Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Albert Ayler

Background information
Birth name Albert Ayler
Born July 13, 1936(1936-07-13)
Origin Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Died November 1970
Genre(s) Free jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Occupation(s) bandleader
Instrument(s) tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Years active 1952 – 1970
Label(s) Bird Notes
Debut
ESP-Disk
Impulse!

Albert Ayler (July 13, 1936 – November 1970) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer. Events 1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Cleveland Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. Events in November All Saints' Day (formerly All Hallows Day a Christian holy day is celebrated on November 1, the day after Halloween Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other For the Ornette Coleman album after which this genre was named see Free Jazz A Collective Improvisation. Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz) is a style of music and Improvisation that combines Avant-garde Art music and composition with A bandleader is the leader of a band of Musicians The term is most commonly though not exclusively used with a group that plays Popular music as A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the Saxophone family a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s The soprano saxophone was invented in 1840 and is a variety of the Saxophone, a Woodwind instrument. Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music ESP-Disk is a New York -based Record label, founded in 1966 by the lawyer Bernard Stollman, originally financed from an inheritance Impulse! Records was an American based Jazz Record label, originally launched in 1960 by Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Events 1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events in November All Saints' Day (formerly All Hallows Day a Christian holy day is celebrated on November 1, the day after Halloween Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States The saxophone (commonly referred to simply as sax) is a conical- bored transposing Musical instrument considered a member of the Woodwind A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance

Ayler is generally seen as the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" [1] He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved by using the stiffest plastic reeds on his tenor saxophone that he could find—and used a broad, pathos-filled vibrato that came right out of church music. For the Ornette Coleman album after which this genre was named see Free Jazz A Collective Improvisation. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 A reed is a thin strip of material which vibrates to produce a sound on a Musical instrument. The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the Saxophone family a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s Vibrato is a musical effect produced in singing and on musical instruments by a regular pulsating change of pitch, and is used to add expression and vocal-like qualities to Christian music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life

His trio and quartet records of 1964, like Spiritual Unity and The Hilversum Session, show him advancing the improvisational notions of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman into abstract realms where timbre, not harmony and melody, are the music's backbone. Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. Spiritual Unity is an Album by the American Jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler (1936-1970 Ornette Coleman (born March 9, 1930) is an American saxophonist Violinist Trumpeter and Composer. In Music, timbre (ˈtæm-bər' like timber, or, from Fr timbre tɛ̃bʁ is the quality of a Musical note or sound that distinguishes different In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or 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. Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. The Salvation Army is a Christian charity and church that is internally organised like a military service. A brass band is a Musical group generally consisting entirely of Brass instruments, most often with a percussion section Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician(s involved in many cases the musicians make Louis Armstrong (August 4 1901 &ndash July 6 1971 nicknamed Satchmo or Sachimo and Pops, was an American Jazz Trumpeter

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Ayler was first taught alto saxophone by his father Edward with whom he played duets in church. Cleveland Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. He attended John Adams High School on Cleveland's East Side, graduating in 1954 at the age of 18. John Adams High School is a Public high school located on the east side of Cleveland Ohio, United States. He later studied at the Academy of Music in Cleveland with jazz saxophonist Benny Miller. He also played the oboe in high school. "Hautbois" redirects here for the strawberry variety see Hautbois strawberry. [2] As a teen Ayler played with such skill that he was known around Cleveland as "Little Bird," [3] after virtuoso saxophonist Charlie Parker, who was nicknamed "Bird. "

In 1952, at the age of 16, Ayler began playing bar-walking, honking, R&B-style tenor with blues singer and harmonica player Little Walter, spending two summer vacations with Walter's band. For the radio personality see Little Walter DeVenne. Little Walter (born Marion Walter Jacobs in Marksville LA and raised After graduating from high school, Ayler joined the United States Army, where he jammed with other enlisted musicians, including tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. Stanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr T" or "The Sugar Man" ( April 5, 1934 &ndash September 12, 2000) was an American He also played in the regiment band. In 1959 he was stationed in France, where he was further exposed to the martial music that would be a core influence on his later work. After his discharge from the army, Ayler kicked around Los Angeles and Cleveland trying to find work, but his increasingly iconoclastic playing, which had moved away from traditional harmony, was not welcomed by traditionalists.

