The Copenhagen Tapes
Ayler Records, aylCD-033
JazzNet, DK
By: Henrik Kaldahl
Denne cd samler 2 optagelser med Albert Ayler foretaget i København i 1964. En live optagelse fra Club Monmatre den 3. September (6 numre) og en studie optagelse foretaget af Danmarks Radio den 10. September (4 numre). Gruppen sat sammen til disse lejligheder bestod af Albert Ayler på tenorsax, Don Cherry på trompet, Gary Peacock på bas og Sunny Murray på trommer. At Ayler Records har fået rettighederne til at udgive disse optagelser (med tilladelse fra Albert Ayler estate) må siges at være noget af et scoop. Pladen består af 3 udgaver af "Spirits", to udgaver af "Saints", to udgaver af "Vibrations", "Mothers" og "Children". Jeg holder utrolig meget af Ayler, Murray og Peacock og at de har fået Don Cherry med på disse optagelser gør bare det hele endnu bedre. Denne plade er nok ikke den første man skal gå ud og købe hvis man er nybegynder til Ayler's musik, men for alle os andre der allerede kender ham er denne cd en yderst kærkommen tilføjelse til samlingen.
One Final Note
By: Jay Collins
Albert Ayler has seemingly struck many as a furious, combative tenor saxophonist whose gritty R&B leanings further emphasized his fire and perhaps, anger. As Dan Warburton's cogent liner notes to this archival release proffer, Ayler's art is about passion, yes, but the kind of passion that suggests joy, celebration and even love. Indeed, this aspect of Ayler's music seems easily glossed over by writers, fans and others, but that happenstance is unfortunate. As demonstrated on these live and radio performances from September 1964, Ayler's group vision and his own playing favor intense, fiery gestalts, but to say that the focus was solely on fury is simply missing the boat.
What is immediately apparent on these two dates—one an excitable live performance at Copenhagen's venerable Club Montmartre and the other, an in-studio date for Danish Radio—is that the addition of a foil with a contrasting approach, trumpeter Don Cherry, ignites Ayler's now-legendary trio. Cherry adds a fascinating and contrasting dimension in that while he certainly can hang with Ayler in terms of exhilarating energy, he also adds a sensitive, "jazzy" approach. Also of note is that Sunny Murray provides ample evidence of why he remains the godfather of free jazz drumming, with his constant flow of energy and color that either steers or ornaments the group's direction. Ditto bassist Gary Peacock, who is arguably the key to it all, with his biting pizzicato lines and tension-building arco musings.
As for the tracks, there are nine in all that touch on the "classic" Ayler road map: a brief thematic passage, involved improvised interplay and then a theme restatement (not unlike the boppers). The live session is sequenced first, a set that fully captures the raw essence of the group. Beginning and ending with his theme song "Spirits", with its call and response between the horns working against the rumbling bass and freestyle drumming, Ayler is able to summon emotion from deep within, particularly during the explosive final sections. "Vibrations" is Peacock's track, a looser foundation with a vibe perhaps suggesting the title's metaphor for the vibrations of the earth, capturing a mutable and shifting terrain. The bassist astounds with his technique and his ability to be right in front with these gregarious types. Another highlight is "Mothers", an emotional ode that shows Ayler coming right from the church, testifying to the congregation with a mammoth sound that can be heard through the rafters.
The studio session covers similar ground and even includes a brief interview. The sound is a tad clearer and the group seems paradoxically less restrained than on the live session. Of particular note is the incredibly moving version of "Saints" that typifies this group in action, worthy for Cherry's silvery interjections that wrap around Ayler's husky hues, as Peacock's bow hums and quivers, all to the ebb and flow of Murray's dancing cymbals.
Released officially for the first time after almost forty years in the vaults, this is the sort of mission-fulfilling document that hopefully will be the sign of more archival Ayler Records releases to come. Certainly, while listeners unfamiliar with Ayler's music should probably seek out his ESP-Disk dates first, The Copenhagen Tapes is a momentous offering.
