Albert Ayler
Of all the figures of free jazz, the Cleveland-born tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler (1936 to 1970) had the shortest career and one of the most radical visions. He first recorded in 1962 and was dead by 1970, drowned in New York's East River at thirty four, yet in those few years he articulated an aesthetic second only to Cecil Taylor's, a virtuoso art made out of anti-virtuoso means. Starting in rhythm and blues, he arrived in New York with a huge, keening tone and a repertoire of hymns, marches and folk tunes blown apart into pure sound; Spiritual Unity (1964) and Bells remain touchstones.
Goin’ Home
Albert Ayler did it once, and only once. On February 24, 1964, in New York, on the same day as the session that would become Spirits, he recorded a program of spirituals and standards with no screaming, no glossolalia, no demolition of form: "Goin' H…
Free Jazz (LP)
1979 French re-issue on Freedom of the 1964 album originally titled My Name Is Albert Ayler. With original innersleeve.
In Greenwich Village (LP)
Rare 1968 re-press on Impulse!/ABC of the 1967 album featuring Alan Silva, Henry Grimes and Donald Ayler.
In Greenwich Village (LP)
1983 UK re-issue on Jasmine Records of the 1967 album featuring Alan Silva, Henry Grimes and Donald Ayler.
My Name Is Albert Ayler (LP)
1970's US re-issue on Fantasy's "Debut Series" of the 1964 album.
Something Different!!!!!! (LP)
1969 Japanese re-issue in mono on DIW of the first album from 1963. With insert.
The First Recordings (LP)
1969 Japanese re-issue in mono on Sonet with different title and cover of the first album from 1963 originally titled Something Different!!!!!!. With original "SJ Seal of Approval" sticker on front.
The First Recordings (LP)
1969 UK re-issue in mono on Sonet with different title and cover of the first album from 1963 originally titled Something Different!!!!!!.
The First Recordings (LP)
1973 US re-issue in stereo on GNP Crescendo with different title and cover of the first album from 1963 originally titled Something Different!!!!!!. With original innersleeve.
Spirits (LP)
Rare 1985 Japanese re-issue on Freedom of the 1964 album featuring Henry Grimes and Sunny Murray. With insert.
Witches & Devils (LP)
1975 US re-issue on Arista/Freedom with different title and cover of the 1964 album originally titled Spirits featuring Henry Grimes and Sunny Murray. With original innersleeve.
Free Jazz (LP)
1979 French re-issue on Freedom of the 1964 album originally titled My Name Is Albert Ayler. With original innersleeve.
Ghosts (LP)
1975 Japanese re-issue on Trio/Freedom's "Freedom Discover The '60's Series" with different cover of the 1965 album featuring Gary Peacock, Don Cherry and Sunny Murray. With insert.
Spiritual Unity (LP)
1978 Japanese re-issue on ESP-Disk's "ジャズ名盤 Collection" of the 1965 album featuring Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray. With insert.
Spiritual Unity (LP)
1978 Japanese re-issue on ESP-Disk's "ジャズ名盤 Collection" of the 1965 album featuring Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray. With insert.
Spirits Rejoice (LP)
1978 Japanese re-issue on ESP-Disk's "ジャズ Collection" of the 1965 album featuring Gary Peacock, Henry Grimes, Sunny Murray, Donald Ayler and Charles Tyler.
Spirits Rejoice (LP)
1980 Japanese re-issue on ESP-Disk's "ジャズ Collection" of the 1965 album featuring Gary Peacock, Henry Grimes, Sunny Murray, Donald Ayler and Charles Tyler.
Spirits Rejoice (LP)
1980 Japanese re-issue on ESP-Disk's "ジャズ Collection" of the 1965 album featuring Gary Peacock, Henry Grimes, Sunny Murray, Donald Ayler and Charles Tyler.
In Greenwich Village (LP)
Rare 1971 Japanese re-press on Impulse!/ABC of the 1967 album featuring Alan Silva, Henry Grimes and Donald Ayler.
New Grass (LP)
Original French edition on Impulse!/ABC of the 1969 album.
