Albert Ayler Music

"At Slug's Saloon" is one of those pieces that's sort of difficult to grapple with-- it's the only document of this particular formation of Albert Ayler's band, it's a critically powerful live performance, but it's sound quality is poor enough to effect the listening experience. Nonetheless, there's enough worthwhile reasons to pursue this recording for the devoted.

Ayler, performing exclusively on tenor sax at this point in his career, is joined by his brother Don on trumpet, violinist Michel Sampson, bassist Lewis Worrell and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. This is the only recorded evidence of Jackson's tenure in Ayler's band, and his work is exciting and dynamic. Perhaps more naturally a fit for Ayler than the great Sunny Murray was, Jackson can freely associate with the leader, can provide the sort of implied beat patterns that Murray did, but is also willing to dig deep into New Orleans tradition to coax out the sort of rolling marching beats that can match Ayler's themes. Ayler's music by this point was deep in march and gospel tradition, with themes being stated by either himself or his brother, interchanged, and explored-- these provide a foundation for improvisation, sometimes one horn will stick with the theme while the other cuts loose, sometimes the group will collectively improvise. It's tough to see the roll of Sampson and Worrell during ensemble playing as they're virtually inaudible during the preceedings (Worrell in particular).

Still, it's an engaging picture-- Ayler runs through about ten themes performed in continuous succession-- sometimes themes are stated, then another is stated immediately after, sometimes they're reprised, all in all it's really quite intriguing. The play throughout is fantastic-- clearly the band was having an 'on' night.

But the sound is sketchy, and with the strings inaudible, so much of the music is missing. There's also a series of irritating fades breaking up the music that this set would be better without. I'd give this five stars were it not for the sound, but these problems render this difficult and unenjoyable to listen to-- a new ESP-Disk issue is supposed to be coming out, hopefully we'll see dramatic improvements on that.

"At Slug's Saloon" is one of those pieces that's sort of difficult to grapple with-- it's the only document of this particular formation of Albert Ayler's band, it's a critically powerful live performance, but it's sound quality is poor enough to effect the listening experience. Nonetheless, there's enough worthwhile reasons to pursue this recording for the devoted.

Ayler, performing exclusively on tenor sax at this point in his career, is joined by his brother Don on trumpet, violinist Michel Sampson, bassist Lewis Worrell and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. This is the only recorded evidence of Jackson's tenure in Ayler's band, and his work is exciting and dynamic. Perhaps more naturally a fit for Ayler than the great Sunny Murray was, Jackson can freely associate with the leader, can provide the sort of implied beat patterns that Murray did, but is also willing to dig deep into New Orleans tradition to coax out the sort of rolling marching beats that can match Ayler's themes. Ayler's music by this point was deep in march and gospel tradition, with themes being stated by either himself or his brother, interchanged, and explored-- these provide a foundation for improvisation, sometimes one horn will stick with the theme while the other cuts loose, sometimes the group will collectively improvise. It's tough to see the roll of Sampson and Worrell during ensemble playing as you have to strain to hear Sampson and Worrell is nearly inaudible.

Still, it's an engaging picture-- Ayler runs through about ten themes performed in continuous succession-- sometimes themes are stated, then another is stated immediately after, sometimes they're reprised, all in all it's really quite intriguing. The play throughout is fantastic-- clearly the band was having an 'on' night. Also nice to see is that this reissue contains all the material from the show.

But the sound is sketchy, and with the strings hard to hearmuch of the experience is missing. Also of note is that ESP-Disk apparently was not able to restore some of the pieces to their full length-- some of the tracks fade out during the performance. This is extraordinarily disappointing as the ESP-Disk reissues have all been so superb. Still, its a distinct improvement over the previous releases, and certainly its a nicer package, with a superb cover photo of the band in front of Slug's and a new bizarrely associative set of liner notes (all of the research for which seems to have been done online), but I have a hard time rationalizing anything higher than 3 stars for a bootleg-quality release.

The audiophiles who've given this title lukewarm reviews may have somewhat of a point (on par with vinyl back in the day), but the music, qua music, on these discs is the first rate Albert Ayler one expects. Fortunately, I'd heard some of these tracks on Princeton's radio station and knew not to be put off by the audiophiles' griping (thank you Wil Constantine, however you're spelled). With Ayler's bigger band from the Village Vanguard sessions and two trio CD's in my collection, this ensemble was exactly what I was looking for to fill out my Ayler box. The Vanguard work, in itself masterful and dizzying in its musicianship and spiritual power, tends at times to obscure the individual contribution of each instrument, which this quintet ensemble brings into sharper relief. I personally prefer Ayler as he appears on this CD: with Donald Ayler's trumpet and with the violin. Albert mixes and blends voices so astoundingly with trumpet they become nearly indistinguishable before each rockets off on his own cry of pain or ecstasy, and the violin seems to hang like some scarf of a twisting and warped dimension through which all the rest of the yearning and admonishing and protesting and praising voices find "local habitation and a name." It's eerie and weird and totally cool.

