Albert Ayler
Holy Ghost
LabelRevenantGenreJazz & Improvisation
Out of stock
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By 1958, Albert Ayler and his horn had made some rounds: from boy prodigy to teenage member of Little Walter's Blues Band, from "Little Bird" of Cleveland to featured US Army Band soloist. Then he resolutely set out to forget everything he'd ever learned about how to properly play the sax so that he could really PLAY it -- unhinged, free from strictures of pitch and form, drawing on spirituals, folksong, marches, and other big whopping chunks of collective musical memory -- to channel symphonies to God out his horn. Seeking nothing short of Truth in music, Albert Ayler became THE catalytic force in defining the sound of the tenor in Free Jazz, and was a heavy influence on John Coltrane's later work. Holy Ghost is the first comprehensive attempt to build a monument in sound to Albert Ayler. The settings -- radio and TV sessions, studio demos, private recordings, live concert footage -- find his music at its most liberated. And with the sponsorship and assistance of Ayler's family, friends, and colleagues, Holy Ghost documents his never-before-heard first and last recordings, bookending rare and unissued music from every stage of his career.
# 9 CDs of rare & unissued recordings
# 208 pg. full-color hardbound book
# new essays by Amiri Baraka, Val Wilmer & other Ayler scholars
# unpublished photos & family memorabilia
# artist testimonials of first encounters with Ayler's music
# exhaustive chronology of Ayler performance activities
# housed in lavish Spirit Box cast from handcarved original
Format
Rare and unreleased recordings from 1962-1970 in a 9CD 'Spirit Box', plus a bonus disc of Albert Ayler with a U.S. Army Band. The boxset includes: - a 208 page full-color hardbound book which includes new essays by Amiri Baraka, Val Wilmer & other Ayler scholars - a picture of Ayler with saxophone from his youth - a photostat of a handwritten note from a Copenhagen hotel - a reprinted copy of a Slugs flyer which includes a listing for a week of Ayler's quintet - a reprinted 1965 pamphlet by the late poet Paul Haines entitled Ayler-Peacock-Murray-You and the Night and the Music - a reprinted newsletter from 1969 by Jihad Productions with excerpts about Ayler - a dried flower 1-1 to 1-3: Recorded June 30, 1962 in Helsinki, Finland 1-4 to 1-5: Recorded poss. November 16, 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark 1-6 to 2-3: Recorded June 14, 1964 at the Cellar Café, New York City 2-4 to 2-10: Recorded September 3, 1964 at Café Montmartre: Copenhagen, Denmark 2-11: Recorded February 1966 at Slug's: New York City 3-1 to 3-8: Recorded April 16, 1966 at La Cave: Cleveland 3-9 to 4-6: Recorded April 17, 1966 at La Cave: Cleveland 5-1 to 5-5: Recorded November 3, 1966 at Berlin Philharmonic: Berlin, Germany 5-6 to 5-10: Recorded November 8, 1966 at De Doelen: Rotterdam, The Netherlands 6-1 to 6-3: Recorded June 30/July 1, 1967 at Freebody Park: Newport, Rhode Island 6-4: Recorded at the funeral of John Coltrane, July 21, 1967 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church: New York City 6-5: Recorded January 21, 1968 at the Renaissance Ballroom: New York City 6-6 to 6-9: Recorded ca. late August 1968 in New York City area 7-1 to 7-2: Recorded January 11, 1969 at Town Hall: New York City 7-3 to 7-6: Recorded prob. July 28, 1970 at La Colle sur Loup: Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 8-1 to 8-4: Ayler interview for "Afterbeat" program. Recorded early December 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark 8-5 to 8-8: Ayler interview for "Afterbeat" program. Recorded on or around November 11, 1966 in Copenhagen, Denmark 8-9 to 8-23: Ayler interview for "France Culture". Recorded July 27, 1970 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 9-1 to 9-37: Ayler interview for "Swing Journal". Recorded July 25, 1970 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 9-38: Don and Mocqui Cherry interview. Recorded in Paris, 1971 10-1 to 10-2: U.S. Army 76th AG Band Rehearsal. Recorded Sept. 14, 1960 Recordings made available under license from the Albert Ayler estate and various rights holders. Disc 1/Tracks 1-3 made available under license through special arrangement with Finnish Broadcasting Company-Yleisradio, through the good works of Matti Konttinen. NOTE: The boxed set was released with mastering/pressing flaw on disc 6. Because of this for a limited time Revenant provided a replacement disc to those who purchased the boxed set and requested the replacement disc by mail or email. This replacement disc was mailed in a cardboard mailer with a blank card stock cover. The mastering issue appears to be a volume and minor clarity issue on some tracks, the remastering adds one second to both tracks 6-6 and 6-9.