He relocated to Sweden in 1962 where his recording career began, leading Swedish and Danish groups on radio sessions, and jamming as an unpaid member of Cecil Taylor's band in the winter of 1962-1963. Cecil Percival Taylor (born March 15 or March 25, 1929 in New York City) is an American Pianist and poet (Long-rumored tapes of Ayler performing with Taylor's group have finally surfaced as part of a ten-CD set released in late 2004 by Revenant Records. Revenant Records is a Record label based in Austin Texas, which concentrates on folk and Blues. [4]). The album My Name is Albert Ayler is a session of standards recorded for a Copenhagen radio station with local musicians including Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Ronnie Gardiner, with Ayler playing tenor and soprano on tracks like "Summertime". Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (nils'hɛneŋ 'ɶɐ̥sd̥əð̥ 'pʰɛð̥ɐ̥sn May 27, 1946 &ndash April 19, 2005) was a Danish

Ayler, Peacock, Murray - Spiritual Unity

Ayler returned to the US and settled in New York assembling an influential trio with double bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray, recording his breakthrough album Spiritual Unity, for ESP-Disk Records, 30 minutes of intense free improvisation. Gary Peacock (born 12 May 1935 in Burley Idaho) is an American Jazz Double-bassist. James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray (born Idabel Oklahoma in 1936 is one of the pioneers of the Free jazz style of Drumming Murray spent Spiritual Unity is an Album by the American Jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler (1936-1970 ESP-Disk is a New York -based Record label, founded in 1966 by the lawyer Bernard Stollman, originally financed from an inheritance Embraced by New York jazz leaders like Eric Dolphy, who reportedly called him the best player he'd ever seen, Ayler found respect and an audience. Eric Allan Dolphy ( June 20, 1928 &ndash June 29, 1964) was an American Jazz alto saxophonist, flautist, and He influenced the gestating new generation of jazz players, as well as veterans like John Coltrane. In 1964 he toured Europe, with the trio augmented with trumpeter Don Cherry, recorded and released as The Hilversum Session. Don (Donald Eugene Cherry ( November 18 1936 &ndash October 19 1995) was an innovative African-American Jazz Trumpeter

Energy music 1965

Ayler's trio created a definitive free jazz sound. Murray rarely if ever laid down a steady, rhythmic pulse, and Ayler's solos were downright pentecostal. But the trio was still recognizably in the jazz tradition. Ayler's next series of groups, with trumpeter brother Donald, were a radical departure. Donald Ayler ( October 5, 1942 - October 21, 2007) was a jazz trumpeter and younger brother to saxophonist Albert Ayler. Beginning with the album Bells, a live concert at New York Town Hall with Donald Ayler, Charles Tyler, Lewis Worrell and Sunny Murray, Ayler turned to performances that were chains of marching band- or mariachi-style themes alternating with overblowing and multiphonic freely improvised group solos, a wild and unique sound that took jazz back to its pre-Louis Armstrong roots of collective improvisation. Admiral Sir Charles Tyler GCB ( 1760 - 28 September 1835) was a British admiral who gained fame during the Napoleonic Wars as one A marching band is in the broadest terms a group of performers that consist of instrumental Musicians and sometimes dance teams / color guard who generally perform MARIACHI, the Mixed Apparatus for Radar Investigation of Cosmic-rays of High Ionization, is an apparatus for the detection of Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician(s involved in many cases the musicians make Louis Armstrong (August 4 1901 &ndash July 6 1971 nicknamed Satchmo or Sachimo and Pops, was an American Jazz Trumpeter The new sound was consolidated in the studio album Spirits Rejoice recorded by the same group at Judson Hall in New York. Ayler, in a 1970 interview, calls his later styles "energy music," contrasting with the "space bebop" played by Coltrane and initially by Ayler himself. This approach continued with The Village Concerts and with Ayler on the books ESP had established itself as a leading label for free jazz.

