Bells (album)
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| Bells | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1965 | |||
| Recorded | May 1, 1965 | |||
| Venue | The Town Hall, NYC | |||
| Genre | Free jazz | |||
| Length | 20:03 | |||
| Label | ESP-Disk 1010 | |||
| Producer | Richard L. Alderson | |||
| Albert Ayler chronology | ||||
| ||||
Bells is a live album by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded at The Town Hall in New York City in 1965 and first released as a single sided LP on the ESP-Disk label.[1][2] The album was released in many variations including clear and coloured vinyl and with a variety of colored covers and also on CD combined with Ayler’s live Prophecy album.[3][4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [5] |
| Down Beat | [6] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [7] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [8] |
A critical contemporary review in the magazine Down Beat declined to award any stars to the album.[6]
The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos states: "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".[5]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3 stars, stating that it was "a token that here was music so powerful you'd probably only manage 20 minutes of it before switching off the hi-fi and taking deep gulps of air."[8]
All About Jazz commented: "Part of the lasting brilliance of Bells is that the group is much more roughshod at this early stage, the ensemble not yet formed into a cohesive, balanced whole but a rickety patchwork, its seams (and therefore process) showing proudly through".[9]