Release notes
Rare and unreleased recordings from 1962-1970 in a 9CD 'Spirit Box', plus a bonus disc of Albert Ayler with a U.S. Army Band. The boxset includes: - a 208 page full-color hardbound book which includes new essays by Amiri Baraka, Val Wilmer & other Ayler scholars - a picture of Ayler with saxophone from his youth - a photostat of a handwritten note from a Copenhagen hotel - a reprinted copy of a Slugs flyer which includes a listing for a week of Ayler's quintet - a reprinted 1965 pamphlet by…
| 1-1 | Sonnymoon For Two | 8:29 | |
| 1-2 | Summertime | 6:53 | |
| 1-3 | On Green Dolphin Street | 3:26 | |
| 1-4 | Spoken Intro | 0:42 | |
| 1-5 | Four | 21:46 | |
| 1-6 | Spirits [Incomplete] | 6:38 | |
| 1-7 | Saints | 10:32 | |
| 1-8 | Ghosts [Incomplete] | 10:56 | |
| 2-1 | The Wizard | 6:51 | |
| 2-2 | Children | 9:05 | |
| 2-3 | Spirits [Theme] | 0:28 | |
| 2-4 | Spoken Radio Introduction | 0:55 | |
| 2-5 | Spirits | 8:43 | |
| 2-6 | Vibrations | 8:23 | |
| 2-7 | [Tune Q] | 8:59 | |
| 2-8 | Mothers | 7:53 | |
| 2-9 | Children | 8:38 | |
| 2-10 | Spirits [Theme] | 1:25 | |
| 2-11 | [Untitled] (Collective) | 8:55 | |
| First Set | |||
| 3-1 | Spoken Introduction By Peter Bergman | 1:03 | |
| 3-2 | Spirits Rejoice | 4:39 | |
| 3-3 | D.C. | 5:58 | |
| 3-4 | [Untitled Minor Waltz] | 7:04 | |
| 3-5 | Our Prayer | 6:33 | |
| Second Set | |||
| 3-6 | Spoken Introduction By Peter Bergman | 1:13 | |
| 3-7 | [F# Tune] | 15:20 | |
| 3-8 | Ghosts | 6:32 | |
| First Set | |||
| 3-9 | Spirits Rejoice | 6:31 | |
| 3-10 | Prophet / Ghosts / Spiritual Bells | 14:33 | |
| 3-11 | Our Prayer / Spirits Rejoice | 9:43 | |
| Second Set | |||
| 4-1 | [Untitled] / Truth Is Marching In | 15:43 | |
| 4-2 | Spirits | 9:16 | |
| 4-3 | Zion Hill | 12:40 | |
| 4-4 | Spirits | 7:00 | |
| 4-5 | Spiritual Bells | 3:48 | |
| 4-6 | [F# Tune] | 9:18 | |
| - | |||
| 5-1 | Concert Announcement By Ralf Schulte-Bahrenberg | 1:10 | |
| 5-2 | Ghosts / Bells | 11:15 | |
| 5-3 | Truth Is Marching In | 7:07 | |
| 5-4 | Omega | 3:48 | |
| 5-5 | Our Prayer | 4:39 | |
| 5-6 | Spoken Introduction By Peter de Wit | 1:25 | |
| 5-7 | Truth Is Marching In | 11:14 | |
| 5-8 | Bells | 5:35 | |
| 5-9 | Spirits Rejoice | 10:51 | |
| 5-10 | "Free Spiritual Music", Part IV | 6:44 | |
| 6-1 | Truth Is Marching In / Omega | 9:00 | |
| 6-2 | Japan / Universal Indians | 5:41 | |
| 6-3 | Our Prayer | 8:19 | |
| 6-4 | Love Cry / Truth Is Marching In/Our Prayer | 6:24 | |
| 6-5 | Venus / Upper And Lower Egypt | 22:59 | |
| 6-6 | [Blues] | 6:04 | |
| 6-7 | [Sermon] | 0:50 | |
| 6-8 | Thank God For Women | 10:16 | |
| 6-9 | New Ghosts [Demo Fragments] | 7:10 | |
| 7-1 | Prophet John | 10:53 | |
| 7-2 | Judge Ye Not | 10:16 | |
| 7-3 | Mothers / Children | 8:42 | |
| 7-4 | [Untitled, Incomplete] | 14:14 | |
