ALBERT AYLER - Holy Ghost : Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962-70) (2004) 10CD BOX | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

After listening to Revenant's massive Albert Ayler box set, Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962-70), a pair of questions assert themselves in the uneasily settling silence that follows: who was Albert Ayler, and how did he come to be? At the time of this box set's release 26 years after the Cleveland native's mysterious death -- his lifeless body was found floating in New York's East River, without a suicide note -- those questions loom larger than ever. Revenant's amazing package certainly adds weight and heft to the argument for Ayler's true place in the jazz pantheon, not only as a practitioner of free jazz but as one of the music's true innovators. Ayler may have been deeply affected by the music of Ornette Coleman, but in turn he also profoundly influenced John Coltrane's late period.

The item itself is a deeply detailed 10" by 10" black faux-onyx "spirit box," cast from a hand-carved original. Inside are ten CDs in beautifully designed, individually colored rice paper sleeves. Seven are full-length music CDs, two contain interviews, and one is packaged as a replica of a recording tape box, containing two tracks from an Army band session Ayler participated in. Loose items include a Slug's Saloon handbill, an abridged facsimile of Amiri Baraka's journal Cricket from the mid-'60s containing a piece by Ayler, a replica of the booklet Paul Haines wrote for Ayler's Spiritual Unity album, a note Ayler scrawled on hotel stationery in Europe, a rumpled photograph of the saxophonist as a boy, and a dogwood flower. Finally, there is a hardbound 209-page book. It contains a truncated version of Val Wilmer's historic chapter on Ayler from As Serious As Your Life, a new essay by Baraka, and biographical and musicological essays by Ben Young, Marc Chaloin, and Daniel Caux. In addition, there are testimonies by many collaborators, full biographical essays of all sidemen, detailed track information on the contents, and dozens of photographs.

Almost all this material has been, until now, commercially unavailable. Qualitatively, the music here varies, both artistically and mechanically. Some was taken from broadcast and tape sources that have deteriorated or were dubious to begin with, but their massive historical significance far outweighs minor fidelity problems. Chronologically organized, the adventure begins with Ayler's earliest performances in Europe fronting a thoroughly confounded rhythm section that was tied to conventional time signatures and chord changes. Ayler, seemingly oblivious, was trying out his new thing in earnest -- to the consternation of audiences and bandmates alike. How did a guy who played like this even get a gig in such a conservative jazz environment? Fumbling as this music is, it proves beyond any doubt Ayler's knowledge and mastery of the saxophone tradition from Lester Young to Sonny Rollins. Ayler's huge tone and his amazing, masterfully controlled use of both vibrato and the tenor's high register are already in evidence here. Following these, there is finally recorded evidence to support Ayler playing with Cecil Taylor in Copenhagen in 1962. This is where he met drummer Sunny Murray who, along with bassist Gary Peacock, formed the original Ayler trio. Their 1964 performances at New York's Cellar Café are documented here to stunning effect. Following these are phenomenal broadcast performances from later that year that include Don Cherry on trumpet in France.

Other discs here document Ayler's sideman duties: with pianist Burton Greene's quintet in 1966 (with Rashied Ali), a Pharoah Sanders band with Sirone and Dave Burrell, a Town Hall concert with his brother Donald's sextet that also included Sam Rivers, and a quartet with Donald, drummer Milford Graves, and bassist Richard Davis playing at John Coltrane's funeral. These live sessions have much value historically as well as musically, but are, after all, blowing sessions -- though they still display Ayler as a willing and fiery collaborator who upped the ante with his presence. Though he arrived fully formed as a soloist, his manner of trying to adapt to other players and bring them into his sphere is fascinating, frustrating, and revealing.

Ayler's own music is showcased best when leading his own quartets and quintets, and there are almost four discs' worth of performances here. Much of this music is with the classical violinist Michel Sampson and trumpeter Donald Ayler with alternating rhythm sections. Indeed, the quintet gigs here with Sampson and Donald in the front line that used marching rhythms and traditional hymns as their root may not be as compelling sonically as the Village Vanguard stuff issued by Impulse!, but they are as satisfying musically. The various rhythm sections included drummers Ronald Shannon Jackson, Allen Blairman, Muhammad Ali, Beaver Harris, and Bernard Purdie, and bassists Bill Folwell, Steve Tintweiss, Clyde Shy (Mutawef Shaheed), pianist Call Cobbs, and tenor saxophonist Frank Wright. What is clearly evident is that the only drummer with whom Ayler truly connected with, the only one who could match his manner of playing out of time and stretching it immeasurably, was Murray, who literally played around the beat while moving the music through its dislocated center.

