disc 4
albert ayler quintet
april 17, 1966 in cleveland, ohio
01 - untitled/truth is marching in
02 - spirits
03 - medley: zion hill - spirits - spiritual bells
04 - untitled
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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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albert ayler's beautiful 1970 set on his first day at the maeght foundation in france. liners include bass player steve tintweiss' comments on the performance. available commercially for the first time, and recorded during ayler's final concert series, this release shows ayler at "...the peak of his creative powers" and is a stunning testament to his genius and addition to his legacy. "one of the most advanced music minds on the planet" - wire magazine, nov 2004
this cd includes albert ayler's last recordings before he was found dead in the east river (new york city) in november, 1970.
recorded live in france at the fondation maeght in st. paul de vence (july 25th 1970).
personnel:
albert ayler: tenor saxophone, soprano, museme, vocal;
steve tintweiss: double bass;
allen blairman: drums;
mary maria: vocal, soprano saxophone.
tracklisting:
01 - music is the healing force of the universe (7:47)
02 - birth of mirth (10:38)
03 - masonic inborn (7:18)
04 - oh! love of life (9:31)
05 - island harvest (5:01)
06 - heart love (5:24)
07 - ghosts (10:53)
// taken down on the request of the label //
"through meditations, dreams, and visions, the players on this project were given the message to once again attempt to send the people of earth a message of love, peace, and spiritual understanding. we selected a representative set of tunes for this material and essentially let it play itself through us ... we hope you like this record." it doesn't feel like enough for these ears. once again, cuneiform has educated and once again they have rewarded followers with a superb free-jazz release that will hopefully pique interest in the legacy of albert ayler.
personnel:
vinny golia - reeds
aurora josephson - voice
henry kaiser - guitar
mike keneally - piano, guitar and voice
joe morris - guitar and bass
damon smith - bass
weasel walter - drums
tracklisting:
01 new new grass/message from albert (golia/morris/smith, ayler-parks) (3:21)
02 music is the healing force of the universe (ayler, m. m. parks) (20:09)
03 japan/universal indians (ayler, m. m. parks), (10:51)
04 a man is like a tree (ayler, m. m. parks) (5:21)
05 oh! love of life (ayler, m. m. parks (12:25)
06 thank god for women (ayler, m. m. parks) (5:37)
07 heart love (ayler, m. m. parks) (6:17)
08 new generation(ayler, m. m. parks (9:31)
09 new ghosts/new message (ayler-parks, golia/morris/smith) (5:20)
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get the album part 1
get the album part 2
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personnel:
albert ayler - tenor saxophone
call cobbs - piano
sunny murray - drums
henry grimes - bass
tracklisting:
01 goin` home (4:26)
02 ol’ man river (5:25)
03 down by the riverside (take 6) (4:39)
04 swing low, sweet chariot (4:30)
05 deep river (4:15)
06 when the saints go marchin’ in (4:12)
07 nobody knows the trouble i’ve seen (4:44)
08 ol’ man river (take 1) (4:58)
09 swing low, sweet chariot (take 1) (4:49)
10 down by the riverside (take 5) (4:28)
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live recording of ayler's large septet configuration, featuring brother donald, charles tyler, sunny murray and both henry grimes and gary peacock on bass. compared to the bare trio of spiritual unity this nearly big band of two bass players and a strong horn section allows ayler's expressive vision depth from the joyous to the agressive in ayler's 5 original compositions.
september 23, 1965 at judson hall, new york by david hancock
ultimately, however, what we have with spirits rejoice is essentially a lament on the plight and deliverance of the oppressed and downtrodden. when you’ve been pushed down and kicked in the teeth for so long, you are left with only two viable options: fight back or embrace your oppressors with love, and spirits rejoice is an emblem/tableau about choosing love in the face of pain, abuse, and hate. it’s a beacon of what could be, and what should be, no matter what the trappings of our environment are – and that, my friends, is ultimately why this precious little album means so goddamn much to me. it’s a constant reminder to choose life no matter how dire your circumstances are. i mean, i have little doubt that ayler’s life was no picnic. he was an african-american living in a volatile time. plus, he was a penniless musician, his nigh obscurity punctuated by the fact that he died at the age of 34. furthermore, suspicious circumstances surround his death. his body was found floating in the hudson river, and nobody to this day knows how his body got there or what he died of. perhaps the pain in his life finally got to him. everybody has their breaking point, and a man can only take so much wretchedness before he breaks down for good. and poor ol’ ayler was undoubtedly up to his ears in agony. but despite all his troubles, i believe ayler had a lotta love in his heart; spirits rejoice articulates this love — love for people, love for god, love for life – deeper and more eloquently than any other album i’ve ever heard in my life.
personnel:
albert ayler - tenor saxophone
donald ayler - trumpet
charles tyler - alto saxophone
sunny murray - drums
call cobbs - harpsichord
henry grimes - bass
gary peacock - bass
tracklisting:
01 spirits rejoice (11:39)
02 holy family (2:12)
03 d.c. (7:59)
04 angels (5:28)
05 prophet (5:34)
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new york eye and ear control is an album of group improvisations recorded by an augmented version of albert ayler's group to provide the soundtrack for michael snow's film of the same name.
critics have compared it with the key free jazz recordings: ornette coleman's earlier free jazz and john coltrane's subsequent ascension. john litweiler regards it favourably in comparison because of its "free motion of tempo (often slow, usually fast); of ensemble density (players enter and depart at will); of linear movement". ekkehard jost places it in the same company and comments on "extraordinarily intensive give-and-take by the musicians" and "a breadth of variation and differentiation on all musical levels".
personnel:
albert ayler - tenor saxophone
don cherry - trumpet
gary peacock - bass
sunny murray - drums
john tchicai - alto saxophone
roswell rudd - trombone
tracklisting:
01 don's dawn (0:59)
02 ay (20:17)
03 itt (22:05)
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