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.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
All Tracks & Credits

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 QUARTETS 1964 - Spirits To Ghosts Revisited (1964-2019) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 Tracklist :
1    Spirits    6:33
2    Prophecy    6:11
3    Holy, Holy    11:09
4    Witches And Devils    12:05
5    Ghosts    7:58
6    Mothers    7:05
7    Vibrations    4:56
8    Holy Spirit    8:29
9    Ghosts    2:06
10    Children    6:52
Credits :
Double Bass – Earle Henderson (pistas: 1, 3), Gary Peacock (pistas: 5 to 10), Henry Grimes (pistas: 1, 2, 4)
Drums – Sunny Murray
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone (5 to 10), Composed By [All Compositions By] – Albert Ayler
Trumpet – Don Cherry (pistas: 5 to 10), Norman Howard (pistas: 1 to 4)

ALBERT AYLER - Bells + Prophecy (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Combining two of his best ESP recordings on one CD, the 1998 compilation of 1965's Bells and 1964's Prophecy is the tenor saxophonist at the peak of his powers. Bells, originally released as an idiosyncratic one-sided LP, is a live set featuring Albert Ayler, his trumpeter brother Donald Ayler (this was their first recording together), alto saxophonist and ESP labelmate Charles Tyler, bassist Lewis Worrell, and drummer Sunny Murray, recorded live at New York's Town Hall. Although banded as a single track (and confusingly given the same title as an unrelated Ayler composition), Bells actually consists of a 20-minute medley of three Ayler compositions, the incantatory "Spiritual Bells," "Holy Ghost," and the brief coda "No Name," with the middle piece the primary focus. The playing is positively ferocious, with all three reed and horn players swinging from wild solos to some even more out ensemble playing. In comparison, the trio date Prophecy sounds almost normal. The four tracks (plus a second variation of Ayler's early signature piece, "Ghosts") are, oddly, the same that appeared on Ayler's ESP debut, Spiritual Unity. (Prophecy was, in fact, recorded a month prior to Spiritual Unity, although it came out much later.) Though both albums were recorded with the same sidemen, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray, Ayler's relentlessly questing solo style means that these performances differ greatly from the previous album, so thoroughly that other than the initial themes, they might as well be completely different songs. Stewart Mason  
Tracklist :
1    Bells    19:55
2    Ghosts (First Variation)    11:21
3    Wizard    8:21
4    Spirits    7:55
5    Prophecy    7:12
6    Ghosts (Second Variation)    7:06
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Charles Tyler (pistas: 1)
Bass – Gary Peacock (pistas: 2 to 6), Lewis Worrell (pistas: 1)
Drums, Percussion – Sunny Murray
Tenor Saxophone, Composed By – Albert Ayler
Trumpet – Donald Ayler (pistas: 1)

ALBERT AYLER - Witches & Devils (1964-1988) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This Arista Freedom release is actually a reissue of two sessions from 1964. Witches & Devils is a compelling listen because of its situational framework rather than its artistic achievement. Ayler had already had the experience of playing with Cecil Taylor in Europe two years before this. The rhythm section there, Sunny Murray and Henry Grimes, also appear here. Though Grimes plays on only one of the two sessions -- the other bassist was Earle Henderson -- Murray is present throughout, and what a difference it makes in the sound of Ayler's confidence, tone, and overall musical presentation. Previous outings featured Ayler with well-meaning but incapable European musicians trying to play his music. Here, though the trumpet chair -- Norman Howard, a friend from Ayler's hometown of Cleveland -- is a weak link in the chain, this situation allows Ayler's music to shine through, more or less. Needless to say, the quartet with Grimes and Murray, which yields two tunes here -- the title track, which also features Henderson, and "Holy, Holy" -- offers the first real glimpse of Ayler in command. His statuesque take on the tonal and timbral fronts comes from both Ornette Coleman and the honking R&B bar-walkers. And in looking inside the various registers on the title cut, he explores the emotions inherent in timbral modulation without refracting the notes themselves too much. He moves from a whisper of great tenderness to a bloodcurdling scream, and it all sounds natural. On "Holy, Holy," the arco bass work by Grimes complements the intensity with which Ayler is playing. He goes for the upper register buoyed up by Murray's triple time, timberline beats and cross-handed polyrhythms, screeching to the point of sounding like a crying child, quoting hymns and blues tunes throughout. Howard's trumpet playing is no great shakes, but he moves through note displacement very well, opening up the harmonic registers for Ayler and Grimes to break through unencumbered. This is a revealing if not completely satisfying recording.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1     Witches and Devils 1'55
Albert Ayler
2     Spirits 6'35
Albert Ayler / David Hudson
3     Holy, Holy 11'00
Albert Ayler
4     Saints 6'005
Albert Ayler
Credits :    
Bass – Earle Henderson (tracks: 1, 3), Henry Grimes (tracks: 1, 2, 4)
Drums – Sonny Murray
Tenor Saxophone – Albert Ayler
Trumpet – Norman Howard

