Revenant is planning big Albert Ayler box

[ghost of miles]

Just posted on the Coltrane list:

caught evan parker recently which was a real treat --

news for this group is that we found out there that

revenant is planning a big ayler project. i found

more in the american-statesman:

"the next giant revenant project is box set focusing

on the late free jazz pioneer albert ayler. 'this is

definitely as big as the (charley) patton box for us,'

blackwell says. titled 'holy ghost' -- and penciled

in for a fall 2004 release -- the projected eight-cd

collection is slated to include extensive liner notes,

never-before-seen photographs of ayler and his bands,

and hours of never-before-released material, including

ayler's legendary performance at john coltrane's

funeral."

the revenant ad in the parker program called it a

"multi-disc set" scheduled for summer of 2004.

perhaps a revenant set, along with the documentary

also planned for 2004, will help bring ayler more of

the attention he deserves. and get me those ayler

fridge magnets i've been looking for.

btw i have a couple of extra programs from the parker

show. will be happy to mail 'em to whoever emails me

their addresses first -- off-list please.

[jazzbo]

Very cool news! Thanks for plucking it from the list!

[Soul Stream]

great news! how was that parker show? i wanted to make it, but couldn't. i was also hoping to catch the show coming up this saturday, but it's my wife's birthday and i don't think a free jazz concert is what she wants.

[JSngry]

Yeah, the words "free" and "wife's birthday" don't go together in ANY context...

[Jim Dye]

I know what you mean Jim. Within a ten day period, I have Mothers Day, an Anniversary, AND my wife's birthday!

[Soul Stream]

my wife and mother-in-law were both born on May 10th, which sometimes falls on mother's day. then i'm really stretched. even this mother's day I swcrewed up and commited to a recording session. thank god it didn't fall on the 10th this year.

[Chuck Nessa]

It is my understanding most of the Revenant is from the Ayler tree cds.

[jazzbo]

That would be my guess, not sure it could really be much else!

Still good news, because it will be a beautiful box and tribute.

[ghost of miles]

I'm excited, because I'm pretty sure I don't have any of the music associated with the tree. It's also heartening that another avant-garde artist is getting a box (coming on the heels of the news about the Jimmy Lyons collection). Went on a big Ayler kick a few years ago when I first discovered his music (me and a few thousand other listeners, right?), and this news makes me want to pull out a few CDs that I haven't spun in awhile (listened to WITCHES AND DEVILS about two months ago).

I'll be interested to read the book, too. Have any of you ever read the Ayler bio that's posted online?

AylerBio

[ghost of miles]

Here's a Boston Globe article on the documentary to which the earlier post alludes:

Film will aim spotlight on a free-jazz legend

By Steve Greenlee, Globe Staff, 12/6/2002

In life, tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler never got his due. He was a

leader

of the 1960s free-jazz scene, and today he's considered one of jazz's

most

influential artists, one of the forefathers of the avant-garde branch.

Although the critics liked his work, it didn't have many fans at the

time.

His 1964 recording with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray,

''Spiritual Unity,'' was so different from everything else in jazz -

even

free jazz - that it frightened people. It still frightens people

listening

to it for the first time, but now it's recognized as a masterpiece.

It's not hard to find jazz artists today who claim Ayler as an

influence.

Yet, he's still a mysterious figure; no one knows, for example, whether

his

1970 drowning in New York's East River was the result of suicide.

Brian Carpenter is trying to shed some light on Ayler's life, in

filming

what is apparently the first documentary about the saxophonist. Based

in

Boston, Carpenter has crews here and in New York working to assemble a

feature-length work about Ayler and his legacy.

In conjunction with this project, Carpenter has been producing concerts

-

and filming them - to illustrate Ayler's impact. The next one will take

place Thursday at the Tremont Theatre, where the Other Dimensions in

Music

group (trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., saxophonist Daniel Carter, bassist

William Parker, and drummer Rashid Bakr) and guitarist Joe Morris's

trio

(with bassist Timo Shanko and drummer Luther Gray) will perform.

''The Other Dimensions group, we definitely wanted to get them in the

Ayler

documentary,'' says Carpenter, 30, who moved to Boston two years ago

from

Florida, where he grew up and went to college. ''Not only because of

their

tenure - they've been around for 25 years - but because of their

telepathy.

They make it work. I've seen a lot of bands in free jazz not work. It's

very

hard to do.''

Carpenter is something of an authority on Ayler. While studying the

history

of the jazz saxophone years ago, Carpenter was stopped in his tracks by

Ayler's music. ''Where in the world did this come from?'' he wondered.

''It

didn't seem to fit in the lineage.''

''Everybody has their first experience listening to Albert Ayler,'' he

says.

''You can't listen to it as background. You have to sit down and listen

to

it. The first record I heard was `Spiritual Unity.' I was frightened by

it.

I couldn't listen to it. At the same time, I was intrigued. I was

moved. ...

Now I find it accessible. It's an emotion. It's raw nerve. It's more

accessible than bebop, in a lot of ways.''

Today, Ayler is viewed as a prophet who foresaw a new way of presenting

jazz

and expressing naked emotion. Such respected saxmen as David S. Ware,

Ken

Vandermark, and Fred Anderson are considered disciples. Guitarist Marc

Ribot

recorded a solo album last year, ''Saints,'' on which he covered three

Ayler

tunes.