The late music remains controversial. Recorded live in 1968 and 1970 in New York and France, it illuminates the troublesome period on Ayler's Impulse! recordings, New Grass and Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe. In performance, struggling and ill-conceived rhythm sections try to comprehend and articulate the complex patchwork of colors, motivations, and adventurous attempts at musical integration with the blues, rock, poetry, and soul Ayler was engaging instrumentally and -- with companion Mary Parks -- vocally. Ayler's own playing remains unshakable and revelatory, stunning for its ability to bring to the surface hidden melodies, timbres, and overtones and, to a degree, make them accessible. His solos, full of passion, pathos, and the otherworldly, pull everything from his musical sound world into his being and send it out again, transformed, through the horn.

Ayler is credited with the set's title, in that he once said in an interview: "Trane was the father. Pharoah was the son. I was the Holy Ghost." While it can be dismissed as hyperbole, it should also be evaluated to underscore the aforementioned questions. Unlike Coltrane and Sanders whose musical developments followed a recorded trajectory, Ayler, who apparently had very conventional beginnings as a musician, somehow arrived on the New York and European scenes already on the outside, pushing ever harder at boundaries that other people hadn't yet even perceived let alone transgressed. Who he was in relation to all those who came after him is only answered partially, and how he came to find his margin and live there remains a complete cipher. What Revenant has accomplished is to shine light into the darkened corners of myth and apocrypha; the label has added flesh-and-bone documented history to the ghost of a giant. Ayler struggled musically and personally to find and hold onto the elusive musical/spiritual balance that grace kissed him with only a few times during his lifetime -- on tape anyway. But the quest for that prize, presented here, adds immeasurably to both the legend and the achievement.
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ALBERT AYLER — Revelations : The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (2022) RM | 4CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The years that immediately preceded Albert Ayler's 1970 death found the saxophonist in a state of free fall that mirrored the chaotic side of his art. Ayler had become one of the most visceral voices of the American free jazz movement, but his uproarious style wasn't selling many records and he struggled with both financial stability and mental health. His attempts at crossing over to a more mainstream sound on albums like New Grass were largely ignored by consumers and alienated some of the fans and critics that had been in Ayler's corner. In July 1970, he traveled to France for two concerts at Fondation Maeght art museum, which ultimately became some of the last times he would play live before his body was found in New York's East River that November. Audio from parts of these concerts has been released in various forms over the years, but Revelations: The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings presents the entirety of both nights for the first time, mastered directly from the original tapes. The heightened sound quality alone puts Revelations in a higher class than previously released recordings from these shows, but the inclusion of more than two hours of never before commercially released material paints a complete picture of just how excellent the playing was and how redemptive of an experience these shows must have been for Ayler.

Along with vocalist/soprano saxophonist Mary Maria Parks and longtime collaborator Call Cobbs on piano (present for only the second night due to missing his plane for the first concert), Ayler was joined on these dates by drummer Alan Blairman and bassist Steve Tintweiss, a rhythm section he'd never played or rehearsed with before these gigs. Despite that somewhat ramshackle approach, the group clicks magically. Parks' lyrical and vocal contributions to Ayler's music were a key part of trying to appeal to younger rock listenership, with her sentiments of peace and love giving some albums in his later catalog a hippy affect. Her improvisatory skills on soprano saxophone were never captured in the studio like they are here, and in addition to strong vocal performances, Parks' sax solos serve as powerful counterparts to Ayler's tenor on pieces like "Holy Holy." The band transcends with the addition of Cobbs' heavenly keyboard contributions on the second night, softening Ayler's fiery playing on older songs like "Truth Is Marching In" and giving moments like "Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe" a somber steadiness that was absent from the quartet reading the night before.

There's a sense of triumph and gratitude throughout every moment of Revelations, and Ayler's creative journey makes more sense through the lens of these complete concerts. All the revolutionary passion that may have seemed abandoned for more commercial fare is on full display in both the rapturous improvisations and more structured moments. Along with the hours of amazing previously unheard music, Revelations shows that in his final days, Ayler wasn't compromising his vision, but actively expanding it. Fred Thomas
Recorded At The Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, July 25, 1970    
1-1    Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe    7:37
1-2    Birth Of Mirth    10:11
1-3    Masonic Inborn    6:39
1-4    Revelations 1    5:35
1-5    Oh! Love Of Life    3:37
1-6    Island Harvest    4:47
1-7    Heart Love    5:12
2-1    Ghosts    10:30
2-2    Love Cry    7:18
2-3    Desert Blood    12:44
2-4    Revelations 2    9:01
2-5    Revelations 3    8:35
2-6    Revelations 4    11:31
2-7    Speaking In Tongues    4:21
Recorded At The Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, July 27, 1970    
3-1    Truth Is Marching In    8:09
3-2    Zion Hill, Aka Universal Message    8:34
3-3    Again Comes The Rising Of The Sun    4:24
3-4    Holy Family    11:32
3-5    Revelations 5    20:46
3-6    In Heart Only    5:10
3-7    Revelations 6    6:54
3-8    A Man Is Like A Tree    6:29
4-1    Holy Holy    19:27
4-2    Spirits Rejoice    7:19
4-3    Spirits    15:00
4-4    Thank God For Women    5:32
4-5    Spiritual Reunion    7:42
4-6    Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe    9:57
4-7    Mary Parks Vocal Announcement / Curtain Call    1:45
Credits :    
Bass – Steve Tintweiss
Drums – Allen Blairman
Piano – Call Cobbs (tracks: CD 3 & CD 4 Only)
Soprano Saxophone, Vocals – Mary Parks
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Vocals – Albert Ayler

