| Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by Albert Ayler | ||||
| Released | October 1967 [1] | |||
| Recorded | December 18, 1966–February 26, 1967 | |||
| Genre | Free jazz | |||
| Length | 37:28 | |||
| Label | Impulse! | |||
| Producer | Bob Thiele | |||
| Albert Ayler chronology | ||||
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Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village is a 1967 live album by American saxophonist Albert Ayler. It was his first album for Impulse! Records, and is generally regarded as being his best for the label. [2] Originally released on LP, the album has since been reissued on CD.
At the urging of John Coltrane, Impulse! Records' first recordings of Ayler were made live. A single track recorded at the Village Gate in 1965 was released on the album The New Wave in Jazz and Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village was recorded at the Village Vanguard and Village Theatre, New York City in 1966 and 1967. [3] Unusually, Ayler plays alto rather than his more usual tenor on the opening track, a tribute to Coltrane, who was present when the two tracks on side two of the album were recorded. The two versions of Ayler's band heard on the record both feature two bass players, which "sharpens the sound considerably, producing a rock-solid foundation for Ayler’s raw witness". [4]
Further tracks from the same performances were released on the double album The Village Concerts, [5] and both albums, along with the 1965 track mentioned above and one further track, were combined to produce the double CD album Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings. [6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [7] |
| DownBeat | [8] |
| Jazz Magazine |   [9] |
In a 1968 review for DownBeat , Pete Welding awarded the album 5 stars, and wrote: "Ayler and his confreres are creating their own ordered cosmos in their music, as they make that music. And this album offers the best, fullest, most perfect view of that musical cosmos I've heard so far... The music is vividly alive, churning, full of colors and textures, and relentlessly moving. There is a great deal of energy and restless passion to it, yet it doesn't sound 'disturbed' or otherwise disoriented. Ayler's music is not at all incomprehensible or difficult of access. All it requires is a pair of open ears, a willingness to enter a world of musical thought that might on the surface seem alien and uncomfortable. It's not, though. The vistas are fresh, the natives friendly and, as the ad says, 'getting there is half the fun.' There's a lot of the latter in Ayler's music. This album is worth your attention, believe me. Ayler may well be the Johnny Dodds of the avant garde, and in my book that's high praise, perhaps the highest." [8]
Writing for AllMusic, Scott Yanow stated that In Greenwich Village was Ayler's best Impulse! album. [2] Commenting on The Complete Impulse Recordings, the authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz wrote that the sessions "are hugely affirmative and satisfyingly complete without losing a jot of Ayler's angry and premonitory force. These are some of the essential post-war jazz recordings, and they include some of Ayler's best playing... A remarkable record, to be prized by anyone who shares Ayler's longely vigil on the planet." [4]
All tracks composed by Albert Ayler (except where noted)
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.
Pharoah Sanders was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world".
James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray was an American musician, and was one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming.
Impressions is an album of live and studio recordings by the jazz musician and composer John Coltrane. It was released through Impulse! Records in July 1963.
Nuits de La Fondation Maeght is a live album by the American jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded on July 27, 1970 at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, and originally released in 1971 in two volumes on the Shandar label. The album documents one of the last known performances by Ayler prior to his death in November of that year.
Spiritual Unity is a studio album by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler. It was recorded on July 10, 1964 in New York City, and features bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray. It was the first album recorded for Bernard Stollman's ESP-Disk label, and it brought Ayler to international attention as it was so "shockingly different". At the same time, it transformed ESP-DISK into "a major source for avant-garde jazz". A 5-star review in AllMusic called it a "landmark recording that's essential to any basic understanding of free jazz", "the album that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant-garde... really the first available document of Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians", and stated that "the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic."
Donald Ayler was an American jazz trumpeter. He was best known for his participation in concerts and recordings by groups led by his older brother, saxophonist Albert Ayler. An obituary in The Wire praised his "buzzing, declamatory trumpet playing, which was part Holy Roller primitive, part avant garde firebrand".