| 7-5 | [C Minor] | 5:21 | |
| 7-6 | [F Minor / C Minor] | 10:36 | |
| 8-1 | Travel And Plans | 1:49 | |
| 8-2 | Holbaek | 0:39 | |
| 8-3 | The New Blues | 1:33 | |
| 8-4 | Christmastime Stateside | 1:10 | |
| 8-5 | A Great Change | 1:35 | |
| 8-6 | Traveling And Coltrane | 1:00 | |
| 8-7 | Drummers And Sunny Murray | 1:42 | |
| 8-8 | A Job To Do | 1:00 | |
| 8-9 | Birth, Family, First Music | 3:04 | |
| 8-10 | Academy, The Road, School | 0:57 | |
| 8-11 | Young Professional And Army | 5:40 | |
| 8-12 | Sweden | 4:39 | |
| 8-13 | New York | 0:49 | |
| 8-14 | 1964 | 1:25 | |
| 8-15 | Frustration, Sources | 3:39 | |
| 8-16 | 1966 Tour And Coltrane | 3:16 | |
| 8-17 | Impulse And Mary Maria | 3:27 | |
| 8-18 | The Artist's Life | 1:31 | |
| 8-19 | Question: LeRoi Jones | 0:46 | |
| 8-20 | Question: "For John Coltrane" | 1:10 | |
| 8-21 | Question: Socio-Policial Connections | 3:19 | |
| 8-22 | Question: Instrumentation, Engineering | 4:16 | |
| 8-23 | Choosing The Players | 0:50 | |
| 9-1 | Current Activity | 1:59 | |
| 9-2 | Antibes | 1:06 | |
| 9-3 | Japan/Coltrane's Funeral | 1:02 | |
| 9-4 | Clubs | 3:39 | |
| 9-5 | Ahead Of My Time | 1:42 | |
| 9-6 | Home Lives; Brooklyn And Cleveland | 1:27 | |
| 9-7 | Impulse, pt. 1: Hippies | 1:21 | |
| 9-8 | "Space Music" | 1:07 | |
| 9-9 | Don | 0:46 | |
| 9-10 | "Thank God For Women" | 0:46 | |
| 9-11 | Blues & Rhythm | 1:17 | |
| 9-12 | Copying My Records | 2:00 | |
| 9-13 | Impulse, pt. 2: New Grass | 2:18 | |
| 9-14 | Tone And "Vibration" | 1:07 | |
| 9-15 | Rollins, Coleman, And Coltrane | 4:08 | |
| 9-16 | Maeght Group | 0:57 | |
| 9-17 | Serenity Of Life | 0:36 | |
| 9-18 | Childhood Memories, pt. 1 | 2:00 | |
| 9-19 | [Blairman Enters] | 0:34 | |
| 9-20 | Early Professional Career | 1:03 | |
| 9-21 | Childhood Memories, pt. 2 | 1:09 | |
| 9-22 | Don's Music | 3:47 | |
| 9-23 | "I Love America" And Youth | 1:05 | |
| 9-24 | Mary And Golf | 0:38 | |
| 9-25 | Early Relationships And Mary Maria | 1:03 | |
| 9-26 | Japan Work And Warm Weather | 4:01 | |
| 9-27 | Play Solo | 0:24 | |
| 9-28 | Naming Tunes | 1:22 | |
| 9-29 | Charles Ives | 0:25 | |
| 9-30 | Influences | 1:44 | |
| 9-31 | Practicing | 1:09 | |
| 9-32 | The Healing Force | 0:52 | |
| 9-33 | Diet And America | 2:08 | |
| 9-34 | Defining "Improvisation" | 0:45 | |
| 9-35 | Sonny Rollins, Reactions, And Miles Davis | 2:43 | |
| 9-36 | Newport '67 | 2:30 | |
| 9-37 | New York: Keeping To Oneself [Mary Maria Joins] | 0:39 | |
| 9-38 | Untitled | 22:10 | |
| 10-1 | Tenderly | 4:32 | |
| 10-2 | Leap Frog | 3:16 | |
- Noel Waggener
- Art Direction, Design [Chapter Header Silkscreen Design, Execution]
- Reagan Johns
- Artwork [Original Carved Wooden "Spirit Box"]
- Bill Folwell
- Bass (5-2 to 5-5, 5-7 to 6-3), Electric Bass (6-6 to 6-9)
- Gary Peacock
- Bass (1-6 to 2-3, 2-5 to 2-10)