ALBERT AYLER AND DON CHERRY - Vibrations (1964-1989) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

1964 was a busy year for Albert Ayler, who recorded at least seven albums worth of material. This particular session, a quartet date with trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray, was probably his most significant of the period. Switching between tenor and alto, Ayler is often ferocious on the six performances, jumping from simple melodies (of which "Ghosts" is the most memorable) to intense sound explorations overflowing with emotion; he even makes Cherry seem conservative. It helps greatly to have open ears to appreciate this music, although Ayler's jams would become a bit more accessible the following year. Recommended. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1    Ghosts    2:04
Albert Ayler
2    Children    6:50
Albert Ayler
3    Holy Spirit    8:29
Albert Ayler
4    Ghosts    7:58
Albert Ayler
5    Vibrations    4:55
Albert Ayler
6    Mothers    7:06
Albert Ayler
Credits :
Bass – Gary Peacock
Cornet – Don Cherry
Drums – Sunny Murray
Tenor Saxophone – Albert Ayler

ALBERT AYLER QUARTET - The Hilversum Session (1964-2007) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The Hilversum Session by Albert Ayler is one of those legendary recordings in free jazz. It was recorded in a Netherlands radio studio in front of a small invited audience, at the end of the Ayler Quartet's European tour on November 9, 1964. The band -- Ayler, Don Cherry, Gary Peacock, and Sunny Murray -- had been playing Ayler's tunes for months and were uncanny in their ability to hear one another and improvise together at that point. It was also the last time the group would record together under Ayler's name as a quartet, and they went out at a peak. The recording itself remained unissued until 1980, when it appeared on an LP on the long-defunct Osmosis label. Most of the tunes were, and remain, fairly common Ayler creations. "Ghosts" was recorded numerous times in 1964, and "Spirits" first appeared on both Witches & Devils and on a record with the same title; both appeared on Spiritual Unity; while the tune "C.A.C," is actually the original title for the cut "The Wizard," also from Spiritual Unity. According to the liner notes, the closing number, "No Name," was added as a coda to the infamous "Bells," issued in 1965, and in its relatively melodic beauty reveals another dimension to the fierce but inspiring improvisation by this quartet, who would take Ayler's skeletal melodies and move them to the margins of musical language itself. "Infant Happiness," by Cherry, is the only piece not authored by Ayler. The saxophonist kicks it off before he is joined by the trumpeter near the end of bar four in a knotty but wonderfully nursery rhyme-like melody that is reminiscent of the music Cherry played with his former and future boss Ornette Coleman. This set is a defining moment, not just historically, but musically. The intense listening and interplay that goes on here is inspiring. Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray may have played better elsewhere, but they never played with the kind of deep communication they enjoyed together as a rhythm section and with other front-line players than they do here. Ayler is no longer striving to find the outer limits of spiritual expression in his music; it's all on display here, and Cherry, the inveterate and outrageously talented listener/musician is in full bloom, untethered as a soloist, yet, like the other three, remaining an inextricable part of a band. These cats play together with the kind of intuition and foresight only a seasoned group can; they understand the nuances of the language they are speaking and know how to offer those to the listener emotionally, musically, and even culturally. This is a welcome issue.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1     Angels 6'54
Albert Ayler
2     C.A.C. 5'00
Albert Ayler
3     Ghosts 7'30
Albert Ayler
4     Infant Happiness 6'06
Don Cherry
5     Spirits 9'10
Albert Ayler
6     No Name 5'41
Albert Ayler
Credits :    
Bass – Gary Peacock
Cornet – Don Cherry
Drums – Sunny Murray
Tenor Saxophone – Albert Ayler

