Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 03/15/2005
Run Time: 29:30
Spiritual Unity was the album that pushed
Albert Ayler to the forefront of
jazz's
avant-garde, and the first
jazz album ever released by
Bernard Stollman's seminal
ESP label. It was really the first available document of
Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians, and the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic. Bassist
Gary Peacock's full-toned, free-flowing ideas and drummer
Sunny Murray's shifting, stream-of-consciousness rhythms (which rely heavily on shimmering cymbal work) are crucial in throwing the constraints off of
Ayler's playing. Yet as liberated and ferociously primitive as
Ayler sounds, the group isn't an unhinged mess -- all the members listen to the subtler nuances in one another's playing, pushing and responding where appropriate. Their collective
improvisation is remarkably unified -- and as for the other half of the album's title,
Ayler conjures otherworldly visions of the spiritual realm with a
gospel-derived fervor. Titles like
"The Wizard," "Spirits," and
"Ghosts" (his signature tune, introduced here in two versions) make it clear that
Ayler's arsenal of vocal-like effects -- screams, squeals, wails, honks, and the widest vibrato ever heard on a
jazz record -- were sonic expressions of a wildly intense longing for transcendence. With singable melodies based on
traditional folk songs and standard scales,
Ayler took the simplest musical forms and imbued them with a shockingly visceral power -- in a way, not unlike the best
rock & roll, which probably accounted for the controversy his approach generated. To paraphrase one of
Ayler's most famous quotes, this music was about feelings, not notes, and on
Spiritual Unity that philosophy finds its most concise, concentrated expression. A landmark recording that's essential to any basic understanding of
free jazz.
~Steve Huey, All Music Guide
;)
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