Albert Ayler was a musician free of constraints, and like the post-modern artists that lived and painted in the same neighborhoods where he played, Ayler took jazz to a different level with Spiritual Unity, his masterpiece. Gary Peakcock on bass and Sunny Murray on percussions layered an atonal foundation while Ayler splattered his saxophone in a fashion that was strictly his own. There aren't many pieces out there that are as tight and crazy as Ghost: Second variation, and there aren't many albums as crucial to music as Spiritual Unity.
From Nils Jacobsen at All About Jazz:
Whole generations of musicians and listeners experienced a dramatic and irrevocable awakening in the years after Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity came out in 1964, and the record has a certain timeless quality that makes it just as important today. The piercing emotional emphasis and startlingly voice- like qualities of Ayler's saxophone playing turn childishly simple melodies into expanded voyages of personal discovery and spontaneous invention. Bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray share an abstract, ethereal connection where norms of meter and harmony seem quite naturally irrelevant.
But Spiritual Unity remains enigmatic even now, nearly 35 years after Ayler's body was mysteriously found in the Hudson River. Part of that mystique comes from Ayler's own shrouded references to religion and spirituality, with revolving titles like "Ghosts" and "Spirits" evoking milennia- old cycles of meditation, discovery, redemption, and rebirth.
Part of it also comes from the makeshift presentation the record received as the �rst of�cial release on Bernard Stollman's brand new ESP-Disk, a haven where "the artists alone decide" what would happen during their quick, mostly one-take studio sessions, but where the information provided about these events was spotty and sometimes contradictory.
This latest reissue of Spiritual Unity transports me to an existence ecstatically free of time and place, bringing back memories of how I ï¬�rst got swept away in the Ayler phenomenon years ago. Oddly enough, I never noticed the first track was recorded in mono until today—which is a sign that the disc's sound quality, while less than spectacular, does nothing to interfere with its effectiveness.
The sound is better on this remastered version than the one I picked up a few years ago, but the liner notes fall short. The essays on the ESP-Disk phenomenon and the session itself don't have the same information content as the biographies, label story, and Stollman interview included with the earlier release. So there's really no need for those already familiar with this recording to dash out for the latest and greatest.
But if you haven't heard this record, you've missed out on one of the most profound artistic statements of the 20th Century. Enough said.
Technical Information:
Artist: Albert Ayler Trio
Album: Spiritual Unity
Year: 1964
Audio Codec(s): FLAC8
Encoding: Lossless
Rip: EAC FLAC8 image+.cue
Avg. bitrate: 973 kb/s
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
Bits per sample: 16
Channels: 2
File size: 205 MB
Length: 00:29:32
Personnel:
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone
Gary Peacock: bass
Sunny Murray: percussion
Tracklisting:
01. Ghosts: First Variation (5:16)
02. The Wizard (7:25)
03. Spirits (6:50)
04. Ghosts: Second Variation (10:02)
Spiritual Unity Megaupload Link