Editing Albert Ayler (section)

==Artistry==
Ayler routinely showcased his highly untraditional personal saxophone style in very conventional musical contexts, including children's songs, march melodies, and gospel hymns.<ref name=Mandel /> However, Ayler's wild energy and intense improvisations transformed them into something nearly unrecognizable. Ayler took a deconstructive approach to his music, which was characteristic of the free jazz era. Phil Hardy says that Ayler "dismantled" melody and harmony to more deeply explore "the physical properties" of his saxophone.<ref>Hardy, 2001.</ref> Ayler wished to free himself and his bandmates to improvise, relate to one another, and relate to their instruments on a more raw, "primal" level.<ref name=Litweiler151>Litweiler, 1984, p. 151.</ref>

The intensely spiritual aspect of Ayler's music was clearly aligned with the beliefs of jazz saxophonist [[John Coltrane]], who was profoundly affected by the "otherworldly" sounds of Ayler's music. This effect is especially evident in Coltrane's albums ''[[Meditations (John Coltrane album)|Meditations]]'' and ''[[Stellar Regions]]''.<ref name=Whitehead /> (Coltrane served as a mentor throughout Ayler's life, providing financial and professional support.<ref>Woideck, 1998, p. 221.</ref>) This intensity, the extremes to which Ayler took his tenor saxophone, is the most defining aspect of his sound. His style is characterized by [[timbre]] variations, including squeaks, honks, and improvisation in very high and very low registers.<ref name=Shipton>Shipton, 2001, p. 795.</ref> He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved by using the stiff plastic Fibrecane no. 4 reeds<ref>{{Cite book | last=Wilmer|first=Val|author-link=Val Wilmer | title=As Serious as Your Life | publisher=Quartet | year=1977 | isbn=0-7043-3164-0|page=94}}</ref> on his [[tenor saxophone]]—and used a broad, pathos-filled [[vibrato]].<ref name=Litweiler151 />

Ayler experimented with [[microtonality]] in his improvisations, seeking to explore the sounds that fall between the notes in a traditional scale.<ref name=Shipton /> This technique was best showcased when he played, as he often did, without a piano, backed only by bass and drums. Ayler also resisted the standard swing beat, and instead built momentum through the frenetic speed of his improvisatory lines, which he forcefully overblew from his saxophone.<ref name=Litweiler152>Litweiler, 1984, p. 152.</ref>
Jazz historian [[Ted Gioia]] describes Ayler as a "virtuoso of the coarse and anomalous", and claims that Ayler aimed to break away from the constraints of playing notes and instead to "enter into a new realm in which the saxophone created "''sound''"."<ref>Gioia, 2011, p. 323.</ref>