Jazz Articles about Albert Ayler

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Albert Ayler: New York Eye and Ear Control

by Clifford Allen
June 15, 2008

Even in a form of music as decidedly left-of-center as “free jazz," a canon of musicians and works has been built. This canon is essentially based upon easily-obtainable recordings rather than a history that falls to documents, primary sources and musical meetings that went commercially unrecorded. A case in point: American creative large ensembles of the 1960s generally start and stop with Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz (Atlantic, 1960) and Coltrane's Ascension (Impulse, 1965), leaving out many valuable works.When ...

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A French "Exposé Sur" Albert Ayler

by Nicolas Large
June 14, 2008

At the end of the year 1970, the man who was considered the strongest personality in Free Jazz by his fans would die in mysterious circumstances.Albert Ayler had been missing from his New York home since the 5th of November and it was only three weeks later that his body was recovered from the East River. His funeral was held discretely in Cleveland (his home-town) on the 4th of December, in attendance were members of the family and ...

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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 ...

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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

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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; ...