By 1958, Albert Ayler and his horn had made some rounds: from boy prodigy to teenage member of Little Walter's Blues Band, from "Little Bird" of Cleveland to featured US Army Band soloist. Then he resolutely set out to forget everything he'd ever learned about how to properly play the sax so that he could really PLAY it -- unhinged, free from strictures of pitch and form, drawing on spirituals, folksong, marches, and other big whopping chunks of collective musical memory -- to channel symphonies to God out his horn. Seeking nothing short of Truth in music, Albert Ayler became THE catalytic force in defining the sound of the tenor in Free Jazz, and was a heavy influence on John Coltrane's later work. Holy Ghost is the first comprehensive attempt to build a monument in sound to Albert Ayler. The settings -- radio and TV sessions, studio demos, private recordings, live concert footage -- find his music at its most liberated. And with the sponsorship and assistance of Ayler's family, friends, and colleagues, Holy Ghost documents his never-before-heard first and last recordings, bookending rare and unissued music from every stage of his career.
# 9 CDs of rare & unissued recordings
# 208 pg. full-color hardbound book
# new essays by Amiri Baraka, Val Wilmer & other Ayler scholars
# unpublished photos & family memorabilia
# artist testimonials of first encounters with Ayler's music
# exhaustive chronology of Ayler performance activities
# housed in lavish Spirit Box cast from handcarved original
Rare and unreleased recordings from 1962-1970 in a 9CD 'Spirit Box', plus a bonus disc of Albert Ayler with a U.S. Army Band. The boxset includes: - a 208 page full-color hardbound book which includes new essays by Amiri Baraka, Val Wilmer & other Ayler scholars - a picture of Ayler with saxophone from his youth - a photostat of a handwritten note from a Copenhagen hotel - a reprinted copy of a Slugs flyer which includes a listing for a week of Ayler's quintet - a reprinted 1965 pamphlet by the late poet Paul Haines entitled Ayler-Peacock-Murray-You and the Night and the Music - a reprinted newsletter from 1969 by Jihad Productions with excerpts about Ayler - a dried flower 1-1 to 1-3: Recorded June 30, 1962 in Helsinki, Finland 1-4 to 1-5: Recorded poss. November 16, 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark 1-6 to 2-3: Recorded June 14, 1964 at the Cellar Café, New York City 2-4 to 2-10: Recorded September 3, 1964 at Café Montmartre: Copenhagen, Denmark 2-11: Recorded February 1966 at Slug's: New York City 3-1 to 3-8: Recorded April 16, 1966 at La Cave: Cleveland 3-9 to 4-6: Recorded April 17, 1966 at La Cave: Cleveland 5-1 to 5-5: Recorded November 3, 1966 at Berlin Philharmonic: Berlin, Germany 5-6 to 5-10: Recorded November 8, 1966 at De Doelen: Rotterdam, The Netherlands 6-1 to 6-3: Recorded June 30/July 1, 1967 at Freebody Park: Newport, Rhode Island 6-4: Recorded at the funeral of John Coltrane, July 21, 1967 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church: New York City 6-5: Recorded January 21, 1968 at the Renaissance Ballroom: New York City 6-6 to 6-9: Recorded ca. late August 1968 in New York City area 7-1 to 7-2: Recorded January 11, 1969 at Town Hall: New York City 7-3 to 7-6: Recorded prob. July 28, 1970 at La Colle sur Loup: Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 8-1 to 8-4: Ayler interview for "Afterbeat" program. Recorded early December 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark 8-5 to 8-8: Ayler interview for "Afterbeat" program. Recorded on or around November 11, 1966 in Copenhagen, Denmark 8-9 to 8-23: Ayler interview for "France Culture". Recorded July 27, 1970 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 9-1 to 9-37: Ayler interview for "Swing Journal". Recorded July 25, 1970 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 9-38: Don and Mocqui Cherry interview. Recorded in Paris, 1971 10-1 to 10-2: U.S. Army 76th AG Band Rehearsal. Recorded Sept. 14, 1960 Recordings made available under license from the Albert Ayler estate and various rights holders. Disc 1/Tracks 1-3 made available under license through special arrangement with Finnish Broadcasting Company-Yleisradio, through the good works of Matti Konttinen. NOTE: The boxed set was released with mastering/pressing flaw on disc 6. Because of this for a limited time Revenant provided a replacement disc to those who purchased the boxed set and requested the replacement disc by mail or email. This replacement disc was mailed in a cardboard mailer with a blank card stock cover. The mastering issue appears to be a volume and minor clarity issue on some tracks, the remastering adds one second to both tracks 6-6 and 6-9.
