Albert Ayler quintet - Stockholm/Berlin 1966 re-issue...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Hello Princess and welcome to da bored

Mr Dodds with the estimable Lonnie Johnson on guitar ...

[Jazzrook]

Just discovered this:

https://www.mynameisalbertayler.com

[Serial_Apologist]

Just discovered this:
www.mynameisalbertayler.com

It was shown at the ICA in Feb 2007... and I missed it

[handsomefortune]

Not sure I could listen to him every day/all day but he's a wonderfully cleansing force

totally bluesnik - ayler's the perfect remedy ....at certain times.

and

I think Ayler was more concerned with being a radical iconaclast than modern (though much more just being "a musician" I guess, outside influence is crucial but not always at the front of a musicans mind), though a radicalism that paradoxically emphasised traditional black hymns, marching bands and collective playing.

His fusion came from within more than anyone in this era by the sound of it (Someone used this phrase somewhere else on the board, maybe SA?)


Aylers archaism must have been deliberate surely?

as per your point about 'inner fusion' - .....bound to be a serial apologist-ism (imo).

i enjoyed the points in your post above, burning dog, and essentially, ayler makes for great discussion, as a rule.

.... archaic 'other centuryness' was/is as relevant, as not giving that much of a toss about fitting in to what's going on in the era you're lumped with, as a creative.

your point about 'radical iconoclast' ....yes, he was a really unique social commentator, of sorts, but one that innocently supposed no one much would be listening, he seems completely unselfconscious. the latter a key feature of the sheer joy of listening to hiim, for me, and i suspect others.

ayler's timeless, always relevant. (in some ways, perhaps comparable to early hendrix, and marley, prior to mega stardom ....but imv ayler took more stylistic risks, and failed to hit the jackpot within his own lifetime)?

perhaps it's us who find the 'paradoxes' ..... that make ayler unique? whereas for ayler, ideas were 'better out than in' .... as it probably hurt his head, to try to keep stuff inside his brain.

he's right on target, with the later stuff, that people tend to loathe him for.... (with mrs ayler? singing) but the music's too much like 'commentary' typical of the era, rather than a finer blend of ayler's subconscious....which incredibly, is precisely what he manages to communicate in his earlier playing. though once formulated into 'commentary' all magic typically vanishes....though he definitely showed some bottle, to sing very unmacho songs, on the subject of 'women' for instance..... imo. (good grief)! even though i agree with the sentiment of what he sang...it's uncomfortable, embarrassing, shouldnt be, ...but is.

(i do wonder about ayler's beard. i noticed some iraqi and afghan youth, had white patches in their hair in 2003 migration wave...apparently caused by severe mental trauma. certainly not due to greying due to ageing.... at 18yrs. ayler's beard is a similar odd patch of bright white)?

nice utube finds in julius hemphill, and john carter respectively, ian - thanks - i've duely bookmarked.

[hoythenry]

Interesting that you mention about the white patch. I knew Ayler. After my father met him, he commented on the patch and mentioned the same thing about reflecting a mental issue, such as a nervous breakdown. No one else has confirmed this diagnosis over the years. My father was not a physician. I will pursue this with some medical people I know. Thank you.

[handsomefortune]

hello hoythenry, good to read you. i hope you get back to us after consulting a more specialist point of view.

i wonder what you, and your father made of albert ayler?

whilst the white tuft is of absolutely no significance, in view of ayler's contribution musically, it remains an intriguing minor detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql3TPyFiIlM

on darker hair, a luminous white tuft 'all on its own' stands out a lot. but as to its origin ....ayler could have been born with it, as in tuberous sclerosis? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...00798-0049.pdf

or, his hair could have lost its pigment as a result of poor diet apparently?

or war trauma, as sensitivity and intelligence is not what is required of soldiers, as a rule of thumb?

ayler has a white tuft in his beard ..........which obviously wouldn't have shown when he was born, as babys don't sport beards! (most online info seems to typically relate to babys/children, and pedigree show pets with depigmented hair problems! so, not much help as far as 60s jazz musicians go). darn it!