Albert Ayler Witches and Devils (1964)
Albert Ayler’s Witches and Devils is probably as ambitious a jazz album you’ll ever subject your ears to. The music oscillates, intoxicated with a sort of fever that broods and shifts in the murky, limitless depths of free-jazz territory. Not very popular among casual Sunday-morning jazz listeners, Ayler’s approach was always something entirely new and exciting, and his albums, however challenging, are important documents of his unique and powerful vision.
No doubt, anybody listening to Witches and Devils for the first time will be overwhelmed with the drama of Ayler’s expression. I can’t offer an easy-to-swallow interpretation or explanation for what is meant by Ayler’s arrangements, however I offer this review as my best advice for appreciating him. Ayler’s jazz resembles a junkyard of shadowy figures that slowly reveal themselves to a listener that is both vulnerable to new ideas, and patient. Although some very bold sounds are operating in the foreground, it is the small, almost ignorable musical debris in the background, such as Sonny Murray’s epileptic drums and the haunting bass of Earle Henderson and Henry Grimes, which truly lift Ayler’s melodies to a dizzying height.
Not for the faint-hearted, the title track Witches and Devils is the musical equivalent of a failed exorcism; partly melancholy and partly insane, it sails into an abyss of uncertainty and regret, finding its resolve only in the cathartic climax of its initial melody. Spirits is comparatively busier, but no less focused. It evokes the feeling of being preoccupied with one’s own thoughts and wanderings. The lengthy composition Holy Holy is a sort of synthesis of the two before mentioned tracks, however more erratic and playful, it resembles a sort of dance music with amnesia. The climax is no less special, concluding the album with an arresting feeling of pensiveness that lasts long after the music has finished.
For the brave and the curious, Ayler has many dazzling tricks up his sleeve that grow increasingly fascinating with every listen. It won’t appeal to every taste, but then great music rarely does.
