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Albert Ayler Quintet: Copenhagen, Bordeaux 1966 & Newport 1967 Live First Release
by Mark Corroto
Heroin addicts often speak of chasing that first high for the rest of their lives. A similar impulse can be found among devoted listeners of Charlie Parker, the Grateful Dead and especially free jazz, perhaps most intensely among followers of saxophonist Albert Ayler. That initial encounter with Ayler's music, whether live or on record, can feel transformative, even overwhelming. Once experienced, it becomes something listeners spend years trying to rediscover. Maybe you were fortunate enough to hear Ayler ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Ayler: Live Greenwich Village to Love Cry Revisited
by Giuseppe Segala
Nel 1996, quando fu pubblicata la prima edizione della sua biografia dedicata ad Albert Ayler, Spirits Rejoice!, il contrabbassista e musicologo tedesco Peter Niklas Wilson scriveva nella prefazione: “La sua musica resta controversa: per alcuni fu un profeta, per altri un ciarlatano. (...) Ayler resta oggi tanto controverso quanto esile è la base per una discussione obiettiva sul suo contributo alla musica degli anni Sessanta." Anche tra i colleghi musicisti c'era chi ne apprezzava la potenza innovativa e propulsiva e ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Ayler: Live Greenwich Village To Love Cry Revisited
by John Eyles
When Ezz-thetics' previous Albert Ayler album More Lost Performances Revisited was released in December 2023, it felt as if it might be the label's final Ayler release; not only was it the eleventh of the series but, rather than featuring an Ayler album, it comprised recordings of significant points in Ayler's career such as his playing live with the Cecil Taylor Trio in Copenhagen in 1962, or at John Coltrane's funeral in 1967. Now comes another release that ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Ayler Quintet: Lost Performances 1966 Revisited
by Glenn Astarita
These works offer a compelling glimpse into the avant-garde jazz landscape of the mid-1960s via saxophonist Albert Ayler's furiously executed phrasings, coated with spiritual intent during his tour of northern Europe. Ayler's work during this period often encapsulated the raw, expressive power and unrestrained improvisational style that defined his music.Ayler's quintet, amid his collaboration with other musicians and group formats, is known for its unconventional approach to jazz, delivering a cacophony of passionate and free-form expressions. Expect an ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Ayler: More Lost Performances Revisited
by Chris May
A state-of-the-art sonic restoration of obscure but historically important Albert Ayler material by Switzerland's ezz-thetics label, which with its parent label, Hat Hut, has been creating an audiophile archive of Ayler recordings with the support of his estate since 1978. All too often, “more" in an album title means “Beware: barrel scraping in progress." Not in this case. More Lost Performances Revisited is primetime Ayler. The disc draws from three sources over a five-year timespan. The earliest ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Ayler: At Slugs’ Saloon 1966 Revisited
by Mark Corroto
With Albert Ayler it has seemingly always been “what If." What if he had survived that plunge to his death in the East River in 1970? Setting aside the question of whether he was murdered or committed suicide, how would he have altered the course of music if he lived beyond those 34 years? At the time of his passing he had fueled a revolution both in America and Europe for free jazz. Let's not fail to remember that his ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Ayler Quintet: At Slugs’ Saloon 1966 Revisited
by Chris May
There continues to be as much discussion about Albert Ayler's personality and motivations as there is about the music he left us. Was he a religious fundamentalist? Was he bi-polar? Was he an attention seeker? Was he some sort of leather fetishist? The evidence suggests Ayler may have been borderline bi-polar, but as for the other questions, the answer is a resounding “No." A clue to where Ayler was coming from, and where he was going to, ...
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