ALBERT AYLER - Goin' Home (1964-1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Albert Ayler was confronted with a spiritual anxiety that both plagued and comforted him throughout his life. This is frighteningly clear listening to the highly intense musical yin and yang that was present February 24, 1964, when the tracks for Goin' Home and Witches and Devils were recorded. Ayler plays tenor and soprano saxophones on "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Deep River," "Goin Home," "Down by the Riverside," "When the Saints Go Marchin In," and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." These traditional compositions are treated with reverence and a lack of improvisation, played in a quietly passionate but respectful manner. They reveal a sensitivity that was obscured with the emotionally charged tenor screeching of the Ayler originals that were also recorded at this session: "Witches and Devils," "Spirits," "Holy, Holy," and "Saints." Black Lion reissued Goin' Home with double takes of "Down by the Riverside," "Ol' Man River," and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." The Goin' Home rhythm section is held together by the gospel-influenced piano style of Call Cobbs. This was the first time the saxophonist had played with Cobbs, who, like Ayler, was from Cleveland and had recently moved to New York. Free jazz stalwarts Henry Grimes' bass and Sunny Murray's drums rounded out the proceedings, following Ayler and Cobbs lead, sounding more accessible than they had on previous recordings. While Goin' Home and Witches and Devils haven't been released together on one compact disc, obtaining both and playing them back to back makes for an amazing comparison in moods and styles. Al Campbell
Tracklist :
1    Goin' Home 4'26
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
2    Ol' Man River (Take 2) 5'25
Written-By – Kern & Hammerstein
3    Down By The Riverside (Take 6) 4'39
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
4    Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Take 3) 4'30
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
5    Deep River 4'15
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
6    When The Saints Go Marchin' In 4'12
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
7    Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen 4'44
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
8    Ol' Man River (Take 1) 3'58
Written-By – Kern & Hammerstein
9    Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Take 1) 4'49
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
10    Down By The Riverside (Take 5) 4'28
Traditional
Arranged By – Albert Ayler
Credits :
Bass – Henry Grimes
Drums – Arthur 'Sonny' Murray
Piano – Call Cobbs Jr.
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Albert Ayler

ALBERT AYLER - Love Cry (1968-1991) RM | GRP Presents The Legendary Masters Of Jazz | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

From the time he was signed to Impulse in 1966, it was assumed that Albert Ayler's releases on that label would be motivated by an attempt at commercialism. While the music was toned down from his earlier ESP recordings, by no means did Ayler ever make commercial records. Much in the same way John Coltrane's later-period Impulse releases weren't commercial, Ayler simply took advantage of a larger record company's distribution, trying to expose the music to more people. Ayler's uncompromising musical freedom mixed with his catchy combination of nursery rhythms and brass band marches remained prominent on Love Cry. The interplay between the Ayler brothers also remained fiery as younger sibling Donald is heard playing trumpet for the last time on a recording with his brother. Donald was fired from the band (at the suggestion of Impulse) and, unfortunately, was committed to a mental institution for a short stay after these sessions were made. The rhythm section of Alan Silva on bass and Milford Graves on drums continually instigates and propels this music into furious militaristic march territory. Unhappily, the four tracks in which Call Cobbs is featured on harpsichord tend to drag the music down; it's unfortunate his gospel-inspired piano or organ playing couldn't have been utilized instead. Al Campbell  
Tracklist :
1     Love Cry 3'55
Albert Ayler
2     Ghosts 2'49
Albert Ayler
3     Omega 3'19
Albert Ayler
4     Dancing Flowers 2'24
Albert Ayler
5     Bells 3'09
Albert Ayler
6     Love Flower 3'32
Albert Ayler
7     Love Cry II (Previously Unissued) 7'15
Albert Ayler
8     Zion Hill (Alternate Take) 4'14
Albert Ayler
9     Universal Indians (Alternate Take) 7'36
Albert Ayler
10     Zion Hill 6'08
Albert Ayler
11     Universal Indians (Previously Unissued Full Length Version) 9'50
Albert Ayler
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Albert Ayler (pistas: 1, 10)
Bass – Alan Silva
Drums – Milford Graves
Harpsichord – Call Cobbs (pistas: 3, 4, 6, 8, 10)
Tenor Saxophone – Albert Ayler
Trumpet – Donald Ayler (pistas: 1 to 3, 5, 7, 9, 11)
Vocals – Albert Ayler (pistas: 1, 9, 11)

