Albert Ayler

9 CDs of rare & unissued recordings!
208 page full-color hard-bound book!

New essays by Amiri Baraka, Val Wilmer & other Ayler scholars anbd unpublished photos & family memorabilia!

Exhaustive chronology of Albert Ayler performance activities!
Lavish box cast from handcarved original!

By 1958, Albert Ayler and his horn had made some rounds: from boy prodigy to teenage member of Little Walter’s Blues Band, from “Little Bird” of Cleveland to featured US Army Band soloist. Then he resolutely set out to forget everything he’d ever learned about how to properly play the sax so that he could really PLAY it -- unhinged, free from strictures of pitch and form, drawing on spirituals, folksong, marches, and other big whopping chunks of collective musical memory -- to channel symphonies to God out his horn. Seeking nothing short of Truth in music, Albert Ayler became THE catalytic force in defining the sound of the tenor in Free Jazz, and was a heavy influence on John Coltrane’s later work.

Holy Ghost is the first comprehensive attempt to build a monument in sound to Albert Ayler. The settings -- radio and TV sessions, studio demos, private recordings, live concert footage -- find his music at its most liberated. And with the sponsorship and assistance of Ayler’s family, friends, and colleagues, Holy Ghost documents his never-before-heard first and last recordings, bookending rare and unissued music from every stage of his career.

"A genius of the tenor saxophone."- Cecil Taylor "He carried the gift, the voice, a reflection of God." - Don Cherry
"The dynamite sound of our time!"- Amiri Baraka "Man, what kind of reed you using?"- John Coltrane

About this 9-C D + Bonus DVD box set:
Size: 25 cm x 25 cm x 7.8 cm
Weight: 1.68 kg

CD 1: Herbert Katz Quintet w/Albert Ayler (June 19, 1962 in Helsinki, Finland)

1. Sonnymoon for Two, 2. Summertime, 3. On Green Dolphin Street.Cecil Taylor Quartet w/Albert Ayler (November 16, 1962 in Copenhagen) 4. Spoken intro, 5. Four. Albert Ayler Trio (June 14, 1964 in New York City) 6. Untitled; ends with "Spirits", 7. Saints, 8. Ghosts.

CD 2: Albert Ayler Trio (June 14, 1964 in New York)

1. The Wizard, 2. Children, 3. Spirits. Albert Ayler Quartet (September 3, 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark) 4. Spirits, 5. Vibrations, 6. Untitled, 7. Mothers, 8. Children, 9. Spirits. Burton Greene Quintet w/Albert Ayler (February, 1966 in New York) 10. untitled.

CD 3: Albert Ayler Quintet (April 16, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio)

1. Spoken intro, 2. Spirits Rejoice, 3. D.C., 4. Untitled, 5. Our Prayer, 6. spoken intro 7. Untitled, 8. Ghosts. Albert Ayler Quintet (April 17, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio) 9. Spirits Rejoice, 10. Medley: Prophet-Ghosts-Spiritual Bells, 11. Our Prayer.

CD 4: Albert Ayler Quintet (April 17, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio)

1. Truth Is Marching In, 2. Spirits, 3. Zion Hill - Spirits - Spiritual Bells, 4. Untitled.

CD 5: Albert Ayler Quintet (November 3, 1966 in Berlin, Germany)

1. Spoken intro, 2. Ghosts/Bells, 3. Truth Is Marching In, 4. Omega, 5. Our Prayer. Albert Ayler Quintet (November 8, 1966 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands) 6. Intro, 7. Truth Is Marching In, 8. Bells, 9. Spirits Rejoice, 10. Free Spiritual Musics IV

CD 6: Albert Ayler Quintet (June 30/July 1, 1967 in Newport, Rhode Island)

1. Truth is Marching In/Omega, 2. Japan/Universal Indians, 3. Our Prayer. Albert Ayler Quartet (July 21, 1967 ("Coltrane Funeral") in New York) 4. Love Cry/Truth Is Marching In/Our Prayer. Pharoah Sanders Ensemble w/Albert Ayler (January 21, 1968 in New York) 5. Venus/Upper and Lower Egypt. Albert Ayler (late August, 1968, New York) 6. Untitled Blues, 7. untitled sermon, 8. Thank God for Women, 9. New Ghosts [demo]

CD 7: Don Ayler Sextet w/Albert Ayler (January 11, 1969 in New York)

1. Prophet John, 2. Judge Ye Not. Albert Ayler Quartet (July 28, 1970 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France) 3. Mothers/Children, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled.

CD 8: Albert Ayler (early December 1964 in Copenhagen) - Interview with Birger Jørgensen Albert Ayler (November 11, 1966 in Copenhagen) - Interview with Birger Jørgensen Albert Ayler (July 27, 1970 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France) - Interview with Daniel Caux

CD 9: Albert Ayler (July 25, 1970 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence) - Interview with Kiyoshi Koyama
Don Cherry (unknown date, 1971 in Paris, France) - Interview with Daniel Caux
PLUS: 10th Bonus Disc with Albert Ayler as member of the U.S. Army Band!