Originally released 1965
Reissued 2015
ESP-DISK
1xLP
File Spiritual Unity under the category of 'Jazz That You Can't Use To Introduce Someone To Jazz.' There is nothing approachable about Spiritual Unity. It is not an album you throw on at a dinner party, or while playing Mario Kart. You cannot read to it. You can't drink coffee to it, unless there is something exceedingly strong in your coffee. It is not #coffeemusic. We're not doing a great job pitching it, we know. Spiritual Unity, like the majority of the free jazz subgenre Ayler fathered, is meant to challenge the listener. There's music in there, some of it utterly captivating, if not traditionally pretty. It's unlike almost anything else out there, brave and bombastic and truly uncompromising. And rewarding, if you can manage it.