Albert Ayler - Bells (1975 Japanese ESP-Disk' Single-Sided Vinyl LP)

Albert Ayler - Bells | Single-Sided Vinyl LP - 1975 Japanese ESP-Disk' Reissue (BT-5004, Nippon Phonogram)

Bernard Stollman, who founded ESP-Disk' after hearing Ayler play in a tiny New York club, was so excited by this Town Hall performance that he released it without waiting to record more music to fill the second side. The original 1965 pressing was a clear vinyl disc with music on one side and nothing on the other, a gesture that matched the subversive character of the music itself. This Japanese reissue keeps that single-sided format. The 20 minutes are not a single composition. They form a medley, moving from "Holy Ghost" through an unnamed theme into "Bells" proper, though the boundaries between sections dissolve in the playing. Ayler's tone is enormous, vibrato-heavy, drawing on gospel, military band music and the blues while pushing past conventional pitch and harmony into pure sound. Donald Ayler's trumpet plays furious, bugle-like lines that sound like signals from an approaching apocalypse. He didn't have the harmonic sophistication of Don Cherry, Ayler's previous trumpeter, but he was exactly right for what his brother wanted: raw, direct, fanfare-like statements that cut through the ensemble. Charles Tyler, making his recorded debut on alto, adds a second reed voice. Lewis Worrell (bass) and Sunny Murray (drums) provide a foundation that is rhythmic without being metrical, Murray's cymbal work washing across the music rather than keeping time.

Bells documents a transitional moment. The denser, larger sound here points toward the bigger statement Ayler would make on Spirits Rejoice in September 1965, moving away from the open-ended trio improvisation of Spiritual Unity (1964) toward more elaborate arrangements built on his fanfare themes. Ayler remains one of the most influential and divisive figures in jazz, admired intensely by forward-thinking musicians and largely ignored by the wider public during his lifetime.

This is the 1975 Japanese reissue on ESP-Disk' BT-5004, from the ESP Disk' 1500 Collection, manufactured by Nippon Phonogram Co., Ltd. This variant has a black front cover with yellow lettering, a white back cover with black lettering, and an orange label.