- Heikki Annala
- Bass (1-1 to 1-3)
- Mutawef Shaheed
- Bass (3-2 to 3-5, 3-7 to 4-6)
- Richard Davis
- Bass (6-2, 7-1, 7-2)
- Steve Tintweiss
- Bass (2-11, 7-3 to 7-6)
- Don Cherry
- Cornet (2-5 to 2-10)
- Satch Grimley
- Design [Chapter Header Silkscreen Design, Execution]
- Susan Archie
- Design [Production Design], Layout, Creative Director [Direction]
- Allen Blairman
- Drums (7-3 to 7-6)
- Beaver Harris
- Drums (5-2 to 5-5, 5-7 to 5-10)
- Bernard Purdie
- Drums (6-6 to 6-9)
- Martti Äijänen
- Drums (1-1 to 1-3)
- Milford Graves
- Drums (6-1 to 6-4)
- Ronald Shannon Jackson
- Drums (3-2 to 3-5, 3-7 to 4-6)
- Sunny Murray
- Drums (1-5 to 2-3, 2-5 to 2-10)
- Herbert Katz
- Guitar (1-1, 1-2, 1-3)
- Call Cobbs
- Harpsichord [Rocksichord] (6-6 to 6-9), Piano (6-6 to 6-9, 7-3 to 7-6)
- Albert Ayler
- Interviewee (8-1 to 9-37), Tenor Saxophone (1-1 to 1-3, 2-11, 6-5), Tenor Saxophone (2-5 to 2-3, 2-5 to 2-10, 3-2 to 3-5, 3-7 to 4-6, 5-2 to 5-5, 5-7 to 6-2, 6-4, 6-6 to 6-9, 7-3 to 7-6)
- Birger Jørgensen
- Interviewer (8-1 to 8-8)
- Daniel Caux
- Interviewer (8-9 to 8-23, 9-38), Liner Notes [Essays], Photography By
- Kiyoshi Koyama
- Interviewer (9-1 to 9-37)
- Ben Young
- Liner Notes [Appendix], Liner Notes [Essays], Mastered By [Final Mastering For CD], Supervised By [Project Supervision], Transferred By [Audio Transfers], Restoration, Remastered By
- Carlos Kase
- Liner Notes [Appendix]
- Amiri Baraka
- Liner Notes [Essays]
- Carl Woideck
- Liner Notes [Essays], Photography By
- Marc Chaloin
- Liner Notes [Essays]
- Val Wilmer
- Liner Notes [Essays], Photography By
- Joe Lizzi
- Mastered By [Final Mastering For CD]
- Kevin Reeves
- Mastered By [Final Mastering For CD]
- Bill Smith
- Photography By
- Bob van Grevenbroek
- Photography By
- Burton Greene
- Photography By
- Chalmer Adams
- Photography By
- Charles Taylor
- Photography By
- Chuck Stewart
- Photography By
- Edward Ayler
- Photography By
- Guy Kopelowicz
- Photography By
- Hans Harzheim
- Photography By
- Jan Persson
- Photography By
- Jean-Pierre Pellarin
- Photography By
- Jerry Webb
- Photography By
- Lee Santa
- Photography By
- Nathalie Violette
- Photography By
- Ole Brask
- Photography By
- Paul Karting
- Photography By
- Philippe Gras
- Photography By
- Pieter Boersma
- Photography By
- Ralph Sgrillo
- Photography By
- Raymond Ross
- Photography By
- Ton van Wageningen
- Photography By
- Teuvo Suojärvi
- Piano (1-1 to 1-3)
- Cynthia Sesso
- Research [Photograph Research, Consultation]
- Frank Wright
- Tenor Saxophone (4-1 to 4-6)
- Don Ayler
- Trumpet (3-2 to 3-5, 3-7 to 4-6, 5-2 to 5-5, 5-7 to 6-4, 7-1, 7-2)
- Michel Samson
- Violin (3-2 to 3-5, 3-7 to 4-6, 5-2 to 5-5, 5-7 to 6-3)
- Vivian Bostic
- Vocals (6-6 to 6-9)
- Mary Parks
- Vocals, Tambourine (6-6 to 6-9, 7-3 to 7-6)
