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Albert Ayler

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Cleveland Heights, Cleveland OH, United States (1936 – 1970)

Albert Ayler (born July 13th, 1936 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio – November 1970) was the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s. He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved by using the stiffest plastic reeds he could find on his tenor saxophone—and a broad, pathos-filled vibrato that came right out of church music. His trio and quartet records of 1964, like ‘Spiritual Unity’ and ‘The Hilversum Sessions’, show him advancing the improvisational notions of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman into abstract realms where timbre, not harmony and melody, is the music’s backbone. His ecstatic music of 1965 and 1966, like “

Spirits Rejoice” and “

Truth Is Marching In” has been compared by critics to the sound of a Salvation Army brass band, and involved simple, march-like themes which alternated with wild group improvisations and took jazz back to its pre-Louis Armstrong roots.

Ayler remains something of a cult artist. “

Ghosts”—with its bouncy, sing-song melody (rather reminiscent of a nursery rhyme)—is probably his best known tune, and is something of a free jazz standard, having been covered by Lester Bowie, Gary Windo, Eugene Chadbourne, Joe McPhee, John Tchicai and Ken Vandermark, among others.

Saxophonist Mars Williams led a group called Witches and Devils, which was not only named after an Ayler song, but which covered several of his songs.

Peter Brötzmann’s Die Like A Dog Quartet is a group loosely dedicated to Ayler. A record called ‘Little Birds Have Fast Hearts’ references Ayler’s youthful nickname.

Tagged as:

free jazz, jazz, avant-garde, saxophone, avant-garde jazz
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Spiritual Unity
Albert Ayler
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Love Cry
Albert Ayler
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Live In Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse…
Albert Ayler
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Spirits Rejoice
Albert Ayler
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Top Tracks

1	Spirits full track	119
2	The Wizard full track	91
3	Ghosts: First Variation full track	70
4	Ghosts full track	64
4	Angels full track	64
6	Truth Is Marching In full track	56
7	Our Prayer full track	55
8	Spirits Rejoice full track	53
9	Bells full track	42
10	Ghosts: Second Variation full track	38
11	Love Cry full track	30
12	Holy Ghost full track	29
13	Holy Family full track	28
14	Summertime	27
14	Omega full track	27

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fergalmc wrote:
24 days ago

He really did inhabit the space that Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane yearned to get too ...

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ISK2 wrote:
November 2008

do ya guys think island harvest inspired amy winehouse? im gettin that feelin.

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kamiyui wrote:
November 2008

Okay, I give up!

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ap2496 wrote:
November 2008

been listening "slug's saloon" for a year, amazing drum of shannon jackson! but i didn't notice that until now, because credit was just named as "ron jackson".

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dasm88 wrote:
November 2008

You suck and your opinion is not valid because you listen to Kings of Leon and The Black Crowes. You should feel bad for being so stupid as to comment on a real artist's page.

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[deleted-user] wrote:
October 2008

this stuff sucks so badly.
phillip360 wrote:
September 2008

Hello, you are warmly invited to glue and expand the 'pataphysics. The seams suggest that the group rates Ayler very highly as I'm sure you do too.

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drkl0pek wrote:
September 2008

Love this guy!

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feunder wrote:
August 2008

Savoie like that!

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guestspeaker wrote:
August 2008

Go Albert! Go Donald! That's a tragic tale, the Ayler brothers' story.. GREAT WORLD MUSIC LIVES!!

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szklane_oko wrote:
July 2008

this guy's music is a sea of inspiration for me as a sax player.

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robotanake wrote:
July 2008

MAGO!

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tergan wrote:
July 2008

heard on Peripheral Music tag radio: Cluster & Brian Eno > Fonica > Jopy > Eberhard Weber > My Fun > Vanessa Rosetto > The Nels Cline Singers > El Heath > Tape > Alog > Fred Frith > Engine7 > Clogs > Raumwerk > brunk > Ralph Towner > Oregon > Leafcutter John > Hauschka > Albert Ayler > Supersilent > Tom Zé… if that mix of music appeals to you, come join us in the Peripheral Music group.

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ryadeum wrote:
May 2008

free gospel ... what is tat?

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joels344_1 wrote:
April 2008

Very innovative jazz man! One of the best!

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looooooooooooop wrote:
March 2008

hey dudes join ! http://www.last.fm/group/El+Topo

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drilldrilldrill wrote:
March 2008

Oh yeah, I tend to prefer it when Michael Sampson (?) is on board sawing his violin in half!

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drilldrilldrill wrote:
March 2008

Glad that there is quite a few tracks available, found it hard to replace my vinyl when she left for another man.

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EbeSstP wrote:
January 2008

ESP Radio : Part One : Tribute to Albert Ayler part 1 The first installment of ESP Radio has just been added to the ESP-Disk' website. There will be more added in the future. http://espdisk.com/index2.php?option=com_joomradio&page=show_radio&id=1 Enjoy... http://espdisk.com

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GerryHectic wrote:
November 2007

Just heard of Donald's passing, RIP

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Recent Activity

Ropaifofo and MyLIAC1 added Albert Ayler to their libraries. 2 hours ago
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