Albert Ayler
Spirits

Albert Ayler (b. 13/7/1936), originally from Cleveland, was one of the greatest saxophonists in American post-modernist jazz. In 1952, he played rhythm & blues with singer Little Walter Jacobs. At the end of the decade, he moved to New York and after serving in the military in Europe, he emigrated with pianist Cecil Taylor to Copenhagen and from 1962 traveled extensively throughout Scandinavia playing the tenor sax. In 1963, also in the Danish capital, he recorded his first album with local musicians; it was released in Europe under the title My Name Is Albert Ayler (Debut Records) and in the United States as Free Jazz (America Records). The album preserves classical and popular compositions rearranged by Ayler with a blend of jarring and piercing sounds performed violently, quickly, and off-tempo; many purists of canonical jazz were scandalized, but with this first studio work, he demonstrated a creativity that captured the attention of several European enthusiasts.

The following year, "Spirits" (Debut Records) would be released, the first of a successful trilogy, also known as "the three ghost albums", a neologism to identify his very personal style full of constant vibrations and fluctuations. The other two brilliant productions from this period, which continue in the same experimental and exploratory style, are Ghost (Philips - 1964) and Spiritual Unity (Esp-Disk' - 1965). After the discovery of the musician by the American producer Robert Altshuler, a big shot at Atlantic Records, he considered some studio recordings for the Scandinavian market. Ayler was indeed a constant presence in the music programs of the Danish National Radio, listened to with great interest also in Sweden and Norway. "Spirits" was recorded in a New York studio and only thanks to the interest of a second producer, a Danish jazz enthusiast who worked for the American embassy in Copenhagen, Jergen Frigaard, it was published a year after his solo debut in Denmark. The pieces that make up the album were already conceived and tested during his stay in Scandinavian lands, all four strongly inspired by Swedish musical tradition, twisted and rearranged in an unprecedented instrumental medley like a sonic marathon with the precious, impeccable, and omnipresent support of drummer Sunny Murray, Norman Howard on trumpet, a faithful traveling companion also from Cleveland like Ayler, Henry Grimes on bass, another young discovery of Cecyl Taylor with an important collaboration with Thelonious Monk behind him, and Earle Henderson, a second bassist of Swedish origin who emigrated to America.

The music of Albert Ayler and his "little" orchestra, later disbanded and reassembled with trumpeter Don Cherry, double bassist Gary Peacock, and longtime friend Sunny Murray, is true avant-garde, surpassing the boundaries of jazz and even the most intransigent free jazz; Ayler plays with sounds and combines them, layers them, breaks them down to reach the most intimate essence of the medium he employs without ever falling into easy and predictable emotions. Jazz thus becomes the absolute experiment of one and only one performer. After a long series of collaborations, memorable concerts, and various recordings for Esp-Disk and the prestigious Impulse, on November fifth, 1970, Albert Ayler disappeared under mysterious circumstances and was found dead a few weeks later along the East River in New York.