Named after saxophonist
Albert Ayler, the label was founded in Sweden in 2000 by Jan Ström and Åke Bjurhamn. The majority of Ayler's early releases were live recordings of European and American free jazz groups, many of them taped at the
Glenn Miller Café in Stockholm, where Ström helped to book musicians. In 2009, Ayler relocated to France, where it is managed by Stéphane Berland, who had joined the label in 2005, and who is now the sole overseer. Recent releases are, according to writer Nick Ostrum, "not really jazz or free jazz, though they all lay somewhere on the musical fringes," suggesting "interesting and unpredictable things to come," and reflecting a broadening of the label's catalogue. ==Cover art==