MMW: Albert Ayler

Saturday, February 15th, 2014 // Blogs,MMW

Saxophonist Albert Ayler stood out among the many free jazz band leaders of the 60s. Like most “new” musical idioms, free jazz broadened the idea of what constituted “jazz,” but Ayler took that to extremes, incorporating into his work whatever elements from other genres he liked. Distinguishing marks of his work were the emphasis on strong melody lines and a joyous spiritually manifested in his best work.

In 1970, Ayler’s body was found in the the East River, the circumstances of his death never having been explained. He was only 31. At the time, his music was becoming more accessible to folks not used to jazz. I would like to think that had he lived, he would have begun to expand the limits of popular music to include arrangements with riotous horns backing wild vocals. But, alas, we got hair bands instead.

Hear it: Kenny Joe presents Pinkney Hall every Friday morning from 9 until 10.