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Revenant is planning big Albert Ayler box


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Actually, my wife sort of likes Ayler. . . . She said in the past about some of the material with Don Ayler on board that "it sounds like insanity in places." She would know. I don't really think she's wrong. Of all the music I listen to, Helen may like the free jazz best. The wonderful thing about the last seven or eight years is that I have a listening room all my own, and Helen doesn't have to hear a lot of my music.

My wife IS flipping out though I'm trying hard to quell it. . . but she's flipping out about my parents' impending visit, not Ayler! B-)

Edited by jazzbo
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What is clear from the moment anyone looks into this set and begins listening is that this is one of the best cd box sets ever assembled! (In my humble opinion). Right up there in my personal pantheon with the Miles at the Plugged Nickel, and the Parker/Benedetti and Nat King Cole Mosaics!

Lon,

My thoughts exactly... last night I found myself wondering, "Best box-set ever?" Certainly a contender.

Today I listened to the six-minute medley from Coltrane's funeral. Simply amazing.

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What is clear from the moment anyone looks into this set and begins listening is that this is one of the best cd box sets ever assembled! (In my humble opinion).

Yeah, I'm just glad that I sprung for the handcarved wooden box edition. :P

Right up there in my personal pantheon with the Miles at the Plugged Nickel, and the Parker/Benedetti and Nat King Cole Mosaics!

Sure, remind me that I don't have the NKC box! ;)

Edited by alankin
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My wife said the music 'sounds suicidal'!

That's what my girlfriend would say, would I be crazy enough to listen to this music while she was around... I won't probably even show her the box (or I won't tell her it's new, you know what reactions that provokes..., she might declare ME crazy... ;) )

ubu (still verrrry :excited: , but I won't be able to listen to it until probably tomorrow night... :( )

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Listened again the the Ayler/Cherry concert from disk two, and it's amazing how Cherry picks up on Ayler's style. On Spirits, there's a part where Ayler's playing his solo very high, then Cherry takes over, and it took me a moment to realize that they switched off. Love Don Ayler, but this makes me wonder what Ayler could have done with a more technically advanced trumpter in his later stage.

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Well it certainly would be different. . . .

I think that the introduction of Donald to the band really moved the music to a more "composed, arranged, orchestrated" format than it MAY have had with a different trumpeter. I honestly believe that Albert may have reassessed and transformed his concept to include Donald. Had Cherry remained his concepts and ambitions would have definitely influenced Albert's. Another trumpeter with a similar nature and background as Cherry's may have as well. With Donald in place Albert's vision was possibly more secure and focused? The music would have been different with another trumpeter, no doubt. BUT I'm not sure that I would actually prefer that different music . . . .

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Could be the Ayler felt more secure spiritually with his brother playing next to him, and this allowed Alyer to explore that side of his music to a deeper level, than if he had a more technically adept trumpter. Seems that Albert Ayler felt the spiritual/emotional aspect of his music was where his reality lay, and he was going to follow that path for all that it was worth. This is not to say Don Ayler was a bad player, just that his strength lay in a different approach to the trumpet (I'd love to have someone reissue Don's three record release). Whatever the case, Don Ayler's trumpet held together that group, almost functioned as a rythmn instrument, if that makes any sense.

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I agree: Donald is a melodic anchor on a lot of the material. Personally, I believe that Albert felt a deep responsibility towards Donald, and wanted to have him with him for extramusical reasons. . . . Seems he had Charles Tyler groom Donald as a trumpeter, he really had only been playing the trumpet a handful of years before being in Albert's group! What a feeling that must have been!

I've never had an older brother. I do have a younger brother who is a trumpeter. . . I do believe that if I led a band I'd like to have my brother Bill along. . . for personal and musical reasons. ^_^

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Got it (79.49 at Borders on the Educater Card 25% off sale, no sales tax). Read most of the book, listened to disc one and parts of others. Damn nice. Can't believe there's still unissued stuffs out there after this. LeRoi Jones is...um, well it does give you the flavour of the times. Has any one heard the other tune ("Tune Q") that was on early editions of Spiritual Unity? All the confusion re tunes/names can't have helped...not that he'd have been a best seller without it, but still... And I'm dying to hear what the unissued Don Ayler album done for Jihad sounded like, and not just 'cause I identify with Don since I too lost my brother a long time ago and struggled with it (not, thankfully, to the same extent).

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Stefan, the sound on this release is KILLER! Better when compared to the tree. Material not on the tree sounds wonderful as well. I mean, there is that one very rough session (Town Hall, just heard a little bit of it myself so far) but the material is pretty much all it can be sound wise here.

All the transfers were done by Ben Young, and he did some of the mastering along with Kevin Reeves and one other whose name I can't remember right now. Still it sound MEATIER than a lot of Verve material with these engineers (which can be for a number of reasons, I don't care, sound is really well done).

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Don't lose faith! Mine was scheduled for Friday. I got home at about 5:45: NO BOX SET. I was calling out loud to no one to hear things about UPS that went beyond "BROWN." And I even went and looked out back, because sometimes they leave packages out back. NOPE. So I get over it, I say oh well, I can get it Monday and still live, went in to the kitchen, started to cook dinner, then went out to the front porch for a moment about twenty minutes later. . .a n d there it was on the front porch! Could happen soon, okay?

And don't boycott jazz. Ayler is. . . jazz? ^_^;):lol::P:g

Edited by jazzbo
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