albert ayler - the last album

and now for something completely different. singing along to gary bartz? getting your strata-east groove on? let's end the weekend with some freaky sh*t and put all that to bed.

i think this was not actually ayler's last recording but it may have been his last for impulse, and was released after his death in 1970. i believe it was recorded at the same time as "music is the healing force of the universe." now i'm not always down with ayler... and i claim to be no expert. like many impulse sessions, this is not a record i would play every day, but when it hits right, it hits perfect.

the opening duet between ayler on bagpipe and canned heat's henry vestine on psychedelic fuzz guitar is just about perfect. ayler's own yoko ono/linda mccartney, mary maria, recites or half-sings some poetry, which just about sums up the haunting nature of this record, and of ayler himself. there's a whole lot of shrieking, and some blues, some really nice bass playing, and some more singing, including by ayler himself. as gato barbieri once said, "i sing sometimes, not because i like to sing but because the music needs singing. and when I scream with my horn, it's because the music needs screaming (from blog http://ileoxumare.blogspot.com/2008/03/albert-ayler-last-album-1971.html)


produced by ed michel
recorded august 1969




personnel:
albert ayler
mary maria (parks)
bobby few
henry vestine
bill folwell
stafford james
muhammad ali

tracklisting:
01 - untitled duet (1:28)
02 - again comes the rising of the sun (2:21)
03 - all love (9:02)
04 - toiling (5:08)
05 - desert blood (5:39)
06 - the birth of mirth (5:22)
07 - water music (6:18)

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