ALBERT AYLER - New Grass (1969-2005) RM | Impulse! Originals | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Possibly the most notorious Albert Ayler release and universally misunderstood (i.e., hated) by fans and critics alike. When New Grass was released in 1969 it received a hostile outcry of "sell-out." Listening to New Grass in hindsight; it must be taken into account that even though commercial elements are apparent -- a soul horn section, backup singers, boogaloo drumming from Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, and electric rock bass -- Ayler's vocals and tenor playing could hardly gain commercial radio exposure at any time. It's likely Impulse prodded Ayler to move into a more pronounced blues-oriented sound and he went willingly. Ayler wasn't a stranger to R&B or gutbucket blues; he had started his career playing saxophone with Chicago bluesman Little Walter in the '50s. Ayler's screeching tone remains intact on New Grass, but it's mixed with definite R&B riffs like the obvious honkin' nod to "Slippin and Sliddin" on "New Generation." Ayler's attempt to explain himself on the opening track with "Message from Albert Ayler," reveals his impending dread over controversy concerning the material. It is a problem many artists face at some point in their careers when trying to move in a different direction, no matter what the reason; they may end up losing a majority of their audience by taking a foreign approach. Al Campbell
Tracklist :
1     Message From Albert/New Grass 3'55
Albert Ayler / Bert DeCoteaux
Flute – Seldon Powell
Voice [Recitation On Message From Albert] – Albert Ayler
2     New Generation 5'10
Albert Ayler / Rose Marie McCoy / Mary Parks
3     Sun Watcher 7'30
Albert Ayler
Piano, Organ – Call Cobbs
Whistling – Albert Ayler
4     New Ghosts 4'12
Albert Ayler / Mary Parks
Piano – Call Cobbs
Tambourine – Unknown
Vocals – Albert Ayler    
5     Heart Love 5'34
Albert Ayler / Mary Parks    
6     Everybody's Movin' 3'44
Albert Ayler / Rose Marie McCoy / Mary Parks
7     Free at Last 3'08
Albert Ayler / Rose Marie McCoy / Mary Parks
Credits :    
Baritone Saxophone – Buddy Lucas (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 7)
Conductor, Arranged By – Bert DeCoteaux (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 7)
Drums – Bernard Purdie (tracks: 2 to 7)
Electric Bass – Bill Folwell
Electric Harpsichord – Call Cobbs (tracks: 2, 5 to 7)
Tenor Saxophone – Albert Ayler, Seldon Powell (tracks: 2, 5 to 7)
Trombone – Garnett Brown (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 7)
Trumpet – Burt Collins (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 7), Joe Newman (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 7)
Vocals – The Soul Singers (tracks: 2, 5 to 7)

ALBERT AYLER - Nuits de La Fondation Maeght 1970 (1970-2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A little over three months before he was found drowned, Ayler was caught performing in concert at the height of his powers. Unlike his Impulse releases which often featured him trying to incorporate commercial elements into his music, the release from the European label Jazz View (the first of two CDs) allows Ayler to stretch out and "preach" in his emotional and unique style with just sparse backing (pianist Call Cobbs, bassist Steve Tintweiss and drummer Allen Blairman). This and the second volume would be Albert Ayler's final recordings and are quite memorable. Scott Yanow
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght Volume 1
1     In Heart Only 5'16
Albert Ayler
2     Spirits (New Ghosts) 15'05
Albert Ayler
3     Holy Family 11'44
Albert Ayler
4     Spirits Rejoice 7'26
Albert Ayler
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght Volume 2
5     Truth Is Marching In 8'10
Albert Ayler
6     Universal Message 8'17
Albert Ayler
7     Spiritual Reunion 7'57
Albert Ayler
8     Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe 10'00
Albert Ayler
Credits :
Bass – Steve Tintweiss
Drums – Allen Blairman
Piano – Call Cobbs
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Albert Ayler
Vocals, Soprano Saxophone – Mary Parks