Two life long Albert Ayler enthusiasts – Bill Smith and Brian Case – remember the legendary, lost tenorman. This feature first appeared in The Wire 3 (Spring 1983).

In response to The Wire's two previous Albert Ayler pieces (in The Wire 3), Mike Hames reveals the true circumstances of the saxophonist's death, and reassesses his controversial experiments with soul, R&B, and gospel music. This article originally appeared in The Wire 6 (March 1984).