Spiritual Unity

For the Marc Ribot album, see Spiritual Unity (Marc Ribot album).
Spiritual Unity
Studio album by Albert Ayler Trio
Released 1965
Recorded July 10, 1964
Genre Free jazz
Length 29:19
Label ESP-Disk
Producer Bernard Stollman
Albert Ayler Trio chronology
Witches and Devils
(1964)		 Spiritual Unity
(1964)		 Prophecy
(1964)

Spiritual Unity is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler (1936-1970). It was recorded for the ESP-Disk label and was a key free jazz recording which brought Ayler to international attention as it was so "shockingly different".[1] It featured two versions of Ayler's most famous composition Ghosts.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
Pitchfork Media (9.3/10)[3]

The critic Ekkehard Jost wrote that "Ayler's negation of fixed pitches finds a counterpart in Peacock's and Murray's negation of the beat. In no group of this time is so little heard of a steady beat (...) The absolute rhythmic freedom frequently leads to action on three independent rhythmic planes."[4] Maintaining these qualities required deep group interaction. Ayler himself said of the record "We weren't playing, we were listening to each other"[1]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" and awarded it a "crown".[5]

Track listing

All compositions by Albert Ayler
  1. "Ghosts: First variation" – 5:12
  2. "The Wizard" – 7:20
  3. "Spirits" – 6:46
  4. "Ghosts: Second variation" – 10:01
  • Recorded in New York, July 10, 1964

Musicians

References

  1. ^ a b Wilmer, Valerie (1977). As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz. London: Quartet. p. 105. ISBN 0704331640. 
  2. ^ Allmusic review
  3. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  4. ^ Jost, Ekkehard (1975). Free Jazz (Studies in Jazz Research 4). Universal Edition. p. 128. 
  5. ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. "Albert Ayler". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed. ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 54. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.