Jazz Weekly
By: Ken Waxman
Almost 33 years after his death in New York's East River, an apparent suicide, the stature of tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler as a major musical force keeps growing. His redefinition of horn playing away from empty technique and towards emotional vulnerability, and his insistence on articulating simple themes that easily became vehicles for improvisation, has been acknowledged by everyone short of the most reactionary jazz neo-con.
Today with indie rock stars looking for street creed and exploratory contemporary classical composers joining jazzers in placing the saxophonist in the pantheon that includes Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, it seems that his influence is everywhere. Some commentators even call this musical time the Post-Ayler epoch.
With a recording career that almost exactly paralleled in brevity that of cornettist Bix Biederbecke, another innovator with a truncated career, most of Ayler's work has been issued and reissued many times. Yet these exceptional 10 tracks are for many new discoveries. Not 1964's justly celebrated studio session issued on various labels, these more than 68 minutes of prime Ayler come from earlier live and studio dates recorded during that same trip to Copenhagen.
Exhibiting the saxophonist's superhighway-wide vibrato and unique sense of timing and intonation, the tunes also feature Ayler's most cohesive rhythm section and an exceptional front line partner. Drummer Sunny Murray, who would go on to play with avant-garde ensembles of varying quality in the following decades, had already codified his unique metric sense here. Sloppy as the sound of trash men tossing garbage can lids -- and a perfect foil for the saxophonist's extended glossolalia -- precise as microsurgery elsewhere, Murray may not emphasize the beat like a bopper, but his rolls and sudden flames definitely keeps the tunes moving. Bassist Gary Peacock's trajectory started with the likes of flutist Bud Shank and pianist Bill Evans before this and appears to have reached its zenith with his present fame as one-third of pianist Keith Jarrett's standards trio. He was actually no more experimental with Ayler than with his other employers. Yet his burnished arco slides and solid pizzicato timekeeping made a perfect foil to Murray's percussion explorations.
Over and above all this is the presence of trumpeter Don Cherry, probably the most cohesive and erudite brass man who ever worked with the saxophonist. Anomalous when compared to the style of the saxophonist's most consistent playing partner, his brother, trumpeter Don Ayler, Cherry's scope is far different. In truth, Don Ayler was for all intents and purposes an apprentice, transferring Albert Ayler concepts to the valve instrument; Cherry was a mature stylist on his own.
He was already an apprentice hard bopper who had converted to the new thing when he met Coleman. From that point on, the trumpeter showed then, and in his later creation of a variant of nascent so-called world music, that he was easily able to mix the brassy showiness and rhythmic intensity of pre-free jazz soloists with a propitious inquisitiveness. By 1964 Cherry had not only played alongside Coleman for years in that saxophonist's most significant combo, but also worked with both Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Thus, throughout the disc, rather than guiding a proselyte, Ayler faces a foil that can match his intensity and emotion every step of the way. Furthermore the trumpeter's capricious sincerity gives these mostly familiar tunes an added fillip and adds an astringent condiment to the saxophonist's sometime mawkish, over-the-top presentation.
Recorded at Copenhagen's Café Montmarte and a Danish radio studio, the CD includes announcements and asides by Ayler, an explanation of and introduction of the music and musicians by a local announcer and a brief, biographical statement by the saxophonist. He says that he had wanted to go to Scandinavia for some time because --"over here I feel quite free." Subsequent performances would suggest that much of his freest playing was indeed done in Europe.
Lax in naming his compositions, this session features versions of tunes like "Saints." "Mothers," "Vibrations" and "Mothers," which may or may not have been record under those names later on. There are multiple versions of some of the titles here as well. Yet Ayler was proof of drummer Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians: "we never play anything the same way once."
Ayler fans and anyone interested in a well-recorded document of one of jazz's justified legends would be wise to pick up this disc.
Where Y'At Magazine.
By Roy Cambre
Tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler stands among a short list of important, bright-burning American musical figures - Robert Johnson, Eric Dolphy, Jimi Hendrix, D. Boon, Clifford Brown, Booker Little, Kurt Cobain, et. al. - who unfortunately died far too young. When Ayler's body was found floating in New York's East River in 1970, it ended the career of one of jazz's great visionaries at the early age of 34. No mere stylist or technical innovator, Ayler took a great leap, as only true iconoclasts do, into his own musical world and created a body of work that remains unequaled. Ostensibly you would categorize Ayler's music as free jazz, and indeed he was one of the great avatars of the genre, but his music is so personal and singular that it transcends the easy definers of category or style. His was a music simultaneously more advanced and more elemental than any of the prevailing movements in the jazz of the day. The roaring overtones, sonic density and free time of his music were all avant-garde, but the folksy themes, simple harmonies and gospel-ized inflection were strictly old-world - earthy, raw, drippingly human. He reached back before the blues to early marching band music and on forward to uncharted oceans of sound. Very few have dared to draw from such disparate realms, and fewer have succeeded in creating such enduring music.
This CD of previously-unreleased material from Ayler's 1964 European tour with the best band he ever had - Don Cherry on trumpet, Gary Peacock on bass, and Sunny Murray on drums - is nothing short of amazing. The material comes from two performances on the same tour that yielded the classics Vibrations and The Hilversum Session, but from different concerts. Nearly half is from a Danish radio broadcast, so the sound quality is terrific, and the band is in outrageously strong form, clearly enjoying the good treatment of their European hosts. Albert's impassioned playing is just tremendous - huge saxophone sound, intense concentration even during the music's wildest flights - and the accompaniment of his collaborators is so sympathetic and supportive that he's never sounded better. Peacock and Murray sensitively pace their pulsating waves so the sound-field is ever-shifting, never becoming blurred or mono-dynamic; and Cherry's theme statements and solos capture that perfect combination of brassy adventure and ragged glory that made him the Archangel Gabriel of creative music.
Swedish label Ayler Records do their namesake proud by presenting this music with the respect it deserves. Great sound, erudite liner notes from Dan Warburton, and a lovely photo of the band burning on stage during the tour complete a package that is absolutely worth every penny. We review a lot of CD's here, and there are many I enjoy and recommend, but only a handful that I would specifically urge you to buy. This is one.
Orlando Weekly Music
By: Jason Ferguson
Much like many other American musicians in the mid-'60s, Albert Ayler wound up a creative expatriate in Europe, where audiences welcomed the shockingly intense sounds of the nascent "free jazz" scene.
That Ayler essentially created his own sound while living in Europe -- rather than birthing it in New York and exporting it like many of his compatriots -- meant that during his short life, Europe would be much like a second home to him.
Much of Ayler's prime quartet work in Europe has already been released, yet these two performances from September 1964 are truly revelatory.
This was Ayler's first trip back to Europe after resettling in the United States, and by this point, he had become much more of an infamous player, emboldening the quartet (Ayler, along with Don Cherry, Sunny Murray and Gary Peacock) to deliver some of the freest and best work from their time together.
Sessions from this same trip yielded the groundbreaking Ghosts album, and much of that same material gets a unique airing here, making this disc an essential addition to any Ayler-phile's collection.
All About Jazz - Italy
By: Vittorio Lo Conte
Valutazione: * * * * *
L´ascolto del quartetto di Albert Ayler con Don Cherry è una di quelle sperienze che suscita ancora emozioni fortissime. Queste incisioni, che risalgono al 1964, non possono lasciare indifferenti.
In quei lontani anni Ayler era in giro per l`Europa, suonando nei club della Scandinavia. Più o meno nello stesso periodo, si era nel 1962, il trio di Cecil Taylor, con Jimmy Lyons e Sunny Murray (forse è d`obbligo citare il loro doppio album Nefertiti, di recente ristampato su CD) girava per gli stessi locali.
Sunny Murray lo incontrò una sera in un club. Ayler stava suonando del rhythm `n blues ed era molto interessato alla musica tradizionale svedese. Sembra quasi assurdo che classici del free, come le composizioni presenti su questo CD, abbiano origine in brani popolari europei.
