| Bells | |
| Type: | Live |
| Artist: | Albert Ayler |
| Cover: | Bells (album).jpg |
| 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 |
| Chronology: | Albert Ayler |
| Prev Title: | The Hilversum Session |
| Prev Year: | 1964 |
| Next Title: | Spirits Rejoice |
| Next Year: | 1965 |
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 most recently on CD combined with Prophecy.[3] [4]
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."
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".[6]
All compositions by Albert Ayler