Search - Albert Ayler :: New York Eye & Ear Control (Dig)

Increasingly enjoyable with repeated listening

Jessamine | Free, USA | 02/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""New York Eye and Ear Control" was recorded on July 17th, 1964 by Paul Haines for Michael Snow's avant-garde film of the same name. The gathering took place only a week after "Spiritual Unity" was recorded, and the same trio is supplemented here by three top-notch and highly creative musicians: Don Cherry, John Tchicai, and Roswell Rudd. The first track, entitled "Don's Dawn" is only a minute long and features Cherry playing especially smoothly on trumpet with very sparse accompaniment, most prominently Gary Peacock on bass. A lyrical, short piece, it is quite a contrast to the subsequent two tracks, which are each over 20 minutes long and are comprised of mostly unstructured collective improvisation. These two longer tracks ebb and flow in intensity, at times are quite spacious, and for the most part Ayler dominants the proceedings. There are moments when Ayler states what sounds like the fragment or the beginning of a march theme, but each time it is quickly disposed of. The interaction among the musicians is at times awe inspiring, and this is truly a collective effort.



The album truly rewards repeated listening. In fact, prior to really digging into this, I would have described the album as unstructured cacophony, with little apparent interaction among the musicians, filing it away with other less-than-successful efforts at collective improvisation. However, upon repeated listening the album has really started to grow on me, and I can't believe that I overlooked how strikingly successful the group interaction really is and I found myself in awe at how downright amazing these guys really were."

New York Eye and Ear Control

Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 06/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One disc,45 min. approximately. Remastered sound. A portion of this music was used for an experimental film in the sixties. Without seeing the film itself,its difficult to determine the music's effectiveness in that context. What we're left with is avant-garde music which sounds very much of it's time and place. New York in the sixties was where a lot of these sounds eminated,and this is no exception.



The first track is short(1:05)and serves as an introduction for whats to come. The second track is a bit over twenty minutes,which gives the players time to explore the tension and release,the quiet and harsher passages and the combined sound of their instruments. The final track,also over twenty minutes,is a bit more disjointed sounding(even for this music),with portions holding together over longer stretches of atonal dissonance.



All compositions are by Albert Ayler and if you're familiar with his style of writing,these will come as no surprise. A look at the list of players tells a lot about what to expect-everyone is well-known as an "outside" player. However,Ayler doesn't play so much as a soloist,more an ensemble player. As with a lot of this music,repeated listenings are rewarded with an understanding and appreciation of totally "free" music. There is a constant intermingling of instruments as they weave in and out,slow down,and then accelerate through the compositions. If you're appreciation of music runs in this area,this is something you should pick up. Ayler,Cherry,Tchicai,Rudd,Peacock,and the great drummer Sunny Murray have recorded these fine tracks which,at the time,and in the present,should be much more well-known.



In this day and age of cookie-cutter,bland music,its nice to see a label like ESP re-release this and other albums in their catalogue,as a presciption for some of what passes for jazz and music in general. This music needs to be heard and paid attention to,if for no other reason than to keep us from sinking under the weight of bland,short attention span listening. Also look for NEW YORK ART QUARTET on ESP RECORDS for more good music of this type."