As a bonus, you'll get liner notes that are among the best available on the meaning of jazz on Ayler's side of the coin he shares with Anthony Braxton. Just buy it. Enjoy it.

"At Slug's Saloon" is one of those pieces that's sort of difficult to grapple with-- it's the only document of this particular formation of Albert Ayler's band, it's a critically powerful live performance, but it's sound quality is poor enough to effect the listening experience. Nonetheless, there's enough worthwhile reasons to pursue this recording for the devoted.

Ayler, performing exclusively on tenor sax at this point in his career, is joined by his brother Don on trumpet, violinist Michel Sampson, bassist Lewis Worrell and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. This is the only recorded evidence of Jackson's tenure in Ayler's band, and his work is exciting and dynamic. Perhaps more naturally a fit for Ayler than the great Sunny Murray was, Jackson can freely associate with the leader, can provide the sort of implied beat patterns that Murray did, but is also willing to dig deep into New Orleans tradition to coax out the sort of rolling marching beats that can match Ayler's themes. Ayler's music by this point was deep in march and gospel tradition, with themes being stated by either himself or his brother, interchanged, and explored-- these provide a foundation for improvisation, sometimes one horn will stick with the theme while the other cuts loose, sometimes the group will collectively improvise. It's tough to see the roll of Sampson and Worrell during ensemble playing as they're virtually inaudible during the preceedings (Worrell in particular).

Still, it's an engaging picture-- Ayler runs through about ten themes performed in continuous succession-- sometimes themes are stated, then another is stated immediately after, sometimes they're reprised, all in all it's really quite intriguing. The play throughout is fantastic-- clearly the band was having an 'on' night.

But the sound is sketchy, and with the strings inaudible, so much of the music is missing. There's also a series of irritating fades breaking up the music that this set would be better without. I'd give this five stars were it not for the sound, but these problems render this difficult and unenjoyable to listen to-- a new ESP-Disk issue is supposed to be coming out, hopefully we'll see dramatic improvements on that.

"At Slug's Saloon" is one of those pieces that's sort of difficult to grapple with-- it's the only document of this particular formation of Albert Ayler's band, it's a critically powerful live performance, but it's sound quality is poor enough to effect the listening experience. Nonetheless, there's enough worthwhile reasons to pursue this recording for the devoted.

Ayler, performing exclusively on tenor sax at this point in his career, is joined by his brother Don on trumpet, violinist Michel Sampson, bassist Lewis Worrell and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. This is the only recorded evidence of Jackson's tenure in Ayler's band, and his work is exciting and dynamic. Perhaps more naturally a fit for Ayler than the great Sunny Murray was, Jackson can freely associate with the leader, can provide the sort of implied beat patterns that Murray did, but is also willing to dig deep into New Orleans tradition to coax out the sort of rolling marching beats that can match Ayler's themes. Ayler's music by this point was deep in march and gospel tradition, with themes being stated by either himself or his brother, interchanged, and explored-- these provide a foundation for improvisation, sometimes one horn will stick with the theme while the other cuts loose, sometimes the group will collectively improvise. It's tough to see the roll of Sampson and Worrell during ensemble playing as you have to strain to hear Sampson and Worrell is nearly inaudible.

Still, it's an engaging picture-- Ayler runs through about ten themes performed in continuous succession-- sometimes themes are stated, then another is stated immediately after, sometimes they're reprised, all in all it's really quite intriguing. The play throughout is fantastic-- clearly the band was having an 'on' night. Also nice to see is that this reissue contains all the material from the show.

But the sound is sketchy, and with the strings hard to hearmuch of the experience is missing. Also of note is that ESP-Disk apparently was not able to restore some of the pieces to their full length-- some of the tracks fade out during the performance. This is extraordinarily disappointing as the ESP-Disk reissues have all been so superb. Still, its a distinct improvement over the previous releases, and certainly its a nicer package, with a superb cover photo of the band in front of Slug's and a new bizarrely associative set of liner notes (all of the research for which seems to have been done online), but I have a hard time rationalizing anything higher than 3 stars for a bootleg-quality release.

