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Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe The Inconsistency of |
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October 1 2025
Noël Akchoté Towards the end of last month, the French guitarist, Noël Akchoté, sent me a lot of stuff. Basically, a set of transcriptions of Ayler tunes and a load of photographs. So, let’s begin: 1. The Transcriptions. Noël seems to have transcribed every Ayler tune, around 80 of them (a bit vague on the number since there are also a few Ayler tributes in there), presented in two pdfs, with the following introduction (in French and this English translation): At a very young age, I came across this second-hand edition of Ayler’s “Free Jazz” (America, 1970, the European version of “My Name Is Albert Ayler”, Fontana, 1964). And for a long time I didn’t get past the first track “Bye, Bye, Blackbird”, totally fascinated, almost haunted. Since then, every five or ten years, I immerse myself in the complete Ayler, each time to hear more things, more details, to lay bare the origin of this sound, these phrases, this playing. No doubt like many, I have long taken this term Free Jazz (another brand?), as a kind of anarchy, raw freedom, of which there was nothing to understand, nothing to study. Yet with each succinct transcription, I discovered a construction, roots, a completely conscious architecture, accomplished and ultimately, not so wild as that. Here a completely analyzable passing phrase, elsewhere recognizable harmonic cadences, in short, a total and omnipresent coherence. I always had a kind of presentiment: we have no recordings of Buddy Bolden, but we had Ayler, the circle was complete. But when he exposes these standard themes (“The First Recordings”, Stockholm, 1962, and “My Name is A.A.”, Copenhagen 1963, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen), one is very surprised by his placement, his phrasing, in the direct line of Rollins, Coltrane, or even before. It took me a long time to accept, deep down, that there was no casualness, ineptitude or other errors, but indeed a quest for this famous “something else”. It is in his intonation, his “tuning fork”, often between two tones that his search for another path, is placed (partly cosmic, absolute, partly concrete, an opening, a surpassing). Like an echo, a track, the period with Gary Peacock (1964: “Ghosts”, “Prophecy”, Cellar Café Trio, “Spiritual Unity”, and 1965: “Bells” (Town Hall), demonstrates by his double bass playing, the constant back and forth between fundamentals (natural, obvious harmonies), and totally free playing, even voluntarily against the current (atonal, noisy, experimental, soloist). So I wanted to revisit all of Albert Ayler’s compositions, to transcribe them differently, anew. In a more natural, obvious way, as they would be theoretically, logically, and melodiously imposed (by notating the rubato in a practical way, with the aim of being able to play them later and above all). And in some cases, I subjectively extended them (here a summarized, simplified rhythm, there an alternative harmonic cadence, or one sometimes played, but not fixed in the theme, for example). A sort of summarized, or posited, Ayler. My vision of things, with respect for the author, a translation, essentially. So, let's continue. Noël Akchoté (June 14, 2025). Noël Akchoté’s ‘New Transcriptions of Albert Ayler’ have been added to the Sheet Music section, and can also be accessed below: |
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Noël Akchoté also has an album on bandcamp of his guitar recordings of the transcriptions: Of Albert (Complete Plays Ayler 2025). Actually, listening to some of these, particularly the most familiar tunes, bereft of their usual sound and fury, they seemed almost baroque, or perhaps later, maybe Boccherini. They reminded me of those chamber music versions of Ayler by Kalle Autio.