This is the legacy that Carpenter wants to get at. (Carpenter, by the

way,

moonlights as a trumpeter, playing in a local free-jazz sextet called

Beat

Science.) He and his crew have been in production since last spring,

and

they already have 70 hours of film - concert footage, biographical

material,

and interviews. The documentary will alternate between sharp pictures

of

concerts and grainy black-and-white segments that tell Ayler's life

story.

In Boston, Carpenter has been interviewing and filming just about every

relevant artist who comes through the city: Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai,

Ribot, Vandermark - those who played with him as well as those who are

influenced by his work.

The film is a long way from completion. Carpenter hopes to wrap it up

in

2004 and then start taking it around to film festivals in hopes of

finding a

distributor.

''Who knows what will happen after that?'' he says. ''We'd like to see

it on

DVD eventually.''

[pryan]

Is 'Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Sessions', a good place to start with Ayler?

[AfricaBrass]

Is 'Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Sessions', a good place to start with Ayler?

pryan,

If the expense of a double cd set isn't an issue, I'd recommend the set. I really like it.

The route I took with Ayler was through his ESP recordings. I'd recommend Spiritual Unity or Spirits Rejoice. If you have an emusic.com membership, I believe they have the ESP albums.

You'll probably get better answers than mine, since I'm not the biggest Ayler expert here, but I think you'd be safe with any of these albums.

Good luck!

:rsmile:

[pryan]

Thanks AB, the live set is the only Ayler I've seen around town, although I must say I haven't really been searching specifically for his stuff. This could be an upcoming purchase (soon). By the way, AMG mentions the 'fact' that one (?) of the tunes on the set comes from the NEW WAVE IN JAZZ compilation (which I have) but strangely, that disc features nothing by Ayler's group. Probably just another error on their part. Also, the title of the two-disc set is a bit misleading, or at least it was to me, because I thought it contained all of his Impulse! recordings. A bit more research revealed that it was only the live material.

Still, I've heard a lot about this guy and look forward to delving into his music.

[paul secor]

It is my understanding most of the Revenant is from the Ayler tree cds.

A question - What are the Ayler tree cds?

Also - I heard Albert Ayler play at a concert in Buffalo, N.Y. in early 1968 (the Love Cry group with Juni Booth replacing Alan Silva). As I remember, the concert was filmed by a well known documentary filmmaker - can't remember who - D.A. Pennebaker comes to mind. If the footage still exists, it would great if we could see it, either as a separate entity or as part of the new Ayler film. A Cecil Taylor concert was also part of that arts festival and was also filmed.

[paul secor]

couw - Thanks for the info.

[Guest Mnytime]

I will definitely be one of those that will be all over this box. If Revenant gives this box the same attention it gave the Charley Patton it will be a hell of a box set. The Patton is one of the top 3-5 boxes I have in any style of music!

A recent Albert Ayler reissue that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in Ayler would be this years "Nuits De La Fondation Maeght 1970". It was reissued by Water. There is some amazing playing by Ayler on this one and to hear those in attendance go crazy when he finishes the last two tracks really brings a smile. He died a 3-4 months later.

[JohnS]

If I read the Ayler tree discography correctly, they have the unnissued Fondation Maeght music.

[Soul Stream]

I've listened to quite a bit of Ayler over the last 4 years or so. Bought many available CDs of his (imports, domestics) and then sold them all but one....."Spritual Unity." For me, that album says it all and dwarfs the others with it's sheer impact. I don't know what it is about "Spiritual Unity" but it is one BAAAAADDDDD recording.

[Matthew]

I'm in a major Albert Ayler binge right now, anyone have an update on this boxset, like a release date, etc.??

PS: Is the Albert Ayler tree an easy group to do a B&P with? I've never tried one before.

Edited July 9, 2003 by Matthew

[Guest Chaney]

Jazzmatazz lists:

Albert Ayler - TBD - 8 CD box set (Revenant) — Fall 2004?

A loooooong time away......

[ghost of miles]

Posted to the Coltrane list today:

The Ayler set will comprise rare recordings from first to last by Mr.

A. It will be 8-10 CDs, I'm guessing, and should provide a one-stop

shop for the best writing about, images of, and the core of the best

recorded performances representing the full range of symphonies to God

which belched forth from AA's horn. Amiri Baraka has written a new

piece and Val Wilmer has done a reconsideration of her more

biographical piece from As Serious As Your Life. There will be

unpublished photos, timelines, musicological analysis, "the first time

I heard AA", and other treats.

Should be ready next summer.

[king ubu]

Thanks for posting this GoM. Good news.

Does the "core of the best performances recorded" mean it will include some (or even much) stuff already released?

Anyone knows more?

ubu

[ghost of miles]

Another update via the Coltrane list:

This from Dean Blackwood, of Revenant Records, on the 8 CD Albert Ayler

box

set they are releasing in September:

"The music to be in the box has been pretty near finalized, and will

include

some things familiar to the initiated (1962 w/Cecil Taylor, Coltrane

funeral) but now in source-licensed and improved sound versions, as

well as

many items never circulated even among collectors/tape traders (Ayler

and

Pharoah's only known pairing, 1966 live recordings of AA's band in

Cleveland, and the true "first" AA recordings in 1962 from Finland,

among

others)."

I believe the Cleveland performances would be from La Cave, where

Michael

Sampson, in town guesting with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, first

played with Ayler.

[clifford_thornton]

Sweet, the tree mentions the live cuts from Slug's with Frank Smith and Burton Greene. I love Smith and have always wanted to hear more of him than what is currently extant (the BG 4tet ESP).

[clifford_thornton]

Ayler got me into jazz, oddly enough. It will be so great to have this set... money well spent.