New York Eye and Ear Control

A soundtrack to a film by avant-garde artist Michael Snow, NEW YORK EYE AND EAR CONTROL is regarded as the key to the collective improvisational music of its era. Recorded only seven days after SPIRITUAL UNITY, the album features Ayler at his most unconstrained. The trio of Ayler, Gary Peacock, and Sunny Murray used on SPIRITUAL UNITY is rounded out with Don Cherry (trumpet), John Tchicai (alto sax), and Roswell Rudd (trumpet).
NEW YORK EYE AND EAR CONTROL is not the most soothing record ever made. But there are moments, when all four horns lock into a theme as the bass and drums play off each other, when the results are remarkable. One can't help but wonder what this sextet would have evolved into had it made more than one recording.