(From Down Beat Vol. 34, No. 16, August 10, 1967)

THE UNDISGUISED NEW THING was represented solely by the Albert Ayler quintet. The leader, playing both tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones, is an original—there can be no doubt that he plays the way he does because he feels it.
          The group sounded at times like a Salvation Army band on LSD, with Michel Sampson’s expert, sophisticated, wholly non-jazz fiddling adding a diabolical note. They closed the Friday night show with a set unusually succinct and varied (in terms of selections played, at least) for an avant-garde group. Sincerity, alas, has never yet sufficed to make notable art.

(extract from a review of the Newport Jazz Festival by
DAN MORGENSTERN and IRA GITLER)

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