Web Letters: An Ayler in My House

Thanks for publishing the review of Kaspar Collin's Ayler documentary. It is refreshing to see a review that celebrates this kind of uncompromising American art in the pages of The Nation. I am also very pleased that you highlighted the contributions of Ayler's contemporaries like the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sunny Murray.

Albert Ayler's music is still very vital and challenging and it lives on today in the work of many independent artists from all over the world. You can hear echoes of Ayler's music in the work of musicians such as Sweden's Mats Gustafsson, Germany's Peter Brotzmann and Americans like Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, Sabir Mateen, Kidd Jordan, Fred Anderson, Charles Gayle and David Murray. These great contemporary artists and others have built on Ayler's monumental legacy and deserve to be celebrated in these pages in the future.

Thanks for a nice illuminating article.

Pedro Moreno

Austin, TX