Recording history and tape provenance
Stollman has described first hearing Ayler at the Baby Grand Café on 125th Street in Harlem, during a Sunday afternoon set by Elmo Hope's trio. Ayler climbed onto the stage uninvited and played. Hope's group stopped to listen.
Stollman approached him afterwards, said he was starting a label and asked him to be its first artist. Ayler agreed but had a prior commitment until the following spring. He called that June.
The session took place in a small Latin-music studio off Broadway. Peacock had recently been playing with Paul Bley and had recorded with Bill Evans. Murray had played with Ayler in Cecil Taylor's group.
Peacock and Murray do not accompany Ayler in the conventional sense. Murray's playing is cymbal-heavy and abandons a steady pulse, and Peacock's bass lines are freely melodic rather than time-keeping.
The substituted "Spirits" track
ESP-Disk's own description of the 50th Anniversary Expanded Edition is on Bandcamp. It states that a different performance was briefly and accidentally substituted for "Spirits" on an early vinyl edition.
That substituted track is the tune issued as "Vibrations" on the Arista/Freedom album of that name, and as "Ghosts" on Debut. It comes from a different Ayler session, so it is not an alternate take of the same performance.
ESP-Disk corrected the error on later editions. The 50th Anniversary reissue includes the substituted performance as a bonus track so both appear together. A detailed Discogs contributor comment on the master page sets out which pressings carry which take.
Anyone who wants the 1964 session as recorded should check which "Spirits" a copy contains before buying.
Original ESP-Disk pressings (1965)
ESP 1002 in mono is the first pressing. It has a deep groove on side A, a Plastylite "ear" in the dead wax and an "sf" lacquer credit for Bell Sound. The front cover carries no catalogue number or ESP address, which appear only on the label. Early copies included a booklet.
A stereo pressing carries ESPS 1002 in the runouts, also with Plastylite ears. Stollman's own account of the session appears in dealer listings of the reissue. He learned afterwards that it had been recorded in mono, despite his request for stereo. An ESPS-labelled copy is therefore a label variant rather than a separate mix.
ESP-Disk's production standards in this period were low-budget, so condition varies more than usual between copies.
European pressings
Base Record in Italy issued the album with the packaging and labels disagreeing with each other. The sleeve reads "monaural" and catalogue 1002, while the labels read "stereo" and ESPS 1002. An owner calls it badly pressed and of dubious legality. A second Base Record variant differs in label printing.
The Italian Get Back reissue is a 180g pressing whose sleeve notes say the artwork follows the original ESP edition. Owner comments report skipping on clean-looking copies and an audible tone partway through "Ghosts" on side B.
Current ESP-Disk repress
ESP-Disk has kept the album in print on 180g virgin vinyl with the original artwork restored, catalogued ESPDISK 1002LP. Dealer listings track repressings in 2018, 2021 and 2024, all pressed in the United States.
Discogs does not separate these repressings by year, so the master page is the reference for them. Forced Exposure states which repress is currently in stock.
No mastering engineer is credited for these repressings, and no published comparison with an original has been found. They are the simplest way to own the album without navigating the vintage European editions.
Buyer's guide by budget
$$: The current ESP-Disk repress, in print and straightforward.
$$$$: A clean ESP 1002 mono original, priced on condition, with the correct "Spirits" confirmed.
Pressing tier summary
| Tier ⇅ | Pressing | Cat# | Year ⇅ | Format | Source / Mastering | Notes | Market ⇅ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | ESP-Disk original | ESP 1002 | 1965 | Mono, 33⅓ | ESP-Disk lacquer, cut at Bell Sound. Pressed by Plastylite | First pressing. Deep groove side A, Plastylite "ear" | $1,585VG+ $2,072NM $2,316M |
| B | Current ESP-Disk repress | ESPDISK 1002LP | 2018, 2021 and 2024 repressings | 33⅓, 180g | Not credited | Original artwork restored. In print. No separate Discogs release for the repressings | – |
| C | Get Back (Italy) | – | – | 33⅓, 180g | Not credited | Owner reports of skipping and an audible tone on side B | $34VG+ $45NM $50M |
| D | Base Record (Italy) | ESPS 1002 | – | Labelled stereo, sleeve labelled monaural | Not credited | Sleeve and labels disagree. One owner calls it badly pressed and of dubious legality | $26VG+ $34NM $38M |
| – | ESP-Disk stereo-labelled pressing | ESPS 1002 | 1965 | 33⅓ | Pressed by Plastylite | Not rated. The session was recorded in mono, so this is a label variant | $47VG+ $62NM $69M |
References
- Discogs (master, all versions): https://www.discogs.com/master/39790
- Wikipedia, "Spiritual Unity": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_Unity
- ESP-Disk, Bandcamp, 50th Anniversary Expanded Edition: https://albertayler.bandcamp.com/album/spiritual-unity
- Forced Exposure, "Albert Ayler Trio: Spiritual Unity LP": https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/ayler-trio-albert-spiritual-unity-lp/ESPDISK.1002LP.html
- ESP-Disk, "The Albert Ayler Story: 50th Anniversary of 'Spiritual Unity,' Bernard Stollman Interview": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeJ5dagugj4