The audiophiles who've given this title lukewarm reviews may have somewhat of a point (on par with vinyl back in the day), but the music, qua music, on these discs is the first rate Albert Ayler one expects. Fortunately, I'd heard some of these tracks on Princeton's radio station and knew not to be put off by the audiophiles' griping (thank you Wil Constantine, however you're spelled). With Ayler's bigger band from the Village Vanguard sessions and two trio CD's in my collection, this ensemble was exactly what I was looking for to fill out my Ayler box. The Vanguard work, in itself masterful and dizzying in its musicianship and spiritual power, tends at times to obscure the individual contribution of each instrument, which this quintet ensemble brings into sharper relief. I personally prefer Ayler as he appears on this CD: with Donald Ayler's trumpet and with the violin. Albert mixes and blends voices so astoundingly with trumpet they become nearly indistinguishable before each rockets off on his own cry of pain or ecstasy, and the violin seems to hang like some scarf of a twisting and warped dimension through which all the rest of the yearning and admonishing and protesting and praising voices find "local habitation and a name." It's eerie and weird and totally cool.

As a bonus, you'll get liner notes that are among the best available on the meaning of jazz on Ayler's side of the coin he shares with Anthony Braxton. Just buy it. Enjoy it.

When it comes to atmosphere, the sad, sometimes rainy soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch' excellent indy movie "Stranger than paradise" has it all, allthough it's only fair to say that it's a short and minimalistic experience: only 20 something minutes long. Maybe therefor the album has a wild, chaotic musical set piece called "The ressurrection of Albert Ayler" as a bonus. But the twenty minute score for "Stranger than paradise" is perfect nontheless. A string quartet plays John Lurie's understated tunes. The composer has an eye for detail and touching notes, just the way he acts in the movie itself: a flinch, a sigh, a gesture often is enough and all is filled with a feel of "real", of "genuine" and that's the strength of both the movie and its music.

John Lurie's second musical collaboration with Jim Jarmusch (if we skip his saxophone playing cameo appearance in "Permanent vacation" for a minute) is "Down by law" and it's both sad and good that he didn't repeat himself. The score for "Down by law" is more experimental, more filled with little pieces of wickedness en weirdness. It's also shorter than a regular soundtrack, but this one too has another Lurie piece, "Variety", as a bonus.

"Mystery train" is, to round up things, the third and last Lurie / Jarmusch collaboration. Because this movie has some Elvis themes in its core, the strings are replaced by electric guitar. But that doesn't mean that the intimacy of the first two Lurie soundtracks is gone: Lurie draws from his electric guitar the same atmosphere as before, giving us hints of saddness, loneliness and some "plingplungs" of deadpan humor.

P.S. John Lurie directed a t.v. series called "Fishing with John" for which he also made the music. One of his guests is Jim Jarmusch, so maybe, with the release of this cd, we have a Lurie/Jarmusch quartet anyway.

it does have great Viola Cello and Violin music by The Paradise Quartet. I love the sound of the cello and was very impressed when Lou Reed used it in his "Street Hassle" album.
Since I have this on a cassette, I tend to only listen to the Paradise Quartet side, and not the Resurrection of Albert Ayler side. But just for that side it was a worthy buy for me. It's great music to read by...or just daydream.
I loved the movie, have seen it many times and it's a great background music for my quiet moods.

Just like the film in terms of originality. this music stands on it's own away from the film but it's association doesn't hurt either. John Lurie is truly an underrated musician and actor. I appreciate the care that Jim Jarmusch uses in selecting music for his films. Highly Recommended! I put a spell on you!

Just some info on this record that the above review left out. The original record on the Denmark label was called Spirits with this being the original cover. I have not heard this on the reissue CD(nor would I buy a CD), but the original album with this cover is worth a bit of money. The later release called witches and devils is a bit more available and there were many different pressings and covers of this. Just a little info for you.

In 1964, Albert Ayler returned to the United States after some time in the Scandanavian countries and found himself in a recording studio in New York City. Ayler recorded two albums that day, "Goin' Home" and "Spirits" (sometimes released as "Witches and Devils")-- the former all traditionals and spirituals, the latter all originals. Both have their merits, and make for interesting listens together. They both benefit from actually having a band that is sympathetic to Ayler's vision. And certainly, these two albums set the stage for the rest of his career.

