Albert Ayler - 1965 - Bells

Albert Ayler 

1965

Bells

01. Bells

Bass – Lewis Worrell
Percussion – Sonny Murray
Saxophone – Albert Ayler, Charles Tyler
Trumpet – Donald Ayler

Recorded live at Town Hall, May 1, 1965

This particular release was issued in a bewildering amount of variations, numbering 20 or more. This title was on catalogue until 1974.

To identify your copy, please check the following confirmed variations:

Front cover colours:
Black with ochre lettering
Black with white lettering
Red with blue lettering
Orange with maroon lettering
White with red lettering
White with black lettering

Front cover content:
A ''stereo'' wording can appear either in the rim text on front or as a small caption underneath the title. Some copies have the ''stereo'' rim text blotted out. Appearing in the rim text does NOT automatically mean your copy plays stereo, please see the runout remarks far below.

The rim text may mention an address in New York, either:
180 Riverside Drive
156 5th Avenue
West 55th St

Back cover colours:
White with violet lettering
White with blue lettering
White with black lettering
Black with yellow lettering
Blank (no printing at all)

Back cover content:
Blank
Down Beat review and no mentioning of other releases.
Down Beat review and mentioning of other releases up till 1020.
A repeat of the front cover.

The liner notes may mention an address in New York, either:
180 Riverside Dr.
300 West 55 Street
290 West End Avenue

Label colour and content
No label at all
A green duotone of a portrait of Ayler/ back side flat white
A green duotone of a portrait of Ayler/ back side flat orange
A green duotone of a portrait of Ayler/ back side with large ESP logo.
A liver-colored duotone of a portrait of Ayler/ back side with large ESP logo.
pink blank labels on both sides
orange blank labels on both sides

Vinyl colour:
Clear with red silk screened lettering
Clear without any lettering
Gold translucent with red silk screened lettering
let with white silk screened lettering
Grey marbled with red silk screened lettering
Grey marbled with white silk screened lettering and a green pattern.
Grey translucent with white silk screened lettering
Blue with white silk screened lettering
Maroon with white silk screened lettering
Blue/black splash with white silk screened lettering
Yellow translucent without any lettering
Orange translucent without any lettering
Black without any lettering
Red translucent without any lettering

Early issues may have an inner sleeve with a printed article titled ''They don't call it jazz''.
Runout etchings may indicate whether it is stereo (ESPS-1010) or mono (ESPM-1010). Mono copies are much rarer then stereo ones.
Some etchings additionally contain the exact pressing date.

Albert Ayler's short but definitive album, Bells, has been issued again in 2009 via its original format. As initially released, it is a one-sided, collectors item vinyl platter limited to 1,000 copies, this time in a translucent plastic disc featuring a red ink facsimile of the black-and-white cover, with the yin / yang reversed title and cursive ESP logo surrounded by personnel and the label's then W. 55th St., New York City address. Covering about 20 minutes of music from the legendary Town Hall / NYC concert on May Day of 1965, it is not surprising to hear the angst and anguish in their music, considering it was made about five weeks after Black nationalist leader Malcolm X was assassinated. Ayler and his quintet blow their own horns in alert of the "new thing" in jazz coming on strong, with no apologies as to its fierce intent or audacious stance. Brother / trumpeter Donald Ayler and alto saxophonist Charles Tyler join with the tenor saxophonist in a united front of sound and steel forged reserve in making free jazz a reality. The back cover has a reprint of Dan Morgenstern's Down Beat Magazine review of the performance, which is insightful, fair, accurate, and to the point, a good read for anyone who might dismiss Ayler's concept as something other than serious. The first of the two spontaneous compositions contains an outburst by the whole ensemble, followed by trumpet and tenor sax solos that bend notes and shapes in the extreme abstract. A free bop-based mid-section shows recording flaws, as drummer Sunny Murray and bassist Lewis Worrell are barely audible. Tyler ' s alto is drenched in the loud and abrasive tone the Ayler's dictated, but shows he has his own voice. The overtone-soaked music is tempered by a low-level bass solo from Worrell, with Murray's spare, splashy cymbal inserts, ending with a bouncy but eventual whirling dervish coda. The second, much longer improvisation, is based on Ayler's "Holy Ghost" theme, as a soulful, singing, vibrato-driven Ayler ignites Worrell via Murray's signature triple and quadruple flam accents. There's a clarion march theme repeated before and after congealed chaos, followed by deconstructed but distinct melodies, albeit brave and uncompromising. When all three of these horn players blow hard and strong together, it brings to mind Amiri Baraka's comment about "a terrible wholeness," as this purposefully saturated music stands alone as the most singularly unique early creative statement in modern music. As Albert Ayler recorded several definitive recordings before or after this one, and due to the very short length of Bells, it cannot be considered a magnum opus. But it does contain music played by his most powerful unit, a small window into the mind and heart of the most iconic maverick in the free jazz movement, and a magnet for discussion that lingers on well past his death.