I wanted to put some mp3s on this site for the sake of those people who had maybe heard Ayler's name mentioned somewhere but had never actually heard his music. I hope the record companies involved will understand my motives (I'm trying to promote Albert Ayler in order to keep his records in the catalogue) and will let the mp3s remain on the site, but of course, if anyone objects, just let me know and I'll take them off. Three of the tracks were chosen because they're short. The versions of 'Ghosts' and 'Bells' seemed an obvious choice, and I really like 'Holy Family'. As for 'Change Has Come', that just happens to be my favourite Ayler track of all time.

If you’re on the Supanet site, then clicking the mp3 icons will transfer you to the Music page on the new site at www.ayler.org and you’ll have to click the icon again. Sorry for the inconvenience but the mp3s have been removed from the Supanet site in order to help with the exceeded bandwidth problems.

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I have also added a couple of pages, one listing other people’s versions of Ayler’s tunes, the other listing various musical tributes to Albert Ayler. The full list is also available for download as a text file.

Versions

Tributes

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If anyone wants to contribute a detailed critique of Ayler's music then I'd be happy to add it here. I'm no musicologist, or student of jazz history, or even a musician, so there's no point pretending. I'm just a fan. So, for the sake of those people mentioned above, who are new to Ayler and may need a bit of guidance in what to buy first, I'll just give you a top three - with all personal preferences cast aside:

Spiritual Unity
Ghosts (aka Vibrations)
Live In Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings

The Jeff Schwartz biography has reviews of all the recordings, but our tastes don't coincide. He rates The First Recordings and the last two Impulse albums, and he even has a good word to say for New Grass. He also dismisses Goin' Home as "perhaps Ayler's least important (album)". Personally I think Goin' Home illuminates everything which follows. I understand why it was not released at the time (even in the small, enclosed world of `free jazz` there were images to be promoted) but it's a pity if it gets sidelined forever as an `oddity`. So, in true fan style I'll let my personal preferences flood back and will give a swift guide to my favourites (and I'll even add a Top Ten).

It goes without saying that if you can afford to buy everything, then do so. But for the rest of us, whose money has never been "strong enough", decisions have to be made. I'd ignore The First Recordings and the last three Impulse albums (New Grass, Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe and The Last Album). New York Eye And Ear Control is more of a jam session with members of the New York Art Quartet. Live at Slug's Saloon is really badly recorded. Lorrach/Paris 1966 sounds better, but not as good as  Live In Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings and it's essentially the same band (although Lorrach/Paris 1966 does have another version of 'Bells'). Of the rest, I probably rate Love Cry higher than other people because it was the first Ayler record I bought. I also have a soft spot for My Name Is Albert Ayler (it's nice to hear him play standards like 'Bye Bye Blackbird' and 'Summertime'). Where personal prejudice really comes into play is with Bells and Nuits de la Fondation Maeght. There was just something magical about that one-sided LP on translucent vinyl and whether it works as well on the CD coupling with Prophecy (although it's a great bargain), I don't know. The thing about Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, is the timing of its release. After we'd all given up on Albert Ayler for selling out, after he died, after Impulse released The Last Album as his final legacy, Shandar came along with the record of his final concert - the true last album - and all the doubts just drifted away. So, here's my personal Top Ten:

1.   Bells
2.   In Greenwich Village
3.   Ghosts (aka Vibrations)
4.   Love Cry
5.   Nuits de la Fondation Maeght
6.   My Name Is Albert Ayler
7.   Goin' Home
8.   Spirits Rejoice
9.   The Copenhagen Tapes
10. Spiritual Unity

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Finally, I thought the following item about Albert Ayler’s most famous composition should be included here.

The Origin of ‘Ghosts’

From Dan Warburton’s sleevenotes to The Copenhagen Tapes:

“Ayler Records’ Jan Strom claims that ‘Ghosts’ originates in a song called ‘Torparvisan’ (‘Little Farmer’s Song’) which was a hit on Swedish radio in 1961, and the late Bengt Frippe Nordstrom, who recorded Albert at the time, confirmed that Albert performed the song while touring the country with local musicians. A close listening to the 78 rpm recording as sung by Gunde Johansson reveals little melodic similarity between the folk material and any extant Ayler composition to my knowledge, though the harmonic correspondences are clear enough. Then again, it could be argued that, in Scandinavian folk music, Ayler rediscovered the universal tonic-subdominant-dominant cornerstones of Western music, the basic building blocks of the gospel and blues tradition he grew up with.”

Gunde Johansson’s performance of ‘Torparvisan’.

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