What's New

Richard Koloda let me know about an Ayler tribute show from 2016, originally broadcast on WCSB, which has now turned up at the Internet Archive, described thus:

‘This Albert Ayler tribute was part of the June 16, 2016 broadcast of "The Brewing Luminous" on WCSB Cleveland 89.3 FM. It features the groups Witches & Devils, Universal Indians, Lisle Ellis and Joe McPhee. The show was hosted weekly by Tom Orange during the years 2010-2016. This low fidelity (64 kbps mp3) edition is intended for educational purposes only.’

And Dirk Goedeking sent me a link to a Milford Graves interview (on the subject of Albert Ayler) which was broadcast on WKCR in 1987. This was listed in the Interviews section, but the link had died, so this is the new one and here’s a poster for it:

Following on ...

John Fordham’s obituary of Milford Graves is now available at The Guardian.

Here’s another of those 60th anniversary of Impulse! reissues from Japan:

Paris 1966

Thanks to Bertrand Gastaut for posting this on the Albert Ayler facebook group page:

Something Old Something New

Thought I’d mention that on ebay there was a test pressing of the Polydor version of Spirits, aka Witches And Devils, which went for £64. I’ve put the pictures on the relevant covers page, but here are the labels:

Angels is a new album from the trio of Mark Solberg (guitar), Anders Banke (tenor sax and bass clarinet) and Bjørn Heebøll (drums and percussion).

Here’s the title track:

The Quick And The Dead

Dirk Goedeking sent me some links to the current activities of “Free Jazz Superstars from the 60s - alive, recording and releasing new material” and I thought it appropriate amidst our commemorations of the dead that we should also take some time to celebrate the living.

Pharoah Sanders has a new album out - Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra. There’s more information in the NPR site.

Back to 2019 and there was the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, We Are On The Edge, and last year saw the release of Duo (Bologna) 2018, a collaboration between Anthony Braxton and the harpist, Jaqueline Kerrod.

Archie Shepp follows up last year’s Ocean Bridges with Let My People Go which was released in February this year. Dirk adds this note on the latter: ‘His singing on the saxless radio edit "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" is heartbreaking.’

There’s an interview with Shepp about Let My People Go in La Jornada. Translated from the Spanish, here are his remarks about Albert Ayler:

“What role did Albert Ayler play in jazz music?”

“Ayler was new and different for his time, not only because of the structural form of his compositions, but also because of his sentimental approach to music.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ayler did not say ‘we are going to play this or that piece’. Rather, he said things like ‘Let’s play: sadness. Let’s play: hunger.’”

“The evolution of jazz was very fast at that time with Coltrane, Ornette and Ayler.”

“It may sound like that, but Ellington had already done it 30 years ago.”

A Little Bit Of Sunshine

Going back a bit again, to last November, but I picked up this item from the Chicago Reader’s ‘Best of Chicago 2020’. A review of an outdoor concert by the trio of Tyler Damon, Dave Rempis and Bill Harris in Margate Park, included the following:

‘You’ll get sun and breeze anywhere outside, but in Margate Park on Saturday, November 7—just hours after the major news networks called the election for Biden—Rempis, Damon, and drummer Bill Harris opened with Albert Ayler’s “Ghosts” as a burst of wind carried a flickering swirl of golden honey locust leaves around their heads.’

Multi-Instrumental ‘Ghosts’

Here’s ‘Ghosts’ on a variety of instruments, starting with flute:

Followed by clarinet, alto sax and bass clarinet, and then whatever this is:

And finally ...

Kevin Coyne - one of those names that you know, but you’re not sure why. This turned up on the Ayler facebook group, courtesy of Lennart Hansson, with the following description:

“Albert Ayler in Stockholm. Used to be rock musician Kevin Coyne’s copy.”

What’s New January to March 2021 is now in the Archives.

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This site went online in June 2000. All the previous ‘What’s New’ pages are available below: