Jazz Articles about Albert Ayler

My Name is Albert Ayler: A Documentary

by James Taylor
December 7, 2007

My Name Is Albert Ayler (2005) Directed by Kasper Collin Screenings November 8 and 9, 2007 Anthology Film Archives New York, NYMy Name is Albert Ayler is a documentary that needed to be made. Directed by Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collins, the film is a spellbinding look at one of jazz' most misunderstood geniuses. With contributions from drummer Sunny Murray, Mary Parks, Don and Edward Ayler, and a host of Scandinavian musicians influential upon Ayler ...

Albert Ayler: The Universe Gets Healed

by Jeff Stockton
November 3, 2007

Zero Point Plays Albert Ayler Ayler 2007 Meditations on Albert Ayler Live at Glenn Miller Cafe Ayler 2007 Healing Force The Songs of Albert Ayler Cuneiform 2007 Albert Ayler Quartet The Hilversum Session ESP Disk 2007

Albert Ayler: Slug's Saloon

by Francis Lo Kee
June 17, 2006

Albert Ayler's name has come to mean different things to different people. Some think of him as the ultimate free jazz musician, others a fraud; some know his connection and subsequent projection of church music, and a few people actually knew him as a good friend. His death in 1970, an apparent suicide at the age of 34, guaranteed that parts of his life would remain shrouded in mystery. This two-CD set (reissued for the set's fortieth ...

Albert Ayler: Spirits

by Germein Linares
September 15, 2005

By the looks of it, Spirits seems like a no-brainer. The names on the cover look good: Albert Ayler, Henry Grimes, and Sunny Murray. But somehow the parts never add up, though. Sure, the album's four tunes wiggle plenty, producing the agitated jazz Ayler often preached; but, the motions on Spirits, unlike Ayler's better moments, resolve too very little. The album, originally recorded in New York in '64, came after Ayler's Scandinavian tour of duty with Cecil Taylor in '62 ...

Albert Ayler: Live on the Riviera

by AAJ Staff
September 12, 2005

By Ted Kane

Live on the Riviera is one of those CDs that is more interesting historically than compelling musically. It was recorded live in France less than four months prior to the saxophonist's death, and most of his devotees will want to hear it at least once, yet only a small segment of that group will want to do so much more than that. Ayler tries to do his best here and does play heartily at times; ...

Albert Ayler: Prophecy/Bells

by Clifford Allen
July 14, 2005

Albert Ayler Prophecy/Bells ESP-Disk 2005

Despite a rather brief period of artistic flourish (c. 1964 - c. 1967), tenor man Albert Ayler has probably, next to Coltrane and Cecil Taylor, held the most sway on the direction of improvisation from a 'thematic' or 'phrase-based' approach to that of a purely sonic one. Ayler melded bebop dexterity and the grotesqueries of juke-joint R&B tenor squawkers to an inordinately fast and decidedly physical, experiential ...

Albert Ayler Trio: Spiritual Unity

by Rex Butters
July 5, 2005

1964 proved to be a watershed year for Albert Ayler, who recorded enough material for ten albums, three for ESP alone. With drummer Sunny Murray a lone constant, Ayler exchanged Henry Grimes for Gary Peacock on bass midyear, briefly adding Don Cherry for some of the most memorable excursions he would commit to tape, including the expanded group that scorched through New York Eye and Ear Control. Almost a month to the day after capturing the Ayler/Peacock/Murray trio live at ...