Live at Birdland is an album by the jazz saxophonist John Coltrane that features both live and in-studio components. It was released on January 9, 1964 through Impulse! Records. Like the earlier album Impressions, and despite the album's title, only three of its tracks were actually recorded live at the Birdland club; the remainder are studio recordings. Among them is "Alabama", a tribute to four black children killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, a terrorist attack in Birmingham, Alabama perpetrated by white supremacists.
The European Tour is a posthumous album by jazz musician John Coltrane released in 1980 on the Pablo label. The tracks were recorded on October 22, 1963 at the Koncerthuset in Stockholm, Sweden during a two-week European tour which was produced by Norman Granz, and which included concerts in Oslo, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Milan, Kaiserslautern, Frankfurt/Main, Paris, Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart. Additional tracks from the Stockholm and Berlin concerts appear on Afro Blue Impressions. Tracks from Stockholm, Berlin, Paris, and Stuttgart are featured on the 2001 Pablo compilation Live Trane: The European Tours.
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays is an album by the jazz musician John Coltrane, recorded in February and May 1965, shortly after the release of A Love Supreme.
The Last Album is an album by Albert Ayler recorded a little over a year before his death in November 1970. Along with Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe, which was recorded at the same session, it was Ayler's last studio album. The Last Album consists of outtakes from that session, and was released posthumously in 1971 on Impulse! Records.
Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962–70) is a compilation album by avant-garde saxophonist Albert Ayler released by Revenant Records in 2004.
Love Cry is a 1968 album by jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, released on Impulse! Records in 1968. It was originally reissued on CD by GRP with two previously unreleased alternate takes and one previously unreleased outtake. The cover claimed that "Universal Indians" is presented as a longer extended edit, but it is actually identical to the original LP. The later twofer CD edition discards the bonus tracks.
Spirits Rejoice is a live album by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded in New York City in 1965 and first released on the ESP-Disk label. The recording session took place without an audience at Judson Hall, which had been rented solely for recording purposes.
Rejoice is a double album led by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, recorded in 1981 and released on the Theresa label.
Lörrach / Paris 1966 is a live album by saxophonist and composer Albert Ayler, recorded in Europe in 1966 and first released on the Swiss hat MUSICS label in 1982. The album was remastered and rereleased on CD in 2002 with corrected track titles. The music was also reissued on a 2021 Hat Hut release titled Albert Ayler Quintet 1966: Berlin, Lörrach, Paris & Stockholm. Revisited.
The New Wave in Jazz is a live album recorded on March 28, 1965 at the Village Gate in New York City. It features groups led by major avant-garde jazz artists performing at a concert for the benefit of The Black Arts Repertory Theater/School founded by Amiri Baraka, then known as LeRoi Jones. The album was released on LP in 1965 on the Impulse! label, and was reissued on CD in 1994 with a different track listing.
Something Different!!!!! is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded on October 25, 1962 at the Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden, and originally released in very small quantities on the Swedish Bird Notes label run by saxophonist Bengt "Frippe" Nordström. Ayler plays tenor saxophone and is accompanied by Swedish musicians Torbjörn Hultcrantz (bass) and Sune Spångberg (drums).
Stockholm, Berlin 1966 is a live album by saxophonist and composer Albert Ayler, recorded in Europe in 1966 and released on the Swiss hatOLOGY label in 2011. The Berlin tracks were previously released on The Berlin Concerts - 1966, Albert Ayler Live In Europe 1964 - 1966, and the compilation Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962–70) (Revenant). All of the tracks were reissued on a 2021 Hat Hut release titled Albert Ayler Quintet 1966: Berlin, Lörrach, Paris & Stockholm. Revisited.
Live at Tonic is a live album by drummer Rashied Ali, saxophonist Louis Belogenis, and bassist Wilber Morris. It was recorded on January 6, 2001, at Tonic in New York City, and was released later that year by DIW Records.
