Customer Reviews

First Recording V.2

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In early 1962, Albert Ayler relocated to Sweden, looking to find a chance to play his own music, but largely, he was supporting himself by playing in more traditional styles as a sideman. On the rare occasions he found work on his own, he did so with a trio of bassist Torbjorn Hultcrantz and drummer Sune Spangberg. In October of that year, Ayler had a gig recorded in front of a small audience, playing exclusively standards. While one volume of this (four tunes as the stunningly hard to find "The First Recordings Volume 1") was authorized for release during Ayler's lifetime, Ayler requested that the remainder of the session did not get released. Yet somehow DIW in Japan managed to get the rights to four more pieces from the session and released them on an increasingly harder to find CD.

What we have here is embryonic Ayler performances-- while he's still got that fat tone and proclivity for extremes on the instrument, neither his heavy use of overtones nor his wide vibrato is yet present on the recordings. There's still a fire to the music that is uncommon, even when engaging standards. Unfortunately, Hultcrantz and Spanberg, while they'd been playing with him for over half a year, seem by and large clueless about what to do. This leads the recordings (like all of Ayler's early work) to have a fractured quality to it. Ayler, new to recording, occasionally seems to forget he should be blowing into the microphone all the time, in particular on "Good Bait", where his volume comes and goes and the natural reverb from the hall becomes more and less prevelent contingent on where he places his horn.

But historical value and technical gripes aside, how's the music? It's... well, interesting moreso than engaging. With the rhythm section so totally mystified on how to respond, they have a habit of either understating to the point of being barely noticable (particularly Hultcrantz) or falling into a straight swing. The good news is they're rarely in opposition to Ayler as they've a tendency to drop out when he starts cutting loose, but even still, the leader's concept isn't quite there yet. He plays well on "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise", honking and grunting (and hinting very briefly at "Ghosts"), and is bluesy and detailed on "Moanin'", but all in all, it sounds like as much an exploration for him as it does for the rest. Also detracting from the music is someone whistling along somewhat in opposition to Ayler's horn (they tend to hold the theme tighter than he does)-- now I realize musicians on bandstands hum, sing, whatever, but this is jarring in opposition to Ayler's horn.

Sonically, the recordings sound ok-- you can really hear the hall, which gives them a dated live record feel, but this adds to the ambiance of the recording. The balance is a bit odd, with Ayler mixed way in front and the bass way in back (although the whistling seems pretty far up too!).

Given the high price tag and mixed value of the music itself, this recording is really for collectors. Curious folks should check out either Ayler's ESP sessions ("Spiritual Unity"), or his quartet with Don Cherry ("Vibrations") for an introduction to his early work.