Attention to the life and music of Albert Ayler continues unabated, as frequent re-releases of his back catalogue, along with newly discovered recordings, arrive seemingly weekly. Here we’re offered a couple of unheard reports from his 1966 tour of Europe with brother Don, bassist Bill Folwell, violinist Michael Samson and drummer Beaver Harris . It’s wonderful that we have all of these live documents of this particular band because they never made a studio recording, and we can thank the various forward-looking broadcast entities of Europe for the privilege of hearing them now. The sound is a bit muffled at times, but overall, surprisingly clear for a document of this vintage.

This is the Ayler unit that was once described as sounding like a “salvation army band on acid”, and their repertoire was an endless series of marches, calls and ecstatic themes, which invariably exploded into full-scale collective improvisation. The music is thick with the spirit of old New Orleans and the sanctified Black church. Mention of these influences by certain writers at the time brought derision and outright scorn from folks not accustomed to the potent mixture of spiritual matters with screaming, flailing noise. On the available evidence though, the audiences that were exposed to Ayler’s music during this sojourn were nothing but appreciative, and wildly so.

The final three tracks on this disc are purportedly a newly discovered alternate recording of the Ayler quintet at the Newport Jazz Festival in June of 1967. Here, Milford Graves fills the drum throne, and his powerful multi-layered playing builds a different foundation for the reels and marches. The recording does sound different from the one available on that enormous Ayler box set Holy Ghost, the drums seemingly louder and more up front. The late drummer is quoted as saying about this concert: "We burned. And we burned and we burned". I’m happy for the chance to hear it.