2. The Photographs. Most of these have been culled from various sites and, inevitably, some are watermarked and some are from sources one doesn’t like to mess with, so I have just added the folders to the main Photos page and you can peruse them at your leisure. However there was one group which requires further comment. These are the photos taken by Christian Rose (available from the Roger-Viollet agency) at the concert at New York’s Village Theatre, organised by Lovebeast Enterprises on the 26th August 1966. There were actually three concerts under the general title of ‘The Avant-Garde: a Perspective in Revolution’. Here’s the poster: |
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Back in August, 2020 Steve Tintweiss, who played in the third concert with the Frank Smith Sextet, sent me a couple of pages of the programme from the third concert, and I’ve also just come across the programme from the second concert, which featured John Cotrane. |
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I also found the DownBeat review of all three concerts from October 20, 1966 (pp. 20-22), which I’ve added to the Concert Reviews section. I have mentioned the Lovebeast concerts before (“The animal loves you, wear it in your eyes ...” ) and there was some confusion about a photo that turned up in August 2009, labelled ‘Albert Ayler Quartet, Village Theatre, Michigan, 1965’, which seemed very like a Raymond Ross photo of an Ayler Quartet, which I suggested was from the August ‘66 Village Theatre concert. Turns out that was the case, since the Christian Rose photos bear this out, not so much by featuring the same Ayler quartet, but also the additional photos of the Archie Shepp group from the same concert. And the other interesting thing is that, despite being listed in the programme and on the poster as the ‘Albert Ayler Quintet’, Michel Samson does not appear in any of the photos, and is not mentioned in the DownBeat review. It is a thing of minor importance, of no interest to anyone but me, but it does make you wonder what an Ayler Quartet, or to be precise, that Ayler Quartet, would have sounded like? We will never know. Here are the Christian Rose (watermarked) photos. |
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And here’s an unwatermarked copy of the above courtesy of that Australian chap on ebay. |
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And here’s the Archie Shepp Quintet. |
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The Christian Rose photos end with another of those ‘who’s that?’ mysteries. You can tell Shepp by the sleeve of his shirt, but the other feller, I don’t know. |
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Also, I should point out that there are a couple of photos in the set with Albert in a dark jacket, these are from the November ‘66 Paris concert. That’s it. Very many thanks to Noël Akchoté: |
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An Albert Ayler Play? In Jazz Research Journal 15, published in December, 2022, there is the following item: ‘Albert Ayler’s Ghost: A one-act play by Nicolas Pillai. This short play dramatizes the myth-making around a lost episode of the BBC’s Jazz Goes to College series—‘The Albert Ayler Quintet’ recorded by an Outside Broadcast unit at the London School of Economics on 15 November 1966. I use the event to explore questions of cultural ownership, institutional racism and academic hierarchy. The content of the play is based upon the archival, ethnographic and television production elements of my 2017–2019 Arts and Humanities Research Council project ‘Jazz on BBC-TV 1960–1969’ (AH/P007376/1). The play is an experiment in scholarly form, a challenge to the exclusionary structures of academia (including language) and an acknowledgment of the subjective and autobiographical impulses that inform historical narrative.’ As is the way with the groves of academe, one has to pay the gardener to see the thing, so, for now, we’ll leave it. However, following the AHRC project trail did throw up a couple of things worth mentioning. Dr. Nicolas Pillai’s blog on the BBC site, Researching Jazz 625 and another AHRC page about the project, ‘Jazz on BBC-TV 1960-1969’. It also brought up an old page of mine from September 2017 concerning the L.S.E. concert with some interesting material from Dr. Pillai. The links are now dead, but I should add what remains to the L.S.E. page, along with the ‘new’ information about the play. * Don’s Birthday I always forget Albert’s Birthday, but Dirk Goedeking has reminded me about Don’s, which is October 5th. Dirk found this on facebook, posted by the Vision Festival a couple of years ago and Wergeld’s version of Don’s ‘Our Prayer’ from the Achtung! album. And here’s the man himself still singing:
