⛺
🔗 ⚙️

Spirits Rejoice by Albert Ayler

Live recording of Ayler's large septet configuration, featuring brother Donald, Charles Tyler, Sunny Murray and both Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock on bass. Compared to the bare trio of Spiritual Unity, this nearly big band of two bass players and a strong horn section allows Ayler's expressive vision depth from the joyous to the aggressive in Ayler's five original compositions. The digitally remastered recording was originally made at 30 ips instead of the usual 15 giving it excellent fidelity.

Tracklist
1.Spirits Rejoice11:43
2.Holy Family2:13
3.DC8:02
4.Angels5:33
5.Prophet5:36
Credits
released January 1, 1965

Personnel

Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone
Donald Ayler: trumpet
Charles Tyler: alto saxophone
Sunny Murray: drums
Call Cobbs: harpsichord
Henry Grimes: bass
Gary Peacock: bass


All compositions by Albert Ayler (2006 Syndicore Music BMI)

Credits

Recorded Sept. 23, 1965 at Judson Hall, New York. Engineer: David Hancock. Back cover layout & design: Paul Costuros. Photos: Guy Kopelowicz. Cover: Ellen Lefark. Remastering: Joe Phillips, Wild Cat Recording USA. Layout: Davy Meyer.


Press Quotes

"Once in a great while, an album comes along that’s filled with so much god-awful beauty and spiritual intensity that every majestic note contained therein cuts deep into the dark places of your soul and leaves you with nothing more than the promise of sweet deliverance...Albert Ayler’s Spirits Rejoice is that kind of album" - Tiny Mix Tapes

"Spirits Rejoice is proof that there was an underlying logic even to Ayler's most extreme moments, and that's why it remains a tremendously inspiring recording." - Steve Huey, All Music Guide
LicenseAll rights reserved.
Tags
Recommendations
Promises
by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony OrchestraThe Call
by Henry GrimesPercussion Ensemble
by Milford GravesRowing Up River To Get Our Names Back
by Anthony JosephHibaros
by Aflex ComboWorlds Within (single)
by The Golden ShadowThe Magic City [CD, LP, digital]
by Sun Ra & His Arkestra

Tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler, one of the most controversial and polarizing musicians in the history of jazz, pioneered a new style of playing and became an icon of "free jazz." The playing of both Ayler and his band mates was of such great spontaneity and imagination that no two performances are remotely the same beyond their themes -- and their emotional intensity.