ALBERT AYLER
The Impulse Story - (2006)

Albert Ayler was a lightning rod for criticism both from within the music community and from without. His free-thinking approach made him a bane for jazz traditionalists, and his incorporation of popular American musical styles like soul, R&B, and even rock made him a sellout to the free jazz crowd. His volume in The Impulse Story series -- one of ten individual artist titles to accompany both the book The House That Trane Built: The Impulse Story by Ashley Kahn and the four-CD label history set of the same name from Universal, is in many ways the very evidence of both points on the scale. There are ten cuts on this set, and the first three -- "Holy Ghost," "Truth Is Marching In," and "Angels" -- come from the celebrated Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings double-disc set. They offer the best recorded evidence up to that point -- 1965 and 1966 -- of Ayler's use of gospel music and marching rhythms in his free jazz approach. All are lengthy pieces with three different lineups. There are two shorter tunes from Love Cry, recorded and issued in 1967 -- including a lovely short version of "Bells." The lineup was bassist Alan Silva, Don Ayler on trumpet, and drummer Milford Graves. Three more come from the very controversial New Grass set, one with wildly varying musics and lineups. There's the title track, Albert's spoken word apologia "Message from Albert," and "Free at Last," with Pretty Purdie on drums and Call Cobbs playing electric harpsichord, as well as Bill Folwell on electric bass, backing vocalists, and a slew of horns arranged faux Memphis style. There is only one track -- the title -- from the equally combative Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe issued in 1969, which featured Bobby Few on piano, a pair of bassists -- Folwell and Stafford James -- with Mary Maria Parks singing and Muhammad Ali on drums. Finally, there are two tracks from the posthumously released Last Album: Parks' "Water Music," with the same lineup sans Parks left over from Music Is the Healing Force, and a completely crazy duet between Ayler on bagpipes and electric guitarist Henry Vestine recorded during those same sessions. In sum, this package is perhaps even more controversial than the individual albums it was culled from, and not the best introduction to Ayler out there. But then, given that no period of his music could make everyone -- with very few exceptions -- happy, this is perhaps the most fitting package of all. (allmusic.com)

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ALBERT AYLER
Spiritual Unity - (1964)

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. (allmusic.com)

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ALBERT AYLER
Spirits Rejoice - (1966)

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.

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