SQL 2014 AlwaysOn AG , Cluster Failover

Hi,

SQL 2014 Azure VMs.

Is Microsoft Cluster Failover a compulsory or Optional feature for setting up SQL 2014 AlwaysOn Availabilty Group with Listener?

We are planning to set up a 3 nodes SQL AlwaysOn Availability Group with Listener, with an Azure Load Balancer?

If Cluster Failover component is mandatory, does it require an Azure resource (with IP address)?, if yes what type of resource would that be?

How does this Cluster fail over come into play with sqlLoadbalancer and SQL AlwaysON AG? Is the cluster fail over and sqlLoadbalancer and SQL 2014 AlwaysOn AG listener inter-related to each other or cluster failover is totally independent?

thank you