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Ayler In Sweden This sounds really interesting, but I missed it. On 28th September there was a concert by “Richard Scott ‘Ayler in Sweden’ + Hannah Marshall” as part of the Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music 2025. That link was all Dirk sent me, but I did manage to find some more information via Instagram., where alongside a photo of Albert at the Fondation Maeght, Richard Scott wrote the following: ‘Very exciting gig coming up!!! Saturday September 28th at @the_globe_newcastle as part of Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music @jazznortheast The debut performance from a group I have put together featuring some of the North East's greatest improvising musicians, celebrating and reimagining the music of the uniquely brilliant free jazz pioneer Albert Ayler... 'Ayler in Sweden' imagines a world in which Ayler, after beginning his recording career in Sweden in 1962, remained in Scandinavia instead of moving back to the US and incorporated its traditional music into his playing, fusing the ecstatic melodies and asymmetrical rhythms of Swedish folk music with visceral and explosive free jazz. Mirroring the instrumentation of the Albert Ayler Quintet of 1965-66, the line-up is: Faye MacCalman - tenor sax It would be amazing to see some Newcastle folks at this! This project has been a long time in the incubation period and I'm super super excited that we are finally giving it a public outing. AND also on the bill, the amazing Hannah Marshall is playing a solo!!!’ * Ayler in Canada Another concert Dirk spotted, and this one hasn’t happened yet. |
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‘Combining contemporary Jazz & pre-war brass & marching band music in ways that nobody had before or since, Albert Ayler (1936-1970) was one of the foremost innovators behind what would eventually be called "Free jazz", alongside people like Ornette Coleman & John Coltrane. On October 25, legendary Vancouver guitarist Tony Wilson assembles some of the city's finest musicians for a rare tribute concert to this iconoclastic saxophonist, at one of Vancouver's hippest Jazz venues. Spirits Rejoice - A Celebration of Albert Ayler Tony Wilson - Guitar * Albert Ayler: Eulogy For A Decomposed Saxophone Player Is the title of a poem by the noted jazz critic, Stanley Crouch. Dirk found a blurred photo of a ripped page of the poem on Instagram (?), labelled ‘Albert Ayler: Eulogy S. Crouch’, so I tracked it down to its inclusion in The Poetry of Black America: Anthology of the 20th Century: Arnold Adoff (Editor), Gwendolyn Brooks (Introduction). (Harper & Row, 1973). |
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What the other fellers are doing This is Dirk’s roundup of the doings of the other legends of Free Jazz.: Finally, no connection to Albert, but simply for your entertainment: the other free jazz superstars from the sixties, still performing and recording: Marshall Allen. He's so active, I must have overlooked the 2024 Arkestra release "Lights On A Satellite" under his direction. The "100 Years Jubilee Edition" was found on discogs. Roscoe Mitchell performing in Brooklyn's Roulette club can be seen on youtube. Anthony Braxton has a new book with accompanying CD out. (English version.) The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra started their "part of a three night Ark voyage!" on 05.09.2025. And Wadada Leo Smith will perform the new "Montclair Session" album live in Berlin on 08.11.2025. * Alain Tabar-Nouval A name which I hadn’t come across at all until Noël Akchoté (ITMA) suggested I should check out a film on youtube about him, made by his nephew. Noël reckoned “he was the first free musician in France to follow Ayler, Don and all, then moved to Scandinavia to follow Tchicai and others and died young”. The film, Il était une fois un saxophone (Once upon a time there was a saxophone), is described thus (translated by google): ‘This film was born from a painful family story: the premature death in an accident of my uncle, saxophonist Alain Tabar-Nouval, at the age of 26. He died in December 1968 in Denmark, trying, according to the official version, to get off a train before it came to a complete stop at the station. Accident or suicide? We'll probably never know... The real motivation for me to make this film came, as the title suggests, from my uncle's saxophone. This completely deformed, broken, and cracked instrument, which I discovered by chance when I was about fifteen years old in my parents' attic. My uncle died with his saxophone on his shoulder... This film is both a reflection on the transmission of filial, imaginary, mystical, or fantasized knowledge through a musical instrument, but also, thanks to interviews (Henri Texier, Guy Le Querrec, Jean-Claude Petit, Jean-Claude Vannier, etc.), an evocation of an entire period of jazz in France in the 1960s that is ultimately relatively unknown. Free jazz was in full swing and saw the emergence of French musicians such as Henri Texier, Aldo Romano, Michel Portal, Daniel Humair, Barney Wilen, Alain Tabar-Nouval, etc. This was a time when young French musicians had the opportunity to accompany all the great American jazz musicians visiting France (Bud Powell, Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, etc.). Hugues Tabar-Nouval’ Unfortunately the film is in French and there are only French subtitles, but I may give it a go, since it seems like a fascinating story
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The Elizabethan Phrasing Of The Late Albert Ayler is a phrase I never tire of writing, so I take any opportunity to do so. This time it’s a poster for the ballet on ebay - a snip at $495.85 (£369.24). |
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And finally ... "He Walked Into The River" (for Albert Ayler) by guitarist Gregg Prickett, performed by Monks of Saturnalia with Drew Phelps bass, Alan Green drums, Dale Fielder tenor sax. The Texas Theater, Oak Cliff, Dallas, TX USA, 5-Sep-2025.