In 1966 Ayler was signed to Impulse Records at the urging of John Coltrane, the label's star attraction at that time. Impulse! Records was an American based Jazz Record label, originally launched in 1960 by Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount But even on Impulse Ayler's radically different music never found a sizable audience. In 1967, Coltrane died. Ayler was one of several musicians to perform at Coltrane's funeral. A funeral is a Ceremony marking a person's Death. Funerary customs comprise the complex of Beliefs and practices used by a Culture to remember An amateur recording of this performance exists, but is of very low quality. Later in 1967, Albert's brother Donald Ayler had what he termed a nervous breakdown. In a letter to The Cricket, a Newark, New Jersey music magazine edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal, Albert reported that he had seen a strange object in the sky and come to believe that he and his brother "had the right seal of God almighty in our forehead. Newark is the largest city in New Jersey, United States and the County seat of Essex County. Amiri Baraka (born October 7 1934 is an American Writer of Poetry, Drama, essays and Music criticism. Larry Neal or Lawerence Neal ( September 5, 1937 – January 1981 was a scholar of African-American Theatre. "[5] Although it is reasonable to assume the Aylers had explored or were exploring psychedelic drugs like LSD, there is no evidence this significantly influenced their mental stability.

Cries of love - The final years

For the next two and half years Ayler turned to recording music not too far removed from rock and roll, often with utopian, hippie lyrics provided by his live-in girlfriend Mary Maria Parks. Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the The Hippie Subculture was originally a Youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world Ayler drew on his very early career, incorporating doses of R&B, with funky, electric rhythm sections and extra horns (including Scottish highland bagpipe) on some songs. In a Symphony orchestra the horn section is the group of musicians who play the horn (sometimes referred to as the French horn a brass instrument descended The Great Highland Bagpipe ( Gaelic: A' Phìob Mhòr) is probably the best-known variety of Bagpipe. 1967's Love Cry was a step in this direction, studio recordings of Ayler concert staples such as "Ghosts" and "Bells" with less free-improv and more time spent on the themes.

Next came the R&B album New Grass, which was generally reviled by his fans, who considered it to be the worst of his work. Following its commercial failure, Ayler unsuccessfully attempted to bridge his earlier "space bebop" recordings and the sound of New Grass on his last studio album Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe, featuring rock musicians such as Henry Vestine of Canned Heat alongside jazz-men like pianist Bobby Few. Henry Charles Vestine ( December 25[[ 944]] – October 20[[ 997]] a Canned Heat is a Blues-rock /boogie band that formed in Los Angeles in 1965 Bobby Few (born October 21 1935 is an American Jazz pianist Few was raised in Shaker Heights, a neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and

In July 1970 Ayler returned to the free jazz idiom for a group of shows in France but the band he was able to assemble (Cal Cobb, bassist Steve Tintweiss and drummer Alan Blairman), was amateurish and, apart from Cobb, not nearly of the caliber of his earlier groups.

Ayler disappeared on November 5, 1970, and he was found dead in New York City's East River on November 25, a presumed suicide. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. For some time afterwards, rumors circulated that Ayler had been murdered, possibly due to his involvement in the black power movement. Black Power is a racially based Political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies Later, however, Parks would say that Albert had been depressed and feeling guilty, blaming himself for his brother's problems. She stated that, just before his death, he had several times threatened to kill himself, smashed one of his saxophones over their television set after she tried to dissuade him, then took the Statue of Liberty ferry and jumped off as it neared Liberty Island. Liberty Island, formerly called Bedloe's Island, is a small uninhabited island in Upper New York Bay in the United States best known as the location of the He is buried in Cleveland, Ohio. [6]

