Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe is a 1969 studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Albert Ayler

Albert Ayler

Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...

, written by Ayler's partner, Mary Maria Parks. This was Ayler's last album recorded before his presumed suicide in November 1970. Ayler suffered from depression, and the music on this album reflects his tortured mental state.

Track listing

1. "Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe" – 8:41
2. "Masonic Inborn, Pt. 1" – 12:11
3. "A Man Is Like a Tree" – 4:35
4. "Oh! Love of Life" – 3:50
5. "Island Harvest" – 5:04
6. "Drudgery" (James Folwell, Parks, Henry Vestine
   Henry Vestine
   Henry Charles Vestine a.k.a. "The Sunflower", was an American guitar player known mainly as a member of the band Canned Heat. He was with the group from its start in 1966 to July 1969...
   
   ) – 8:08

All music and lyrics written by Mary Maria Parks, except where noted.

Performance

• Albert Ayler
  Albert Ayler
  Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
  
   - tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
  , bagpipes
  Bagpipes
  Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
  
  , vocal
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Mary Maria Parks - vocal
• Henry Vestine
  Henry Vestine
  Henry Charles Vestine a.k.a. "The Sunflower", was an American guitar player known mainly as a member of the band Canned Heat. He was with the group from its start in 1966 to July 1969...
  
   - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Bobby Few
  Bobby Few
  Bobby Few is an American jazz pianist.Few was raised in Shaker Heights, a neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and studied classical piano. He knew Albert Ayler as a youth, and the pair studied jazz and played together in high school...
  
   - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  
• Stafford James
  Stafford James
  -Biography:As a young man, Stafford James enlisted in the Air Force; after his discharge he studied at the University of Chicago with Rudolf Fahsbender. In 1969 he moved to New York City and studied under Julius Levine at the Mannes College for Music. Here he met Pharaoh Sanders, with whom he...
  
  
• James Folwell - electric fender bass
• Muhammad Ali - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....