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght Volume 1 (LP)
1972 re-issue on Shandar of volume 1 of the 1970 live album.
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght Volume 2 (LP)
Original edition on Shandar of volume 2 of the 1970 live album.
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght Volume 2 (LP)
1971 Japanese pressing on RCA of volume 2 of the 1970 live album.
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (2LP)
1974 Japanese pressing on RCA of the double LP set with the full 1970 concert.
The Last Album (LP)
Original Japanese pressing on Impulse of the 1971 album. With insert and obi.
Swing Low Sweet Spiritual (LP)
Original Dutch edition of the 1971 album with recordings from 1964 featuring Henry Grimes, Sunny Murray ad Call Cobbs, later re-issued with the title Goin' Home.
Goin' Home (CD)
1994 first CD re-issue on Black Lion with different title of the 1971 album originally titled Swing Low Sweet Spiritual with recordings from 1964 featuring Henry Grimes, Sunny Murray ad Call Cobbs.
Prophecy (LP)
1980 Japanese re-issue on ESP-Disk's "ジャズ名盤 Collection" of the 1975 album with recordings from 1964 featuring Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray. With obi.
The Hilversum Session (LP)
Original 1980 Dutch LP on Osmosis with recordings from 1964 featuring Gary Peacock, Don Cherry and Sunny Murray.
At Slug's Saloon Vol. 2 (LP)
Original Japanese pressing on DIW/Base of the 1982 album with a live recording from 1966 featuring Donald Ayler. With insert.
New York Eye And Ear Control (CD)
1992 release (light wear) ** July 1964: the soundtrack to Michael Snow's film, and one of the great collective improvisations ever recorded - a record whose influence runs so deep that entire schools of music stand on it without always knowing. Alber…
Reference: Albert Ayler Spirits & Spirits Rejoice
The album "Spirits," released by a debut label based in Copenhagen, marked the first opportunity for Ayler to record his "free music" in February 1964 in New York. The musicians selected by him included notable figures such as Cecil Taylor (with drum…
Europe 1964
Super tip! Holy ghost music. The real deal. The sound of four men tearing a hole in the fabric of what jazz was supposed to be and letting something else pour through - something ancient and raw and utterly new. In their short time together, Albert A…
New York Eye And Ear Control
Originally released in 1966. Featured artists: Albert Ayler (tenor sax), Ed Blackwell(trumpet), Don Cherry (trumpet, cornet), Sunny Murray (drums), Gary Peacock (bass), Roswell Rudd (trombone), John Tchicai (saxophone, alto sax). Michael Snow is a Ca…
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Sonny's Time Now
** Rare original copies. Early 80s LP reissue. Unplayed copies from a dead-stock, minor wear due to ageing on covers ** A seismic moment in the history of free jazz, Sonny’s Time Now stands as a raw, uncompromising manifesto of musical liberation. Re…
Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe
Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe is a powerful and often ignored 1970 recording from the American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer Albert Ayler. Apart from the posthumous album The Last Album, this was to be Ayler's last st…
The Copenhagen Tapes
2002 release ** "When you give birth to a free jazz record label by the name of Ayler Records, you must be dreaming of putting out an album of long-forgotten sessions by the great saxophonist Albert Ayler. It took a while (then again, not that long),…
Live On The Riviera
2025 stock When Albert Ayler's band went through Customs in July 1970 on their way to play at a festival in France, keyboardist Call Cobbs got held back and arrived a day late. Minus the keyboards, the band played anyway. The music-making of the resu…
Live Greenwich Village To Love Cry „Revisited“
"The two reissues presented herein include the last sessions that Donald would record with his brother, bookending a turning point in Ayler’s music. The Village Theater sessions, from late 1966 and early 1967 (the latter without Donald) mark, arguabl…
More Lost Performances (Revisited)
"The almost five year span bookended in this particular Ayler revisitation marks, in a certain sense,
the beginning and end points of the most lasting and creative portion of his remarkable, though
sadly brief, career." – Brian Olewnick