Influence and Legacy
On his 1969 album Folkjokeopus, English guitarist/singer-songwriter Roy Harper, dedicated the song "One for All" ("One for Al") to Albert Ayler "who I knew and loved during my time in Copenhagen". Harper considered Ayler to be "one of the leading jazzmen of the age". In the Folkejokeopus liner notes Harper states, "In many ways he (Ayler) was the king".
Ayler's unconventional approach to musical composition, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, have transformed him into one of the few cult artists in the history of jazz music. "Ghosts"—with its bouncy, sing-song melody (rather reminiscent of a nursery rhyme)—is probably his best known tune, and is something of a free jazz standard, having been covered by Lester Bowie on All the Magic (1982), Gary Windo, Eugene Chadbourne, Crazy Backwards Alphabet, Joe McPhee, John Tchicai and Ken Vandermark, among others. The saxophonist Mars Williams led a group called Witches and Devils, named after the Ayler composition, and recorded several of his works. Peter Brötzmann's "Die Like A Dog Quartet" is a group loosely dedicated to Ayler. A record called Little Birds Have Fast Hearts references Ayler's youthful nickname. The Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded "Lebert Aaly .. dedicated to Albert Ayler" on Phase One (1971). David Murray's dedication "Flowers for Albert" appears on Flowers for Albert: The Complete Concert (1976), Solo Live (1980), Murray's Steps (1984), Acoustic Octfunk (1994), South of the Border (1995), and The Tip (1995) and has been recorded by Tiziana Simona and The Skatalites. The bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells produced "Meditations on Albert Ayler" with Tony Bianco on drums and Luther Thomas on alto sax. This live trio improvisation was produced for and released by Ayler Records on what would have been Ayler's 71st birthday.
On Sept. 20, 1996, the first Albert Ayler Festival was held at the Washington Square Church in Greenwich Village, NY. Performing that day were Gary Lucas, Amiri Baraka, Joe McPhee Quartet, Peter Brotzman- Thomas Borgmann Quartet, Joe Giardullo Quartet, Sunny Murray, Joseph Jarman, and Thurston Moore.
Marc Ribot cites Ayler as an influence and has regularly performed his compositions. He recorded "Bells" on Shrek (1994), "Ghosts" on Don't Blame Me (1995), "Saints" and "Witches & Devils" on Saints (2001) and in 2005 released an album consisting entirely of Ayler compositions, and dedicated to the ethic of collective improvisation, entitled Spiritual Unity.
In 2005, the Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin released a documentary film about Ayler's life called My Name Is Albert Ayler. The film includes detailed interviews with Ayler's father Edward and brother Donald, as well as the only live concert footage of Ayler known to exist (of concerts in Sweden and France).
Ayler is featured prominently in the Astral Project manga by Garon Tsuchiya.
Read more about this topic: Albert Ayler
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