ALBERT AYLER - Live In Europe 1964-1966 (1991) Unofficial Release | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    Mothers    7:36
 Composed By – Albert Ayler
2    Children    8:04
 Composed By – Albert Ayler
3    Holy Spirits    8:03
 Composed By – Albert Ayler
4    Our Prayer    4:24
 Composed By – Donald Ayler
5    Ghosts - Bells    11:11
 Composed By – Albert Ayler
6    Truth Is Marching In    7:06
 Composed By – Albert Ayler
7    Omega    3:40
 Composed By – Albert Ayler
Credits :
Bass – Bill Folwell (pistas: 4 to 7), Gary Peacock (pistas: 1 to 3)
Drums – Beaver Harris (pistas: 4 to 7), Sunny Murray (pistas: 1 to 3)
Tenor Saxophone [Tenor Sax] – Albert Ayler
Trumpet – Don Cherry (pistas: 1 to 3), Donald Ayler (pistas: 4 to 7)
Violin – Michael Sampson (pistas: 4 to 7)
Notas.
Tracks 1-3: Recorded live at Montmartre Jazzhus, Copenhagen (Denmark) on November 5, 1964
Tracks 4-7: Recorded live at Berlin Jazz Festival, Berlin (Germany) on November 3, 1966
However, tracks 1-3 were in fact recorded on September 3, 1964 (subsequently released as part of The Copenhagen Tapes).

ALBERT AYLER TRIO - Spiritual Unity (1965-1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Spiritual Unity was the album that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant-garde, and the first jazz album ever released by Bernard Stollman's seminal ESP label. It was really the first available document of Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians, and the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic. Bassist Gary Peacock's full-toned, free-flowing ideas and drummer Sunny Murray's shifting, stream-of-consciousness rhythms (which rely heavily on shimmering cymbal work) are crucial in throwing the constraints off of Ayler's playing. Yet as liberated and ferociously primitive as Ayler sounds, the group isn't an unhinged mess -- all the members listen to the subtler nuances in one another's playing, pushing and responding where appropriate. Their collective improvisation is remarkably unified -- and as for the other half of the album's title, Ayler conjures otherworldly visions of the spiritual realm with a gospel-derived fervor. Titles like "The Wizard," "Spirits," and "Ghosts" (his signature tune, introduced here in two versions) make it clear that Ayler's arsenal of vocal-like effects -- screams, squeals, wails, honks, and the widest vibrato ever heard on a jazz record -- were sonic expressions of a wildly intense longing for transcendence. With singable melodies based on traditional folk songs and standard scales, Ayler took the simplest musical forms and imbued them with a shockingly visceral power -- in a way, not unlike the best rock & roll, which probably accounted for the controversy his approach generated. To paraphrase one of Ayler's most famous quotes, this music was about feelings, not notes, and on Spiritual Unity that philosophy finds its most concise, concentrated expression. A landmark recording that's essential to any basic understanding of free jazz. Steve Huey  
Tracklist :
1     Ghosts: First Variation 5'16
Albert Ayler
2     The Wizard 7'24
Albert Ayler
3     Spirits 6'50
Albert Ayler / David Hudson
4     Ghosts: Second Variation 10'01
Albert Ayler
Bass – Gary Peacock
Drums – Sunny Murray
Illustration [Cover] – Howard Bernstein
Tenor Saxophone, Composed By – Albert Ayler

ALBERT AYLER - New York Eye and Ear Control (1964-2000) APE (tracks+.cue), lossless

This is a very interesting set, music that was freely improvised and used as the soundtrack for the 34-minute short film New York Eye and Ear Control. Tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler leads the all-star sextet (which also includes trumpeter Don Cherry, altoist John Tchicai, trombonist Roswell Rudd, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray) on two lengthy jams. The music is fiery but with enough colorful moments to hold one's interest throughout. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1     Don's Dawn 1'03
Albert Ayler
2     A Y 21'21
Albert Ayler
3     ITT 23'23
Albert Ayler
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – John Tchicai
Bass – Gary Peacock
Drums – Sonny Murray
Tenor Saxophone – Albert Ayler
Trombone – Roswell Rudd
Trumpet – Don Cherry

