Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Albert Ayleriana

b. Cleveland Heights, Ohio, July 13, 1936 - d. New York, NY, November 25, 1970

"Love means nothing in tennis, but it's everything in life."
Albert Ayler, "My Name Is Albert Ayler"

"John [Coltrane] was like a visitor to this planet. He came in peace and he left in peace; but during his time here, he kept trying to reach new levels of awareness, of peace, of spirituality. That's why I regard the music he played as spiritual music -- John's way of getting closer and closer to the Creator." - Albert Ayler, in Valerie Wilmer, As Serious As Your Life, p.31

from lyssa.humana.blogspot.com
+ saxophonist, major figure in free, avant-garde jazz, "energy music"
+ music characterized by almost elemental force, piercing, versatile tone and range, startling improvisatory skills, bone-chilling, other-wordly feeling
+ drew from blues, R&B, marches and classical music, Tin Pan Alley standards, rock & roll, and other established and vernacular forms
+ studied at the Academy of Music in Cleveland with Benny Miller
+ US Army veteran
+ played with Little Walker, Stanley Turrentine, Cecil Taylor, Gary Peacock, Sunny Murray, Don Cherry, brother Donald Ayler, Charles Tyler, Lewis Worrell, Bobby Few, Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen

Notable recordings: My Name Is Albert Ayler (Delmark, 1963); Spirits (a/k/a Witches and Devils) (Delmark/Freedom, 1964); Goin' Home (a/k/a Swing low sweet chariot) (Black Lion/Osmosis, 1964); Prophecy (ESP, 1964); Spiritual Unity (ESP, 1964); New York Eye and Ear Control (ESP, 1964); Ghosts (a/k/a Vibrations) (Debut/Freedom, 1964); The Hilversum Session (DIW, 1964); Bells (ESP, 1965); Spirits Rejoice (ESP, 1965); At Slug's Saloon, Vol. 1 & 2 (ESP, 1966); In Greenwich Village (Impulse!, 1966); Music Is The Healing Force of the Universe (Impulse!, 1969); The Last Album (Impulse!, 1969); The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings (ESP, 2006).

Documentary: My Name Is Albert Ayler (2007), Kasper Collin, director and writer.

I once spent an afternoon listening to Bells and felt afterwards like my ears had been reset.

"I feel really free over here. One thing every day will be as it should be." - Albert Ayler, on "My Name Is Albert Ayler"


Albert Ayler, "Billie's Bounce"


Albert Ayler, "Summertime"


Albert Ayler Quartet, at John Coltrane's Funeral, July 21, 1967, "Love Cry, Truth Is Marching In, Our Prayer"


Albert Ayler, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"


Albert Ayler, "Ghosts"


Albert Ayler, "Spirits"


Albert Ayler, "Angels"


Albert Ayler, "All Love"


Albert Ayler, "Spiritual Reunion," Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, 1970

Albert Ayler, "On Green Dolphin Street

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