"Spirits" is really something altogether shocking. Ayler, performing exclusively on tenor, is accompanied by trumpeter Norman Howard, bassists Henry Grimes and Earl Henderson, and drummer Sunny Murray. The quartet performs by and large in the forms that Ayler would embrace for the next several years-- spiritual/march infused theme statements composed by Ayler with free associative backgrounds and strong melody statements. Improv is powerful and at times seemingly chaotic. Ayler for his part has embraced his sound fully, with a wide vibrato and aggressive approach, playing in his horn's upper register. Howard emulates this, playing with an equally wide vibrato. The rhythm section (only the cut "Witches and Devils" features both bassists, Henderson plays "Holy Holy" and Grimes "Spirits" and "Saints") is all over the place-- Murray frames everything in his inimitable fashion, playing even further away from a timekeeping role than he did with Cecil Taylor, and both Grimes and Henderson are exploratory underneath the horns.

The pieces cover a lot of moods-- "Spirits" gallops along as the horns furiously push out notes in a frantic improv glued together by Sunny Murray's magnificent drumming. Oddly enough, Henderson seems more or less at a loss for what to do with so little space to fill until his own frantic solo comes forth. "Witches and Devils" is morose, almos funereal, with an extended and unnervingly patient improv led largely by Howard. "Holy Holy" continues this thread, with Ayler stating the theme and consuming about half the piece with his solo. Curiously, at the end of his solo (around the five minute mark), Ayler states part of the theme to his composition "Ghosts" and Howard takes over the soloing voice. The record pretty much fizzles out curiously enough on "Saints", where it seems as if Howard really has no idea how he should be responding to Ayler's playing. Even his own solo seems tentative and incomplete.

This reissue certainly looks nice enough, but I'm a bit disappointed with the sound-- it's still not as clean as you'd like, and it's way too quiet.

But it is readily available right now, and while the recording isn't essential in Ayler's catalog, it certainly is a good one.

Albert Ayler's "Spirits Rejoice" represents the first real codification of the sound which he would work in for the next several years-- while "Bells", recorded three months prior began introducing this sound, "Spirits Rejoice", from September of 1965 fully embraces it. Relying on multiple horns and march-like (or gospel-like) melodies, the music is deceptively simple, serving as a launching point for improvisation. The thing that's intriguing is that for pieces that are by-and-large considered difficult, Ayler's melodies are catchy and get stuck in your head, and by and large this is the pinnacle of the direction his career has been heading.

Performing exclusively on tenor sax, Ayler is joined by two other horns-- his brother Don on trumpet and alto saxophonist Charles Tyler. Don provides an interesting foil for Albert-- whereas Cherry provided a foil in delicacy to Ayler's aggressiveness and Cherry's predecessor Norman Howard adopted Ayler's wide vibrato, Don pursues an aggressive mode that avoids emulating his brother's vibrato. Tyler, for his part, seems to stick a bit closer to Ayler, providing an additional horn voice, particularly when Ayler cuts loose, holding down the melody. The remainder of the band is bassists Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock (the latter recording with Ayler for the last time) and drummer Sunny Murray. The bassists maintain a dialog with each other, providing a foundation, a countermelody, and almost a pillow to work on-- this role had previously been filled by Murray, who seems now concerned largely will accent and space and almost a direct beat statement rather than pure implication.

The pieces are by and large ecstatic-- generally avoiding the lyricism found on earlier records for excited call and response pieces ("Spirits Rejoice", which is almost a carefully constructed variant on "Bells" and the gospel-like theme "Holy Family") or aggressive explosivenes ("D.C" and "Prophet"). On the latter two, Don Ayler in particular solos powerfully and aggressively, managing to step out of the shadow of his brother, even if only briefly. The only cut that breaks this sound is titled on here "Angels" (although previously referred to as "Prophecy"). Featuring Call Cobbs on poorly recorded harpsichord (and with Don Ayler and Charles Tyler laying out), Albert digs in deep in a ballad form and expresses himself in a lyrical manner that belies the usual suspicions that he's incapable of straight playing as he stays pretty far inside on his beautiful soloing.

This reissue is newly remastered from the original tapes courtesy of the newly reborn ESP-Disk record label. The new transfer brings out subtlety and detail, particularly in the three part horn harmonies-- on previous issues, Tyler was hard to distinguish in the mix, being able to better hear and understand his role is enormously valuable.

Ayler's music is exciting and this is really quite a good example of it, it's not quite the masterpiece some of his earlier work (free jazz summit "Vibrations") is, or quite as good or essential an example as "Live in Greenwich Village", but its really quite a good record. Recommended.

