THE COPENHAGEN TAPES

Tracks

1.   Spirits                  (9:40)

2.   Vibrations           (8:14)

3.   Saints                  (9:09)

4.   Mothers              (7:53)

5.   Children             (8:39)

6.   Spirits                 (1:24)

7.   Introduction      (3:24)

8.   Vibrations          (7:42)

9.   Saints                 (7:05)

10. Spirits                (4:55)

(All compositions by Albert Ayler)

Personnel

Albert Ayler   (tenor saxophone)

Don Cherry   (trumpet)

Gary Peacock   (bass)

Sunny Murray   (drums)

Recording Details

Tracks 1 to 6:

September 3, 1964

Club Montmartre, Copenhagen

Tracks 7 to 10:

September 10, 1964

Danish radio studio, Copenhagen

Release Details

Released (in 2002) as The Copenhagen Tapes on Ayler Records (Sweden) aylCD-033.

[Tracks 2, 4 and 5 previously released on Albert Ayler (Philology W 88) and Albert Ayler Live In Europe 1964 - 1966  (Landscape LS2-902, Landscape 902 (CD).
Tracks 1-6 included in the 2004 release of HOLY GHOST: rare & unissued recordings (1962 - 70) 9 CD Spirit Box on Revenant Records RVN 213.]

From the website of Ayler Records

“Track # 7 Introduction by Börje Roger Henrichsen. After Albert Ayler's speech, Börje Roger Henrichsen says:

     ‘This is how saxophonist Albert Ayler introduced himself. As jazz listeners know, Albert Ayler was in Denmark during Cecil Taylor's period, but this time he's the leading figure in a free jazz group. He's playing tonight in a radio studio. We also hear trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Sunny Murray and bassist Gary Peacock.
     Much has been written about these musicians and their music. I've been listening to Ayler's new record and it's the most "out" I've ever heard - it's thrilling and sounds as if they're all playing like madmen - and it's great. You get an impression of cacophony with this almost frightening expressionist playing. They roar and scream. Nobody ought to doubt that Ayler knows his instrument backwards, but there are, in fact, people, considered as intelligent, who seriously claim Albert Ayler and his drummer can't play. The tremendous, intuitively gifted drummer Sunny Murray is more restrained here than he was on his last visit to Copenhagen. In the Montmartre broadcast Gary Peacock plays with great feeling but unfortunately the acoustic conditions don't allow him to be heard properly. Here in the radio studio those balance problems are solved, and this broadcast reveals the group's true sound.
     The musicians say little about their music. Albert Ayler says: "My music is spiritual music," and Gary Peacock says "This isn't music for a specific purpose - for instance to listen or dance to - it just IS".
     Here it is then, in three helpings. First "Vibrations".’"

***

(For some reviews of The Copenhagen Tapes on the Ayler Records site, click here.)

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