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What’s New July to September 2025 has been sent to the vaults. ***
November 1 2025
Guy Kopelowicz (18/10/1939 - 26/10/2025) It may seem odd to begin with an announcement of the death of a photographer/journalist when I let many a prominent jazz musician (with no Ayler connection) pass without comment, but Guy Kopelowicz was very helpful in the early days of this site and very generous in letting me add his photos of the Judson Hall session which produced the Spirits Rejoice album. You will find these in the Photos section of the site and I’ve add one below. Guy also shared his memories of Ayler in the Ayler Remembered section, and there are extracts (in French) from his article, ‘Autumn in New York II’ which was published in the December, 1965 issue of Jazz Hot. in the Archives. This was only a minuscule part of Guy’s work in journalism and full obituaries are available on the sites of AP, and The Independent. |
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Record Store Day 2025 The Ayler entry in this year’s Record Store Day is a 4 vinyl LP set of the Ayler/Cherry Quartet of 1964. |
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All the tracks have been released before, originally as Ghosts, The Copenhagen Tapes and The Hilversum Session. Ghosts, of course, has had the most reissues, under various titles, including Vibrations, and was first released when Ayler (and for that matter the rest of the band) were still alive. The Hilversum Session was a posthumous release from 1980, and The Copenhagen Tapes first appeared in 2002. The three original albums were also released as a 2 CD set by Hat Hut Records in September, 2024 as Albert Ayler with Don Cherry 1964 Recordings First Visit Completed (ezz-thetics 2-105). The only difference with this set is that the tracks from The Copenhagen Tapes have never been released on vinyl. Judging by the tracklist, rather than issuing Ghosts and The Hilversum Session on separate discs and splitting the longer The Copenhagen Tapes, the albums are taken chronologically and the tracks are treated as a whole, with the breaks between discs occurring where they may. The set costs around £120. Here’s a chap talking about the RSD releases, taking Albert’s first. Watch with the subtitles on and you’ll see how ‘Ayler’ is still causing problems; here he gets transformed into ‘Albert Eer’. * Scream Like You’re At Coltrane’s Funeral ‘H.R., the former lead singer of the influential Washington D.C. punk and reggae band Bad Brains, isn’t just making a rare stop in Cleveland to play reggae with his band and revisit some of Bad Brains’ reggae classics. He’s also featured on C-Level’s “What’s Left,” the lead single from the band’s upcoming album, “Scream Like You’re At Coltrane’s Funeral.”’ I came across the above on cleveland.com, and was suitably intrigued. It continues: ‘C-Level — founded in 2011 by longtime friends and musicians, singer-songwriter-guitarist Dave “Ziggy” Deitke and bassist Coda Crose, along with drummer Jay Sparrow — has been working on the concept album, inspired in part by the band’s interest in saxophonist and Clevelander Albert Ayler and his mournful performance at John Coltrane’s Funeral. “At the funeral, (Ayler) screams twice out of a saxophone — once out of anguish and once out of joy. And the record represents that,” Deitke said.’ |
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Spirits Rejoice Dirk Goedeking sent the following rumination on the changing face of Spirits Rejoice: ‘Let's have a closer look at one of the four original ESP releases: the dark classic “Spirits Rejoice” cover, first issued in 1965. In 1970 someone at ESP “improved” the original artwork by adding letters. Astonishing, how for decades letters moved around. All following “improvements” only try to make it more recognizable and easier to sell. In contrast to uncountable “Bells” versions or the negative covers of “Spiritual Unity” and “NYEAEC” (all obviously for artistic reasons). The plain original “Spirits Rejoice” cover faded to the background. 1965 the simple double exposure photo by Sandra H. Stollman. |
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I asked Dirk about the origin of the placeholder image used by ebay when an actual album cover wasn’t available, and whether this had ever been used on a release of Spirits Rejoice. And after some extensive research he replied that he’d found it on this site, on the Spirits Rejoice page: ‘It was issued in 2006 by ESP (jewel case) and used for a reissue in 2012 (digipak).’ Dirk was too polite to add “stupid bugger”. |
