New York Eye & Ear Control (1964 Film) [Soundtrack]

John Tchicai, Roswell Rudd, Gary Peacock & Sonny Murray Albert Ayler With Don Cherry (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1965
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Get Back
• ASIN: B00004WFGF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #615,875 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Don's Dawn

2. A Y

3. ITT

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of 60's Collective Improvisation, November 13, 2002

By 

Christopher Forbes "weirdears" (Brooklyn,, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New York Eye & Ear Control (1964 Film) (Audio CD)

Given the unbridled urge for artistic and political freedom in the 60s it's no surprise that so many avant-garde jazz artists were attracted to the idea of collective improvisation. It spoke to an egalitarian sensibility, a desire for the revolutionary, and an almost mystical belief in the power of Spirit and Art that certainly fit with the times. Unfortunately, many of the most recognizable versions of this collective improvisation never seem to live up to the promise of the idea. Ornette's Free Jazz record, while important as a historical statement, doesn't really quite work as music. The same also goes for Coltrane's Ascension, which often collapses under the sheer weight of all those horns! But this date is different. Perhaps it is the smaller number of participants, or their collective sensibilities, but this group turns in one of the most integrated, subtle and enjoyable examples of New York Collective Energy Jazz on record.

Credit must go to the sensitivity of all the players. Ayler takes the lead, by virtue of his huge tone and sonic roar. Cherry is equally inventive, but more melodic as was his wont. And both Roswell Rudd and John Tchicai are lyrical players who use a lot of space in their playing. As a result, the album is more transparent than either the Coleman or the Coltrane albums. The interplay between musicians is greater. The horns dovetail each other's phrases or set up balanced counterpoint. There doesn't seems to be any jockeying for dominance, as can happen in some collective situations. Each member leaves artistic room for the others. Gary Peacock is big toned and rock solid in the bass and Sunny Murray is quite simply a wonder, spreading his pulse out in every direction, creating a feeling of urgency without regular beat.

It is often fashionable for some critics to posit an influence of drugs and acid rock on the musicians of free jazz. But it is important to remember that this music was recorded in 1964...right at the start of the British invasion. Hendrix was still a struggling blues musician, the Greatful Dead hadn't been born yet and Janis Joplin was singing country music in her Texas high school. Free jazz was a precusor to the rock of the late 60's not the other way around. And, as far as I know, few if any of the musicians used serious drugs. In fact, few of them used any at all. This music is about something other than the drug culture of the 60's. It goes down deeper into culture, relating to humankind's earliest musical/mystical experiences.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Failed experiment, September 13, 2005

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New York Eye & Ear Control (1964 Film) (Audio CD)

After Ornette Coleman's 1960 landmark recording "Free Jazz", it seemed very common to find large group improvisations occuring. Albert Ayler's "New York Eye and Ear Control" is one such example of this. Recorded as the soundtrack to a film (that was performed to the music rather than the music to the film) by Michael Snow, Ayler augmented his working band of bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray with trumpeter Don Cherry and alto saxophonist John Tchicai of the New York Contemporary Five and Roswell Rudd of the New York Art Quartet. The session consisted of freely structured improv, with no apparent themes developed beforehand. The result is less than overwhelming.

Peacock and Murray freely associate, over which the horns all perform. Rudd and Tchicai sound terribly tentative, and neither seem to have much to say except when Ayler leads. Cherry manages a few intriguing licks (partiuclarly the introductory track "Don's Dawn"), but by and large is best in response to Ayler. Ayler, for his part, is overwhelming, way up front, and extremely aggressive. The problem is that Ayler's best improvs all launched his march-like themes, and without this touchstone, he seems to push the themes in on his own. This adds an implied structure that the rest of the band isn't ready for, and remarkably pits Ayler in opposition as being the one who occasionally enforces structure.

Net result-- it's an interesting listen, and playing with Cherry would be critical for Ayler's future, but the music itself feels like nothing. I never fully understand how this gets such favorable comments, I find the music nearly unlistenable (and I loved both "Free Jazz" and Ayler's other work). If you need to have this, get it, otherwise I'd pass it over for Ayler's better work.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The New York Avant-Garde, April 22, 2001

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New York Eye & Ear Control (1964 Film) (Audio CD)

The soundtrack to Michael Snow's all but forgotten film "New York Eye and Ear Control," now stands as a document of the New York's mid-60s avant-garde jazz scene. This disc, originally released on the ESP label, brings together some of the movements biggest players -- Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray. While this record is most often associated with Ayler (probably because he is the biggest name and it is his Trio at the time plus three) it is truly a collective group effort, with Rudd and Tchicai surprisingly stealing the show. Unfortunately, the Ayler-Cherry collaboration does not live up to its potential, but it is still worth exploring the "Eye and Ear."