Original image by There Stands the Glass.
I’m covered up in John Coltrane bootlegs. I own a stack of Sonny Rollins boxed sets. Reissues of Sun Ra’s self-released recordings featuring saxophonist John Gilmore extend more than two feet in my music library. I have more Eric Dolphy than I know what to do with. Yet I’d never attained a handle on the discography of Albert Ayler.
Holy Ghost: The Life & Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler, a recently published study by Richard Koloda, offers a comprehensive view of the controversial saxophonist’s output. Understanding the sequence of events in Ayler’s unconventional life allowed me to better understand the recordings I hadn’t properly experienced and compelled further investigations into the nooks and crannies of his catalog.
Discovering why the sound quality of the otherwise spectacular 1965 album Spiritual Unity is atrocious, for instance, answers questions I’d harbored for decades. More significantly, Koloda’s study led me to Slugs' Saloon. The live 1966 set documents what may be the most invigorating improvised music I’ve encountered. This is everything I’ve always wanted in music.