The story of his [subject Albert Ayler's] troubled life and premature death is engrossing without prior knowledge of his place in the history of experimental jazz.
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09/02/08
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My Name Is Albert Ayler (2007)
94
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:16
Rotten:1
Average Rating:7.2/10
Theatrical Release:Mar 7, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: This documentary from Sweden resurrects jazz musician Albert Ayler. The avant-garde saxophone player only lived for 34 years, but his innovative approach still affects musicians today. MY NAME IS... [More]
Director: Kasper Collin
Reviews for My Name Is Albert Ayler
1 - 17 (sorted by date)
Collin gives us a valuable look at the difference between the open-minded European jazz scene and an American culture that relegated artists like Ayler to second-class citizenship.
03/13/08
well-researched documentary is an impressionistic portrait of a man whose ecstatic braying tenor sax still sounds fresh.
03/13/08
Top CriticSmart and savvy doc
03/13/08
Brings a sense of logic and humanity to a man whose music was as unsettling as it was untethered to the tenets of jazz.
03/05/08
Top CriticAn affectionate and compassionate screen poem, incorporating reminiscences with Ayler's music and his musings gleaned from interviews, and also an excursion into the past to connect to a sense of the times that informed his existence.
03/01/08
Illuminates Ayler’s aesthetic of pure sense experience.
02/08/08
Top CriticA cause for rejoicing.
02/07/08
Top CriticYou don't have to like or even appreciate Ayler's striking brand of music to be moved by this heartfelt tribute.
11/28/07
The Ohio-born tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler probably would have gotten a kick out of Kasper Collin’s documentary about his life.
11/08/07
Top CriticKasper Collin's film portrays a confident but troubled man, who never doubted that posterity would discover him, and consoled himself that prominent American composer Charles Ives had to work a day job.
11/08/07
Top CriticCollin's melancholy, beautiful feature debut does more than just chronicle this undervalued musician; it brings Ayler and his message of spiritual unity back to life.
11/07/07
Top CriticA loving and elegantly crafted documentary that charts the saxophonist's commitment to his art, often in the face of dire poverty, family illness, and neglect by American audiences.
02/09/07
Affecting, if rather esoteric.
02/09/07
Working wonders with limited source material, Collin's moving tribute proves the power of simple storytelling and understatement while helping us hear Ayler's extraordinary music with fresh ears.
02/09/07
An interesting history of a leading figure in an important American artform.
02/09/07
A tender and slightly unsettling love letter to iconic avant-garde saxophonist Albert Ayler.
02/09/07
1 - 17 (sorted by date)
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