ALBERT AYLER - Spirits Rejoice (1965) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded live at New York's Judson Hall in 1965, Spirits Rejoice is one of Albert Ayler's wildest, noisiest albums, partly because it's one of the very few that teams him with another saxophonist, altoist Charles Tyler. It's also one of the earliest recordings to feature Ayler's brother Don playing an amateurish but expressive trumpet, and the ensemble is further expanded by using bassists Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock together on three of the five tracks; plus, the rubato "Angels" finds Ayler interacting with Call Cobbs' harpsichord in an odd, twinkling evocation of the spiritual spheres. Aside from that more spacious reflection, most of the album is given over to furious ensemble interaction and hard-blowing solos that always place in-the-moment passion above standard jazz technique. Freed up by the presence of the trumpet and alto, Ayler's playing concentrates on the rich lower register of his horn and all the honks and growls that go with it; his already thick, huge tone has rarely seemed more monolithic. Spirits Rejoice also provides an opportunity to hear the sources of Ayler's simple, traditional melodies becoming more eclectic. The nearly 12-minute title track has a pronounced New Orleans marching band feel, switching between two themes reminiscent of a hymn and a hunting bugle call, and the brief "Holy Family" is downright R&B-flavored. "Prophet" touches on a different side of Ayler's old-time march influence, with machine-gun cracks and militaristic cadences from drummer Sunny Murray driving the raggedly energetic ensemble themes. For all its apparent chaos, Spirits Rejoice is often surprisingly pre-arranged -- witness all the careening harmony passages that accompany the theme statements, and the seamless transitions of the title track. Spirits Rejoice is proof that there was an underlying logic even to Ayler's most extreme moments, and that's why it remains a tremendously inspiring recording. Steve Huey  
Tracklist :
1     Spirits Rejoice 11'41
Albert Ayler
2     Holy Family 2'11
Albert Ayler
3     D. C. 8'00
Albert Ayler
4     Angels 5'30
Albert Ayler
5     Prophet 5'36
Albert Ayler
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Charles Tyler
Bass – Gary Peacock, Henry Grimes
Drums – Sunny Murray
Tenor Saxophone – Albert Ayler
Trumpet – Don Ayler

ALBERT AYLER - Bells (1965-2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Albert Ayler's short but definitive album Bells covers about 20 minutes of music from his legendary Town Hall/N.Y.C. concert on May Day of 1965. It is not surprising to hear the angst and anguish in their music, considering it was made about five weeks after Black nationalist leader Malcolm X was assassinated. Ayler and his quintet blow their own horns in alert of the "new thing" in jazz coming on strong, with no apologies as to its fierce intent or audacious stance. Brother/trumpeter Donald Ayler and alto saxophonist Charles Tyler join with the tenor saxophonist in a united front of sound and steel forged reserve in making free jazz a reality. The back cover has a reprint of Dan Morgenstern's Down Beat Magazine review of the performance, which is insightful, fair, accurate, and to the point, a good read for anyone who might dismiss Ayler's concept as something other than serious. The first of the two spontaneous compositions contains an outburst by the whole ensemble, followed by trumpet and tenor sax solos that bend notes and shapes in the extreme abstract. A free bop-based mid-section shows recording flaws, as drummer Sunny Murray and bassist Lewis Worrell are barely audible. Tyler's alto is drenched in the loud and abrasive tone the Ayler's dictated, but shows he has his own voice. The overtone-soaked music is tempered by a low-level bass solo from Worrell, with Murray's spare, splashy cymbal inserts, ending with a bouncy but eventual whirling dervish coda. The second, much longer improvisation, is based on Ayler's "Holy Ghost" theme, as a soulful, singing, vibrato-driven Ayler ignites Worrell via Murray's signature triple and quadruple flam accents. There's a clarion march theme repeated before and after congealed chaos, followed by deconstructed but distinct melodies, albeit brave and uncompromising. When all three of these horn players blow hard and strong together, it brings to mind Amiri Baraka's comment about "a terrible wholeness," as this purposefully saturated music stands alone as the most singularly unique early creative statement in modern music. As Albert Ayler recorded several definitive recordings before or after this one, and due to the very short length of Bells, it cannot be considered a magnum opus. But it does contain music played by his most powerful unit, a small window into the mind and heart of the most iconic maverick in the free jazz movement, and a magnet for discussion that lingers on well past his death. Michael G. Nastos  
Tracklist :
1     Bells 20'03
Albert Ayler
Credits :
Bass – Lewis Worrell
Percussion – Sonny Murray
Saxophone [Sax] – Albert Ayler, Charles Tyler
Trumpet – Donald Ayler