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Yusuf Mumin and Sonny Simmons Pierre Crépon gave me the heads-up about these two unrelated-to-Albert items. 1. Yusuf Mumin Journey To The Ancient by Yusuf Mumin ‘FIRST-EVER RELEASE OF RARE SPIRITUAL FIRE UNEARTHED FROM THE VAULTS OF CULT MUSICIAN YUSUF MUMIN (BLACK UNITY TRIO) – FEATURING REMASTERED AUDIO, REFLECTION BY YUSUF MUMIN AND HISTORICAL NOTES BY PIERRE CRÉPON ?Wewantsounds is delighted to collaborate with cult musician Yusuf Mumin of the Black Unity Trio to unveil previously unreleased music from his personal archive. Following last year’s acclaimed Black Artist Group release, this new instalment continues to unearth hidden treasures from the Great Black Music tradition. Although the exact recording dates remain unknown, the music here is a powerful blend of serene spiritual jazz and fiery sonic intensity. All tracks have been remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio and the release also includes a two-page insert featuring new liner notes by Mumin and Pierre Crépon.’ |
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Reviewed by Justin Turford and Steve Williams. There’s a track on youtube and the current issue of The Wire includes the following: ‘Yusuf Mumin: Black Unity Trio’s founding member revisits his archive of spiritual and philosophical jazz. By Phil Freeman’ For more information about Yusuf Mumin and the Black Unity Trio, I would point you in the direction of Pierre’s excellent Playlist feature in The Wire from November 2020.
2. Sonny Simmons The current Wire Playlist, compiled by Pierre Crépon, features Sonny Simmons. It coincides with the posthumous publication of Sonny Simmons’ autobiography, co-written with Marc Chaloin, Better Do It Now Before You Die Later. |
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From the publisher’s description: ‘American saxophonist Sonny Simmons (1933–2021) erupted on the New York jazz scene of the sixties with the album The Cry! (1962) and over the next decade played with greats like Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, and his wife, the trumpeter Barbara Donald. But he nearly disappeared from jazz history by the eighties, which found him busking on the San Francisco streets. Still, he never stopped playing, and in 1994, with the release of his critically acclaimed album Ancient Ritual, Simmons resurrected his career. He went on to found the popular group the Cosmosamatics, embark on several European tours, and record new albums at a prolific rate, including, notably, Mixolydis (2002), The Traveller (2005), and Last Man Standing (2007). Journalist and biographer Marc Chaloin has spent over thirty years writing about jazz history. He conducted an in-depth oral history of the saxophonist Albert Ayler (1936–70) and extensively documented the New York avant-garde jazz scene of the 1990s and 2000s, including dozens of biographical interviews and coverage of the first ten years of the Vision Festival. He lives in Chambéry, France.’ Also, the latest edition of Pierre’s ‘Acoustical Swing’ concerns the Sonny Simmons Wire Playlist and adds the following information: ‘For this work, Marc sent me a copy of what might be the most obscure item in Sonny’s discography: Jazz Quartet, Volume 1: Saxophone Legacy, a CD Sonny recorded alone for Zero-G, a company that sold sample libraries to music producers. On there, Sonny demonstrates various styles, from Latin music, to R & B, to modern genres well outside of his usual scope (including takes on reggae and house music). Between tracks, Sonny provides brief commentary.’ And Pierre adds a few more tracks. * And finally ... Halloween is dead and gone and now it’s All Souls Day. Halloween was never a big thing when we were little, it just meant you got November 1st off school because it was a Holy Day Of Obligation and you had to go to Mass. I was a Catholic back then. Now, totally due to America, it has become this great event, second only to Christmas, in the Shopping Calendar. And now, even the Pope’s American. Go figure. But for those who missed it, Dirk sends this, with the following comment: ‘Question for jazz experts: Who is the skeleton next to Milford?’ And here is a selection of ghosts: Akira Sakata
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And Chris Potter.
