Albert Ayler: More Lost Performances Revisited

A state-of-the-art sonic restoration of obscure but historically important Albert Ayler material by Switzerland's ezz-thetics label, which with its parent label, Hat Hut, has been creating an audiophile archive of Ayler recordings with the support of his estate since 1978.

All too often, "more" in an album title means "Beware: barrel scraping in progress." Not in this case. More Lost Performances Revisited is primetime Ayler. The disc draws from three sources over a five-year timespan. The earliest track, from 1962, is the surviving audio from a lost film made by Danish television featuring Ayler guesting with the Cecil Taylor trio with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and drummer Sunny Murray. The 21:27 track is Taylor's "Four." This is early Ayler and he is at his most raw and primal. The film crew must have wondered what had hit them, and it sounds like even Taylor is slightly taken aback as he follows Ayler's solo with his own. This was 1962 remember. The world was still in b&w, sex had not been invented, and jazz was not meant to frighten the horses, on television anyway. But nobody had told Taylor, much less Ayler.

"Four" closes the album, which starts with three tracks recorded on June 30 / July 1 at the 1967 Newport jazz festival by the Ayler quintet with trumpeter Donald Ayler, violinist Michael Samson, bassist Bill Folwell and drummer Milford Graves. Ayler is, as five years before, raw and unfettered but his playing is now more nuanced and more shot through with gospel-inspired melodicism. The opening "Our Prayer" and closing "Truth Is Marching In / Omega" sandwich a choice curiosity, "Japan / Universal Indians." In November 1966, Pharoah Sanders had recorded "Japan" for his Impulse! debut, Tauhid (released in autumn 1967). The tune, so Japonais that it sounds almost parodic, is in fact an actual, traditional Japanese melody (though Sanders claimed composer credit on Tauhid). Had Ayler heard Sanders' still unreleased version before Newport? Was "Japan" a thing among avant-garde saxophonists at the time? Is there such a thing as a coincidence? Do you believe in magic?

The quintet tracks are followed by an Ayler quartet's performance at John Coltrane's funeral in New York City, which was held three weeks after Newport (see the YouTube below). One of Coltrane's final wishes was for Ayler and Ornette Coleman to play on the day. Alice Coltrane arranged for Ayler's group to play near the beginning of the service and Coleman's at the end. Ayler is joined by brother Donald, bassist Richard Davis and Milford Graves. "Love Cry / Truth Is Marching In / Our Prayer" expresses mourning, devotion and celebration, all at the same time. It is beyond beautiful. Live, the performance must have been overwhelming. As a recording, Ayler's performance acquires new potency thanks to ezz-thetics' engineering jedi Michael Brändli's sound restoration and remastering. At 6:24 the track is the second shortest on the album, but it might be considered the most monumental.

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