Albert Ayler's "Spirits Rejoice" represents the first real codification of the sound which he would work in for the next several years-- while "Bells", recorded three months prior began introducing this sound, "Spirits Rejoice", from September of 1965 fully embraces it. Relying on multiple horns and march-like (or gospel-like) melodies, the music is deceptively simple, serving as a launching point for improvisation. The thing that's intriguing is that for pieces that are by-and-large considered difficult, Ayler's melodies are catchy and get stuck in your head, and by and large this is the pinnacle of the direction his career has been heading.

Performing exclusively on tenor sax, Ayler is joined by two other horns-- his brother Don on trumpet and alto saxophonist Charles Tyler. Don provides an interesting foil for Albert-- whereas Cherry provided a foil in delicacy to Ayler's aggressiveness and Cherry's predecessor Norman Howard adopted Ayler's wide vibrato, Don pursues an aggressive mode that avoids emulating his brother's vibrato. Unfortunately the third horn in Charles Tyler is virtually inaudible. The remainder of the band is bassists Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock (the latter recording with Ayler for the last time) and drummer Sunny Murray. The bassists maintain a dialog with each other, providing a foundation, a countermelody, and almost a pillow to work on-- this role had previously been filled by Murray, who seems now concerned largely will accent and space and almost a direct beat statement rather than pure implication.

The pieces are by and large ecstatic-- generally avoiding the lyricism found on earlier records for excited call and response pieces ("Spirits Rejoice", which is almost a carefully constructed variant on "Bells" and the gospel-like theme "Holy Family") or aggressive explosivenes ("D.C" and "Prophet"). On the latter two, Don Ayler in particular solos powerfully and aggressively, managing to step out of the shadow of his brother, even if only briefly. The only cut that breaks this sound is titled on here "Angels" (although previously referred to as "Prophecy"). Featuring Call Cobbs on poorly recorded harpsichord (and with Don Ayler and Charles Tyler laying out), Albert digs in deep in a ballad form and expresses himself in a lyrical manner that belies the usual suspicions that he's incapable of straight playing as he stays pretty far inside on his beautiful soloing.

Edit: An important note-- vastly improved sound quality is available on the 2006 remaster of this recording from the recent-resurrected ESP-Disk record label, that's the one you want.

Ayler's music is exciting and this is really quite a good example of it, it's not quite the masterpiece some of his earlier work (free jazz summit "Vibrations") is, or quite as good or essential an example as "Live in Greenwich Village", but its really quite a good record. Recommended.

Albert Ayler's "Spirits Rejoice" represents the first real codification of the sound which he would work in for the next several years-- while "Bells", recorded three months prior began introducing this sound, "Spirits Rejoice", from September of 1965 fully embraces it. Relying on multiple horns and march-like (or gospel-like) melodies, the music is deceptively simple, serving as a launching point for improvisation. The thing that's intriguing is that for pieces that are by-and-large considered difficult, Ayler's melodies are catchy and get stuck in your head, and by and large this is the pinnacle of the direction his career has been heading.

Performing exclusively on tenor sax, Ayler is joined by two other horns-- his brother Don on trumpet and alto saxophonist Charles Tyler. Don provides an interesting foil for Albert-- whereas Cherry provided a foil in delicacy to Ayler's aggressiveness and Cherry's predecessor Norman Howard adopted Ayler's wide vibrato, Don pursues an aggressive mode that avoids emulating his brother's vibrato. Unfortunately the third horn in Charles Tyler is virtually inaudible. The remainder of the band is bassists Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock (the latter recording with Ayler for the last time) and drummer Sunny Murray. The bassists maintain a dialog with each other, providing a foundation, a countermelody, and almost a pillow to work on-- this role had previously been filled by Murray, who seems now concerned largely will accent and space and almost a direct beat statement rather than pure implication.

The pieces are by and large ecstatic-- generally avoiding the lyricism found on earlier records for excited call and response pieces ("Spirits Rejoice", which is almost a carefully constructed variant on "Bells" and the gospel-like theme "Holy Family") or aggressive explosivenes ("D.C" and "Prophet"). On the latter two, Don Ayler in particular solos powerfully and aggressively, managing to step out of the shadow of his brother, even if only briefly. The only cut that breaks this sound is titled on here "Angels" (although previously referred to as "Prophecy"). Featuring Call Cobbs on poorly recorded harpsichord (and with Don Ayler and Charles Tyler laying out), Albert digs in deep in a ballad form and expresses himself in a lyrical manner that belies the usual suspicions that he's incapable of straight playing as he stays pretty far inside on his beautiful soloing.