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December 1 2025
Reviews old and new Jazz Journal has reprinted an original review of Bells by Steve Voce, which was first published 6o years ago: ‘Usually when reviewing records and being critical, one feels qualms about the artist earning his living, feeding his children and so on, and usually, in my case at least, one has to weigh the balance between justice to the reader and justice to the artist under review. Consequently it comes as a refreshing surprise to be able to say unequivocally that this ridiculous (in its physical proportions) record contains absolute rubbish from first to last. Maybe Mr. Ayler and his mates aren’t trying to put us all on. If they are not, then I am determined that whatever it is they have uncovered should be immediately buried again for another couple of hundred years, by which time the human race may have reached a pitch of decadence when these noises will be acceptable to it. Discography Cleveland.com have, rather belatedly, reviewed Richard Koloda’s Holy Ghost; The Life & Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler, which was published in November 2022. The review, written by Peter Chakerian with the headline, ‘Ghost of Cleveland jazz great Albert Ayler still haunts today’s sounds 55 years after his death‘, concludes with the following: ‘Ayler’s music, Koloda argues, was always about transcendence: the transformation of pain into beauty, of madness into revelation. His music, Koloda argues, was always about transcendence: the transformation of pain into beauty, of madness into revelation. And, back to Jazz Journal for a review of Steve Tintweiss & The Purple Why: Live In Tompkins Square Park 1967 (Inky Dot Media IDM CD004), which includes this great photo of the band: |
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[L-R, Marty Cook, Joel Peskin, Steve Tintweiss and Perry Robinson on 5th Avenue, New York in 1967 Steve also wrote to say the band was included in Bob Osborne’s Different Noises podcast and the following notes were also included: Steve Tintweiss and The Purple Why Steve Tintweiss, who played bass on innovative and explorative albums by Albert Ayler, Patty Waters, Frank Wright and Burton Greene during 1965–70, made relatively few released recordings with his groups despite being active in New York’s avant-garde for 60 years. Fortunately, he taped many sessions by his bands and in recent times nearly 400 tapes have been digitized. The bassist is gradually releasing some of the most rewarding performances through his Inky DoT Media label. Tintweiss led the Purple Why during 1966–71. Many players passed through the pioneering free jazz group during that time including saxophonists Sam Rivers, Mark Whitecage, Byard Lancaster, and Jim Pepper, trumpeters Earl Cross, John Marshall and Barbara Donald, trombonist Marty Cook, pianist Burton Greene, drummers Rashied Ali, Shelly Rusten and Billy Mintz, and vocalists Judy Stuart and Amy Sheffer. Live In Tompkins Square Park is from early in the Purple Why’s existence. The Aug. 7, 1967 concert performance has Tintweiss leading a sextet that also includes trumpeter Jacques Coursil, clarinetist Perry Robinson, Joel Peskin on tenor and bass clarinet, and both Randy Kaye (who also plays a bit of piano) and Laurence Cook on drums. The final selection, “The Purple Why,” adds trumpeter and Studio We Loft Jazz founder James DuBoise. While some of the performances are ensemble blowouts such as the opening “Water,” others utilize a theme that the musicians play off of. “Land” has a two-bar rhythm that the sextet digs into during enthusiastic and often-wild ensembles. “N.E.S.W. Up/Down” has a six-note pattern followed by a nine-note riff that forms the basis of the piece. The mixture of a folklike theme with adventurous improvising recalls Albert Ayler’s music at times. “Are You Lonely?” is a brief workout for the drummers, Tintweiss has a fine solo on “Waltz Of Eternity” before the ensemble joins in, “Space Rocks” is slower with a prominent four-note pattern, and Randy Kaye’s “To Angel With Love” (the only piece not composed by the bassist) is a concise ballad featuring Peskin on tenor. The most extensive performances are featured track “California Sandra” which has an infectious melody and swings a bit, and “Ramona, I Love You” which features passionate solos from each of the horns. Also included are the brief “D-Drone,” a heated “Y Interlude” (which concludes with the three horns interacting closely with each other) and “The Purple Why” theme song. A fascinating snap shot of late 60s free jazz.’ And a final review I came across, with no direct connection with Albert Ayler, but he does get a mention. |