ALBERT AYLER - Albert Smiles With Sunny (1964-1996) 2CD | FLAC (tracks), lossless

Oddly titled, perhaps, but this double disc performs the valuable service of unearthing a 1964 live concert at New York's Cellar Café of the outstanding trio with Ayler, bassist Gary Peacock, and Sunny Murray. The performance is essentially nonstop, seguing from theme to theme with very ample solo space. The music is just about as free and raucous as Ayler ever got. It sometimes sounds as though he's paying the merest lip service to the heads before impatiently investigating the free-form implications of them. Indeed, almost 40 years hence, the music contained herein would still raise eyebrows at most establishment jazz venues. Murray, by this point, is fully into his non-linear, implied pulse form of drumming and Peacock isn't far behind. But it's Ayler upon whom one's focus is riveted, his instrumental voice straining furiously against the bounds of the timeless-sounding melodies he favored, seeking desperately for new footholds. It's at once scary and thrilling hearing a musician put so much on the line, leaving nothing in the bag. If Ayler doesn't quite resolve his issues as forcefully and beautifully as he did on other dates, the quest is no less gripping for it. The recording quality is a little bit boomy, especially the bass, but Ayler fans will find that this is a necessary pickup. The booklet includes some rambling and very bitter notes from Sunny Murray as well as a disjointed but info-packed essay by poet Hartmut Geerken. Brian Olewnick
Tracklist :
1     Spirits 7'54
Albert Ayler
2     Wizard 8'25
Albert Ayler
3     Ghost 1st Variation 11'26
Albert Ayler
4     Prophecy 7'12
Albert Ayler
5     Ghost 2nd Variation 7'14
Albert Ayler
6     Sweet Variation, No. 1 6'29
Albert Ayler
7     Ghost (Another Variation) 10'20
Albert Ayler
8     The Truth Is Marching In 10'53
Traditional
9     No Head 6'44
Albert Ayler
10     Sweet Variation, No. 2 9'22
Albert Ayler
Credits :
Bass – Gary Peacock
Drums – Sunny Murray
Saxophone – Albert Ayler

CECIL TAYLOR — Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come (1962-1997) 2CD | APE (image+.cue), lossless

This double-LP is the only recording that exists of Cecil Taylor and his group (other than two songs on the bootleg Ingo label) during 1962-1965. Taylor's then-new altoist Jimmy Lyons (who occasionally hints at Charlie Parker) and the first truly "free" drummer Sunny Murray join the avant-garde pianist in some stunning trio performances recorded live at the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen. With the exception of an interesting version of "What's New" (which finds Lyons showing off his roots), the music is comprised entirely of Taylor originals and is atonal and full of power. Scott Yanow
Tracklist 1 :
1     Trance 9:12
Cecil Taylor
2     Call 9:00
Cecil Taylor
3     Lena 6:58
Cecil Taylor
4     D Trad, That's What 21:26
Cecil Taylor
5     [Untitled Track] 1:02
Cecil Taylor
6     Call 6:36
Cecil Taylor
Tracklist 2 :   
1     What's New? 12:11
Johnny Burke / Bob Haggart
2     Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come 9:11
Cecil Taylor
3     Lena 14:21
Cecil Taylor
4     Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come 8:07
Cecil Taylor
5     [Untitled Track] 1:02
Cecil Taylor
6     D Trad, That's What 20:08
Cecil Taylor
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Jimmy Lyons
Drums – Sunny Murray
Piano – Cecil Taylor

CECIL TAYLOR - It is in the Brewing Luminous (1980-1989) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Originally released as a double-LP and then reissued as a single CD, this continuous 71-minute live performance from 1980 features pianist Cecil Taylor with a particularly intriguing sextet comprised of his longtime altoist Jimmy Lyons, violinist Ramsey Ameen, Alan Silva on bass and cello and both Jerome Cooper and Sunny Murray on drums. Not too surprisingly, the playing is quite intense and dense with only a few moments of lyricism popping through. Taylor sounds very much like a human dynamo while Lyons' solos are full of fragile beauty. This is brilliant music that will not sound "safe" or "easy listening" even a century from now. by Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1     It Is in the Brewing Luminous 1 09:59
Cecil Taylor
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Jimmy Lyons
Bass, Cello – Alan Silva
Drums – Sunny Murray
Drums, Balafon [African Balaphone] – Jerome Cooper
Piano – Cecil Taylor
Violin – Ramsey Ameen