Edit: An important note-- vastly improved sound quality is available on the 2006 remaster of this recording from the recent-resurrected ESP-Disk record label, that's the one you want.

Ayler's music is exciting and this is really quite a good example of it, it's not quite the masterpiece some of his earlier work (free jazz summit "Vibrations") is, or quite as good or essential an example as "Live in Greenwich Village", but its really quite a good record. Recommended.

Ayler was fleshing out his group at this point from a trio to the larger ensembles utilized on the impulse! recordings. Like most ESPs this is a very short set, not that that should matter when the music is so strong.

I give this recording 4 stars in relation to other Ayler releases. Personally, I think The three essential Aylers are Spiritual Unity, Greenwich and Love Cry. Those new to ayler should start with one of those and after you've discovered the beauty of his work, dive into the rest of his ESP discs.

Albert Ayler's "Spirits Rejoice" represents the first real codification of the sound which he would work in for the next several years-- while "Bells", recorded three months prior began introducing this sound, "Spirits Rejoice", from September of 1965 fully embraces it. Relying on multiple horns and march-like (or gospel-like) melodies, the music is deceptively simple, serving as a launching point for improvisation. The thing that's intriguing is that for pieces that are by-and-large considered difficult, Ayler's melodies are catchy and get stuck in your head, and by and large this is the pinnacle of the direction his career has been heading.

Performing exclusively on tenor sax, Ayler is joined by two other horns-- his brother Don on trumpet and alto saxophonist Charles Tyler. Don provides an interesting foil for Albert-- whereas Cherry provided a foil in delicacy to Ayler's aggressiveness and Cherry's predecessor Norman Howard adopted Ayler's wide vibrato, Don pursues an aggressive mode that avoids emulating his brother's vibrato. Unfortunately the third horn in Charles Tyler is virtually inaudible. The remainder of the band is bassists Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock (the latter recording with Ayler for the last time) and drummer Sunny Murray. The bassists maintain a dialog with each other, providing a foundation, a countermelody, and almost a pillow to work on-- this role had previously been filled by Murray, who seems now concerned largely will accent and space and almost a direct beat statement rather than pure implication.

The pieces are by and large ecstatic-- generally avoiding the lyricism found on earlier records for excited call and response pieces ("Spirits Rejoice", which is almost a carefully constructed variant on "Bells" and the gospel-like theme "Holy Family") or aggressive explosivenes ("D.C" and "Prophet"). On the latter two, Don Ayler in particular solos powerfully and aggressively, managing to step out of the shadow of his brother, even if only briefly. The only cut that breaks this sound is titled on here "Angels" (although previously referred to as "Prophecy"). Featuring Call Cobbs on poorly recorded harpsichord (and with Don Ayler and Charles Tyler laying out), Albert digs in deep in a ballad form and expresses himself in a lyrical manner that belies the usual suspicions that he's incapable of straight playing as he stays pretty far inside on his beautiful soloing.

Edit: An important note-- vastly improved sound quality is available on the 2006 remaster of this recording from the recent-resurrected ESP-Disk record label, that's the one you want.

Ayler's music is exciting and this is really quite a good example of it, it's not quite the masterpiece some of his earlier work (free jazz summit "Vibrations") is, or quite as good or essential an example as "Live in Greenwich Village", but its really quite a good record. Recommended.

It's wonderful that with the ESP label's demise, others are making available classic titles like Sun Ra's "Heliocentric Worlds," Ornette's "Town Hall Concert," and Ayler's "Spiritual Unity" and this title, "Spirits Rejoice." While "Spiritual Unity" explores Ayler's music in a trio setting, "Spirits Rejoice" uses additional horns, two basses and even harpsichord on one track (Scarlatti eat your heart out!). The result is a fuller sound more akin to Ayler's Impulse recordings "Greenwich Village" and "Love Cry," yet all its own. The band on the album's five songs ("Spirits Rejoice," "Holy Family," "D.C.," "Angels" and "Prophet") is brother Don on trumpet, Charles Tyler on alto (hopefully his great ESP album will be reissued too), Sunny Murray on drums, and both Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock on bass, with Cal Cobbs sitting it on "Angels." Those new to Ayler's music be ready for some of the most expressive, personal, searching avant-garde jazz ever, and it is completely distinct and original. Although this is an import, the price is much more reasonable than those Japanese Blue Notes. Since most domestic CDs cost this much anyway, there should be no hesitation with this purchase.