Legacy

Ayler remains something of a cult artist. A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific area of Pop culture. "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. A nursery rhyme is a traditional Song or Poem taught to young children originally in the nursery. For the Ornette Coleman album after which this genre was named see Free Jazz A Collective Improvisation. A jazz standard is a Jazz tune that is held in continuing esteem and which is widely known performed and recorded among jazz musicians as part of the jazz musical repertoire Lester Bowie ( 11 October 1941 &ndash 8 November 1999) was an American Jazz Trumpet player and Composer. Gary Windo (November 7 1941 in Brighton – July 25 1992 in New York City) was a jazz tenor saxophonist Eugene Chadbourne ( January 4, 1954 in Mount Vernon New York) is an American, Improvisor, Guitarist and Banjoist Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American Jazz Multi-instrumentalist born in Miami Florida, a player of tenor John Martin Tchicai (born April 28, 1936) is a Danish Jazz Saxophonist. Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964 in Warwick Rhode Island is an American Jazz composer and Saxophone and Clarinet The 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. Mars Williams (*1955 in Elmhurst Illinois) is a versatile American Jazz and rock Saxophonist. Peter Brötzmann's "Die Like A Dog Quartet" is a group loosely dedicated to Ayler. Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German Free jazz Saxophonist and Clarinetist. A record called Little Birds Have Fast Hearts references Ayler's youthful nickname.

In 2005, guitarist Marc Ribot (who has occasionally performed Ayler's songs for some years) released an album dedicated to the ethic of collective improvisation, entitled Spiritual Unity in honor of Ayler's 1964 album of the same name. A guitarist is a Musician who plays the Guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres Marc Ribot ( born 21 May 1954 in Newark New Jersey) is an American Guitarist and Composer. On his 1969 album Folkjokeopus, English guitarist/singer-songwriter Roy Harper, dedicated the song "One for All" ("One for Al") to Albert Ayler "who I knew and loved during my time in Copenhagen". Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Folkjokeopus is the third album issued by English rock/folk singer-songwriter & guitarist Roy Harper. A guitarist is a Musician who plays the Guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres Singer-songwriter is a term that refers to Performers who write, compose and sing their own material including Lyrics For the comic book character see Roy Harper (comics Roy Harper (born June 12, 1941) is an English Harper considered Ayler to be "one of the leading jazzmen of the age". [7]. In the Folkejokeopus liner notes Harper states, "In many ways he (Ayler) was the king". For a bibliographic format for citing liner notes see WikipediaCiting sources/example style Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes The bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells produced "Meditations on Albert Ayler" with Tony Bianco on drums and Luther Thomas on alto sax. Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells ( October 13, 1958) is an American Free jazz Bassist ( Bass guitar and electric Upright bass Luther Thomas is an alto saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist from St This live trio improvisation was produced for and released by Ayler Records on what would have been Ayler's 71st birthday. Ayler Records is a Swedish Record label which specializes in Free jazz recordings

In 2005, the Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin released a documentary film about Ayler's life called My Name Is Albert Ayler. [8] The film includes detailed interviews with Ayler's father Edward and brother Donald, as well as the only live concert footage of Ayler known to exist (of concerts in Sweden and France).

Discography

Year of recording, original album title, original record label and country of origin. (p) indicates posthumous release.

References

  1. ^ Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958. Da Capo, 159. ISBN 0-306-80377-1.  
  2. ^ Amazon.com
  3. ^ Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958. Da Capo, 153. ISBN 0-306-80377-1.  
  4. ^ Revenant Records: Albert Ayler Holy Ghost
  5. ^ Ayler, Albert (1969), “To Mr Jones - I had a Vision”, The Cricket: 27 
  6. ^ "Albert Ayler" by Jeff Schwarz, Chapter 6
  7. ^ Roy Harper site
  8. ^ My Name Is Albert Ayler - the jazz documentary

External links

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic