavia, a smattering of American sides from the mid 60s, later work in France from the end of his life, and even a performance at John Coltrane's funeral! Other players include brother Don Ayler, trumpeter Don Cherry, pianist Cecil Tayler, and Burton Greene – and the package is filled with amazing sounds that really show Ayler's inventive approach to jazz. The box itself is beautiful – sculpted like some hand-carved treasure chest – and filled with 9CDS, plus a 208 page full-color hardcover book that features essays by Amiri Baraka and Val Wilmer, photos and memorabilia, and a chronology of Ayler's performances. Amazing stuff – and a true tribute to this legend!

Tribute to Albert Ayler Live at the Dynamo is an album by a free jazz quartet composed of trumpeter Roy Campbell, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, bassist William Parker and drummer Warren Smith…