Unfortunately, later Ayler tried to put it back together and failed (giving AA the benefit of the doubt).
Did he really? How about the live recording from France?
This begs the question: what would Coltrane (and Ayler, too) have done, hadn't they died?
I wasn't around back then of course, but I somehow get the impression (that might be totally wrong) that this certain type of avantgarde thing had about ran its course in the late 60s. Shepp took some turns, too, Sanders, well... he was an exciting player but without a strong person to play off (that was Trane, of course), he seemed a bit... well, lost not quite, but he too, took a whole different direction (that changed, and I guess nowadays he's one of the big classicists or whatever you may call it... an authoritative, impressive musician for sure!)
Well, I was around back then and, yes, there was a strong sense that the avant garde had run its course. The subsequent change of direction, of course, was towards a fusion with rock.