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Albert Ayler Trio: 1964: Prophecy Revisited
by Mark Corroto
Albert Ayler is often quoted as saying Trane was the Father, Pharoah was the Son, I am the Holy Ghost," referring to John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders," and himself. It might be better said that Ayler was John The Baptist, the musical prophet that proclaimed the coming of free jazz. Like many a prophet, his end was agonizing. Ayler drowned in the East River in 1970, after a very brief eight year recording career. Coltrane knew then what many ...
read moreAlbert Ayler Trio: Spiritual Unity
by AAJ Staff
Whole generations of musicians and listeners experienced a dramatic and irrevocable awakening in the years after Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity came out in 1964, and the record has a certain timeless quality that makes it just as important today. The piercing emotional emphasis and startlingly voice- like qualities of Ayler's saxophone playing turn childishly simple melodies into expanded voyages of personal discovery and spontaneous invention. Bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray share an abstract, ethereal connection where norms of ...
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