|
(From Jazz Monthly January, 1966.) - UK SPIRITS:
Norman Howard (tpt); Albert Ayler (ten); Henry Grimes (bs); Sonny Murray (d)
New York City—February 24, 1964
Spirits : : Saints
Earle Henderson (bs) replaces Grimes same date
Holy, holy
Grimes added same date
Witches and devils
Transatlantic TRA-130 (35/-) HERE’S ANOTHER glimpse into the remarkable world of Albert Ayler, and this new opportunity to study his work gives us some new perspectives and introduces to us several new facets of his work. This album was recorded some four months earlier than Spiritual unity, and with Ayler using a quartet here the album has a different shape, a different feeling, even though it remains recognisably the work of the same mind. The big surprise here is Witches and devils, the first time Ayler has broken away from his race-track tempos; here he has produced an out-of-tempo dirge, with a simple theme full of long notes that becomes extremely affecting on repeated hearings. The other tracks are more in keeping with what we already know about Ayler, with fast, skittering tempos and brief, folky themes. Spirits, incidentally, is a different theme to the Spirits on ESP, though Holy, holy has the theme of Ghosts interpolated into the middle of the performance. The different bassists don’t seem to have affected the overall style of the group very much; neither Grimes nor Henderson can quite match Gary Peacock in Ayler’s music, but they do very well, and provide some remarkable moments in their duet on Witches and devils. Sonny Murray for once is adequately recorded on this album, and his complex style shows up very well here. Norman Howard is a trumpeter from Cleveland, Ayler’s home town; he worked with Ayler there and apparently was flown in specially for this recording. He seems to be trying to create a parallel idiom to Ayler’s, and his style will provide some headaches for those brought up on normal jazz trumpet techniques. At fast tempos he produces a spluttering, jerky line in which, as in Ayler’s own work, clarity of articulation and control of pitching and vibrato are entirely dispensable. On Witches and devils he matches Ayler remarkably well, the two of them producing a sound astonishingly like that of a New Orleans brass band; the control he shows in his work here, though always of a somewhat non-academic character, should be enough to prove that he’s no faker. He’s going his own way to his own ends, and he’s not yet entirely master of his style, but for all that he’s a good musician, and I think an honest one. The same, of course, can be said for Ayler; there is nothing here that quite matches the centrifugal violence of the second Ghosts on ESP, perhaps because the quartet line-up doesn’t lend itself quite so much to such single-mindedness, but there’s plenty of evidence of his ability to sustain his work at a high level of invention at all times. Altogether, this is an excellent album, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to everyone interested in the various new waves around at the moment. Possibly also, starting with Witches and devils, with its associations with previous forms in jazz, and working out from there, other listeners who have so far not concerned themselves with the work of these young musicians will find things to interest and challenge them. It’s well worth a try. JACK COOKE *** (From Jazz Journal January (or Feb.), 1966.) - UK SPIRITS:
Spirits; Witches And Devils (18½ min)—Holy Holy; Saints (17 min)
(Transatlantic TRA 130 29s. 9d.) This is not the first work of Albert Ayler I’ve heard, nor will it be the last, and it has had plenty of my attention.
This is a harsh, feverish, tense and bitter record; whether it has any importance remains to be seen. When I compare it with Coleman’s ‘Change Of The Century’ the difference is that ‘Change’ was essentially vocal jazz in instrumental form, or at least a revision of jazz in human terms; it also drove like mad, as it still does.
Ayler does not swing, and has little or no recognisable human appeal. To say that his music provides sound-effects for a psychological crisis may appear a cheap comment, but it is not at all unreasonable; it may even be construed as a compliment.
In current phraseology, Albert Ayler strikes one as an anti-tenor player, deriding the instrument’s essentials and caricaturing its normal handling. But of course Sonny Rollins does the same sometimes—the important difference being that he has first proved his wholly orthodox ability before taking off for a strange destination. In this case, I need only quote the sleevenote: ‘The timbre of his horn is so broad and gritty it sometimes sounds like an electronic foghorn.’
Spirits starts with a Kerry Dancers type phrase, reminiscent of Ornette’s Ramblin’ but has nowhere like the swing and freedom of that. Witches made me think of a curious tuneless burlesque of Didn’t He Ramble with graveyard effects; extremely odd drumming, at times like a reiterated dry cough. Holy is like Flight Of The Bumblebee played rather slowly by an oriental group, dominated by a very menacing whinny. Saints appears almost sentimental, sounds repulsive, and is something like a virtuoso piece for a mad gypsy violinist.
I cannot recommend this record to anyone, but if for any reason this school of music is going to achieve any impact we have some sort of obligation to give it a hearing. GRAHAM BOATFIELD Norman Howard (tpt); Albert Ayler (ten); Henry Grimes (bs); Sonny Murray (d). (Earle Henderson (bs) added for ‘Witches’ and ‘Holy’). Back to: Record Reviews Discography: Witches & Devils |
|
