In 1966 tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler toured northern Europe with his ensemble of Donald Ayler on trumpet, Michel Samson on violin, William Folwell on double bass & Beaver Harris on drums, a stellar group performing some of Ayler's most substantial compositions, heard in concerts in Rotterdam and Helsinki, and in the soundtrack to a film recorded in Munich.
Label: ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd Catalog ID: ezz-thetics 1146 Squidco Product Code: 32827
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2023 Country: Switzerland Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Tracks 1-3 recorded in Munchen, Germany, on November 4th or 5th, 1966.
Tracks 4-7 recorded at De Doelen, in Rotterfam, The Netherlands, on November 8th, 1966.
Tracks 8-12 recorded at Kulttuuritalo (House Of Culture), in Helsinki, Finland, on November 9th, 1966.
"Albert Ayler's late 1966 tour of northern Europe was, happily, well documented in one way or another, though not always with the best sound quality, something this reissue series is attempting to address (and doing very well). The recording at hand includes a track from a session in Munich, concerts from Rotterdam and Helsinki.
The ensemble for the tour, in addition to Ayler, was brother Donald on trumpet, the intriguing violinist Michael Samson (who had sat in with Ayler earlier in the year in Cleveland and remained with the group), bassist Bill Folwell and Beaver Harris on drums. The first track is from a Münich studio date recorded just after the concert in Berlin and it's a fascinating one. A medley of 'Ghosts/ Our Prayer/Infinite Spirit' is given a reading more streamlined, less unbridled than was typically heard in live performance, with a wonderfully elegiac section in the middle, Samson's violin providing a heartfelt and almost sweet obbligato to the tenor and trumpet. Even the concluding march section has a kind of control that was rarely heard in live sets, not better or worse but evincing a range of approaches that might surprise some listeners.
Ayler's joyful woolliness is back in full force on the Rotterdam date from November 8th. The repertoire for the tour was fairly restricted, the same nine or ten pieces rotated from performance to performance. One striking aspect right from the beginning of 'Truth Is Marching In' is the organic incorporation of Samson's violin into the theme as expressed by the horns; there's an almost elastic feeling imparted, very corporeal. 'Prophet' is even freer, Samson again setting the tone with a wild, spiraling improvisation leading to a pleasingly rugged solo from Harris. The quintet plays with the structure of 'Bells' as well, gently circling the theme and treating it as a kind of playful dance once it arrives. '"Changes Has Come' is an outlier here, very much living up to its title. Although typical Aylerian thematic material can be heard, it's a freer approach than the group usually employed, Donald Ayler unleashing a ferocious solo untethered to any melody, Harris erupting and Samson skittering madly. Ayler eventually broaches a theme, carrying the piece to an exuberant end.
An evening later, the quintet was in Helsinki. Once again they begin with 'Truth Is Marching In', this time a rousing, rambunctious version, tenor saxophone and violin intertwining beautifully and naturally on the theme and subsequent improvised variations. When the group unites for a statement of the melody, there's a joyfully strutting quality that's quite wonderful before things splinter and the trumpet comes to the fore for a blistering attack. The music swivels back and forth: theme, free improv, theme, brief solo, etc. never remaining in place too long, always shifting-a marvelous performance. The remaining pieces differ from the previous night. 'Divine Peace Maker' gets an interesting reading, ranging from the march-like opening line to what sounds like a dark variation on 'Let My People Go' to a mournful, almost cantorial melody led by Donald Ayler before jauntily returning to the theme. The remaining three works are kept fairly short, the melody from 'Infinite Spirit' approached lightly, even prettily, caressed by an especially warm tenor by Ayler. 'Prophet' bursts open with frantic and imaginative violin work segueing into fine drum feature for Harris and ends in a raging maelstrom. Finally, the doleful 'Our Prayer' closes out the evening, its deep, sorrowful-but-hopeful melody lovingly played by Donald Ayler with "congregational" support from tenor, violin and bass, Albert making the occasional guttural aside-very moving and perfectly realized. The relative concision of pieces like this was something of a new notion compared with often far lengthier takes on the same compositions from prior dates, even earlier the same year as heard at the Slugs' Saloon session from May.
Ayler would return to the United States in late 1966. The recorded evidence from the next few months, documented on the various recordings from Greenwich Village, indicates his continued searching down the path heard herein, sometimes augmenting the ensemble with cellist Joel Freedman and using an extra bassist, either Alan Silva or Henry Grimes, along with Folwell. After several months of recorded inactivity, broken only by an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in late June of 1967 and a performance at the funeral of John Coltrane on July 21st, both of which indicate further travels along this same road, an abrupt change of direction was to be heard on the late August recording of 'Love Cry' and subsequent records, where a decided incorporation of rock and soul ideas is found, along with the occasionally jarring harpsichord of Call Cobbs. Always exploring, his premature death in November, 1970 left listeners with no clear notion of what might have come next save, perhaps, the surety that it would have been heartfelt and spiritual."-Brian Olewnick, November 2022