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The review of Iconoclasts by Anna Von Hausswolff on Ghost Cult Magazine contains the following: ‘The spirits of both John Coltrane and Albert Ayler make themselves known on “Consensual Neglect” and this breathtaking instrumental would fit effortlessly on any number of releases by the two aforementioned Free-Jazz giants, stunning.’ The review also mentions that: ‘Additionally Anna’s attracted her fair share of controversy, particularly from Fundamentalist Catholic groups who have labelled her music “satanic.” The album’s promotional notes doesn’t hint at anything that could cause Pope Leo XIV and his followers consternation, so they may be able to rest easy…for now!’ That should endear her to friend Clive. Personally, I think it all went to pot when they stopped sending people to eternal damnation in the fires of Hell for eating meat on a Friday. * That Spirits Rejoice cover Last month there was a feature (by Dirk Goedeking) on the varying covers of the Spirits Rejoice album and I wondered where this variation came from: |
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Dirk came back with an ESP release in 2006, and now has gone the extra mile and has found out more about who actually painted the picture. This is from the South Dublin Auction site accompanying another painting by the same artist: |
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‘Star Lot: Ellen Lefrak (b.1943, Irish / Israeli) A lively large original Ellen Lefrak (b.1943, Irish / Israeli) chalk pastel on paper drawing. Features a colourful portrait of an Irish musician playing a musical instrument. Rendered in a bright coloured palette of rich sunset tones on complementary violet background. Signed bottom right. Housed in a deep wooden frame with complementary matting behind glass. As part of the Artist's collection. MM: 61 x 75 cm including frame. Born 1943 in Yonkers, New York. Ellen's work is full of bold, confidently asserted tones. Her paintings pulse with movement, life and character. Ellen Lefrak is best known as a figurative artist. By 1971, Ellen was taking private art courses and in 1972 she entered the Fine Arts Department of the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem, being one of 40 students accepted out of 400. During her years at the school, Ellen was an assistant in the drawing and silkscreen departments. She received her BFA in 1976, having specialized in printmaking. Following her graduation, Ellen created a studio in Jerusalem. In addition she has taught drawing, silkscreen and photography in various cultural centers, , to both adults and children. Ellen captures her subjects in natural gestures. She uses photography as a way of collecting raw material. In her latter years, Ellen has been concentrating more on oil painting, as well as pastel and other mediums. Lefrak has been based in County Mayo, Ireland for many years and paints Irish musicians, street life and culture. Ellen's works fetches into the thousands at Art Galleries, including the Kenny Gallery.’ There’s also this book (or exhibition catalogue - not sure which): |
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And here’s the lady herself: |
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Briefly Die Zukunft der Schönheit (The Future of Beauty) by Friedrich Christian Delius is now available as an audiobook, but still no sign of an English translation. * And finally . . .
Firstly, I would like to thank Dirk Goedeking, Noël Akchoté, Pierre Crépon and everyone else who has contributed to the site during the past year. Over to Dirk: ‘This year the Albert Ayler shopping bag contains holiday ornaments for your Christmas tree: Stars, trees, stockings, bells, hearts and baubles. Found on Fine Art America. If you think your tree looks a little sad, add some colour with the old ayler-xmas-stickers. Mars Williams will nod from above.’ |
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And here’s a tree, festooned with Albert’s festive geegaws: |
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Merry Christmas!
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December 15 2025
An Ayler Xmas Just a quick mention, thanks to Dirk Goedeking, of a concert taking place at the Constellation, Chicago on 20th December, celebrating the music of Albert Ayler and the spirit of Mars Williams. More information and links at the Chicago Reader. |
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