Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings

Live in Greenwich Village was Albert Ayler’s first recording for Impulse, and is arguably his finest moment, not only for the label, but ever. This double-CD reissue combines both of the Village concerts — documented only partially on previously released LPs — recorded in 1965 and 1966 with two very different groups. The Village gigs reveal the mature Ayler whose music embodied bold contradictions: There are the sweet, childlike, singalong melodies contrasted with violent screaming peals of emotion, contrasted with the gospel and R&B shouts of jubilation, all moving into and through one another. On the 1965 date, which featured Ayler, his brother Donald on trumpet, Joel Freedman on cello, bassist Lewis Worrell, and the great Sunny Murray on drums, the sound is one of great urgency. Opening with “Holy Ghost,” the Aylers come out stomping and Murray double times them to bring the bass and cello to ground level in order to anchor musical proceedings to their respective generated sounds. “Truth Is Marching In” casts a bleating, gospelized swirl against a backdrop of three- and four-note “sung” phrases that are constantly repeated, à la a carny band before kicking down all the doors and letting it rip for almost 13 minutes. On the 1967 date of the second disc, the Aylers are augmented with drummer Beaver Harris, violinist Michel Sampson, Bill Folwell and Alan Silva on basses, and trombonist George Steele on the closer, “Universal Thoughts.” “For John Coltrane” opens the set with a sweltering abstraction of tonalities in the strings and horns. On “Change Has Come,” the abstraction remains but the field of language is deeper, denser, more urgent. Only with “Spiritual Rebirth,” which opens with a four-note theme, does one get the feeling that the band has been pacing itself for this moment, and that the concert has become an actual treatise on the emotion of “singing” as an ensemble in uncharted territories. Throughout the rest of the set, Ayler’s band buoys him perfectly, following him up through every new cloud of unknowing into a sublime musical and emotional beyond which, at least on recordings, would never be realized again. This recording is what all the fuss is about when it comes to Ayler. Call Cobbs (piano); Bill Fowell, Henry Grimes, Alan Silva, Lewis Worrell (bass); Beaver Harris, Sunny Murray (drums). Recorded live at The Village Gate, New York, New York, March 28, 1965; The Village Vanguard, New York, New York, December, 18, 1966; The Village Theatre, New York, New York, Feburary 26, 1967. Originally released as ALBERT AYLER IN GREENWICH VILLAGE on Impulse (9155) and ALBERT AYLER: THE VILLAGE CONCERTS on Impulse (9336). Includes original liner notes by Nat Hentoff and Robert Palmer. Digitally remastered by Erick Labson using 20-bit technology at MCA Studios. This set documents some of the most robust and influential fermentation that was taking place in '60s jazz around the Village in New York City. Recorded live in 1966 and 1967, LIVE is transcendental church music, grounded in conventional African-American spirituality as it reaches exultantly for the sky. Traditional melody-then-solos structure splits at the seams as tunes spill into collective improvisation. The band often suggests a gaggle of patriots crying out in personal jubilation but rallying together, again and again, to sing a cherished anthem anew. Ayler and Don Cherry maintain a constant tension between simple melodicism and rapturous free blowing in their soloing. "Truth Is Marching In" makes a triumphant New Orleans-style crash, while "Divine Peacemaker" has the regal quality of the music that announces a monarch's arrival. "Angels" is a lovely, if slightly tongue-in-cheek, duet between Ayler and pianist Call Cobbs Jr. The latter's changes are fashioned after the manner of an early-20th-century fantasia, his piano sounding as though it had spent its youth in a dingy Western saloon. Ayler blows a sweet lament over Cobbs' rolling arpeggios, conjuring images of divine winged messengers stumbling tipsily onto a street corner after a hard day at the ol' salvation grind. George Steele (trombone); Michael Sampson (violin); Joel Freedman (cello); This is part of Impulse's The New Thing Series. Live Recording Producer: Bob Thiele. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Personnel: Albert Ayler (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Michel Sampson (violin); Joel Freedman (cello); George Steele (trombone); Sunny Murray, Beaver Harris (drums). Recording information: Village Gate, New York, NY (03/28/1965-02/26/1967); Village Theatre, New York, NY (03/28/1965-02/26/1967); Village Vanguard, New York, NY (03/28/1965-02/26/1967). Photographer: Chuck Stewart. Personnel: Albert Ayler (alto & tenor saxophones); Donald Ayler (trumpet); The Wire (12/98, p.52) - "...Ayler's music sought out extremes of passion, never anger or frustration....but hear the music - if only for sheer emotion that rouses the blood and lifts the spirt like few other experiences of our time." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.