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Jazz Articles about Donald Ayler

1
Album Review

Albert Ayler: Live Greenwich Village to Love Cry Revisited

Read "Live Greenwich Village to Love Cry Revisited" reviewed 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 ...

8
Album Review

Albert Ayler: Live Greenwich Village To Love Cry Revisited

Read "Live Greenwich Village To Love Cry Revisited" reviewed 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 ...

18
Album Review

Albert Ayler Quintet: Lost Performances 1966 Revisited

Read "Lost Performances 1966 Revisited" reviewed 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 ...

11
Album Review

Albert Ayler: More Lost Performances Revisited

Read "More Lost Performances Revisited" reviewed 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 ...

3
Album Review

Albert Ayler: At Slugs’ Saloon 1966 Revisited

Read "At Slugs’ Saloon 1966 Revisited" reviewed 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 ...

7
Album Review

Albert Ayler Quintet: At Slugs’ Saloon 1966 Revisited

Read "At Slugs’ Saloon 1966 Revisited" reviewed 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, ...

8
Album Review

Albert Ayler: La Cave Live-Cleveland 1966-Revisited

Read "La Cave Live-Cleveland 1966-Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


Cleveland club La Cave, a grungy cellar which could accommodate around two hundred people, opened as a folk venue in 1962, transitioned into rock mid-decade, and closed in 1969. Along the way, in amongst such counterculture flagbearers as the Velvet Underground and The Fugs, La Cave booked a few of the bad boys of so-called “new thing" jazz, among them tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler, a Cleveland hometown hero. The 2xCD La Cave Live-Cleveland 1966-Revisited comprises just over ...


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