A detta di Bengt Frippe Nordström, che aveva registrato spesso Ayler, questi aveva girato in lungo e in largo la Scandinavia con musicisti locali suonando brani di origine popolare come "Tôrpavisan", da cui avrebbe poi preso lo spunto per il suo "Ghost" [il confronto può essere fatto ascoltando la canzone svedese su http://w1.591.telia.com/~u59102780/ctextomusik.html#Tôrpavisan].
Ad Ayler e Murray si aggiunsero Gary Peacock e Don Cherry. Vibrations e The Hilversum Session sono due classiche incisioni del free, a cui adesso si aggiungono questi brani riscoperti dalla Ayler Records. I primi sei sono stati registrati live al Club Montmartre di Copenhagen, gli ultimi tre una settimana dopo per la radio di stato danese. La musica proposta non ha bisongo di descrizioni, la si ama o no, facendosi guidare dal proprio istinto e dai propri sentimenti. "Albert Ayler`s playing, as this recording shows, was not about anger, but about passion, about love", scrive Dan Walburton nelle note di copertina.
Eric Dolphy era scomparso poco prima di queste incisioni. A detta di Sunny Murray avrebbe voluto unirsi a questo quartetto. Chissà, forse avrebbero avuto difficoltà a farsi ascoltare in giro, l´ignoranza, nel senso letterale di ignorare, è stato uno dei problemi, fra i tanti, con cui un genio come Dolphy ebbe a combattere. E non è che oggi vada meglio, ma questo è un argomento che va oltre i limiti di questa recensione.
Da aggiungere alle altre pietre miliari dell`era free.
Signal To Noise, spring issue, 2003
By: James Beaudreau
It's been over thirty years since Albert Ayler's death, and still his legend grows.
It's taken a quarter century for the world to catch up with Ayler. It's a blessing that we have his recordings to ponder, and that there is more material continuing to surface - it would be a loss to us indeed to have to imagine such a sound as he made, as we have to imagine of, say Buddy Bolden.
These recordings close to the beginning of his career, cut a beautiful portrait of the great saxophonist at his best, and do much to explain the power of his legend.
"The Copenhagen Tapes" is compilation of two separate previously unreleased recording sessions in September 1964 - at the Club Montmartre on the third, and in a Danish Radio Studio on the tenth.
For orientation, consider that this is two months after the recording of Ayler's undisputed classic, "Spiritual Unity", with the same partners - Sunny Murray on drums and Gary Peacock on bass - but in September they added the brilliant Don Cherry on trumpet.
These recordings have never before been released. Both are in excellent fidelity, and show the band playing with great empathy. Cherry is particularly revelatory - he had played the perfect foil for Ornette for years, and here he does the same with Ayler, shadowing his moves, yet remaining utterly centered within himself.
At 70 minutes, "The Copenhagen Tapes" offers a beautifully detailed look at Ayler's most famous group.
Sunday Herald
By: Albert Flair
* * * * *
It's been a great year for fans of the late saxophonist Albert Ayler. Both the live 1966 set, Lšrrach/Paris and his last ever show, Nuits De La Fondation Maeght were reissued on CD. And now two previously unreleased sessions recorded by the quartet of Ayler, Don Cherry, Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray in Denmark in 1964 have been released.
Scandinavia was an imp-ortant stopover for Ayler. He first exploded onto the map, sitting in with pianist Cecil Taylor's trio and recording a pair of albums with local musicians in 1962.
As Ayler states in an interview on The Copenhagen Tapes: 'When I come over here I feel quite free, really free.'
The performances here are proof of that, with the quartet blasting off via wheezy, strangulated takes on melodies drawn from Ayler's pool of knowledge, before abandoning any sense of tonal fidelity in a series of gulping, rough-throated improvisations all made explicable via the saxophonist's desire to ring emotional nuance from every note.
Cherry is on quicksilver form, summoning globular shapes as he chases the arc of Ayler's lines with his trumpet. There's much morphing as Cherry adopts Ayler's raucous voice while Ayler plays close to Cherry, parallelling his phrases . Both bassist Peacock and drummer Murray are superb, an advanced rhythm section that dissolves feeble conceits like 'keeping time'.
It's an unexpected blast, a shot of just how emotionally engaging and articulate free jazz can be and further proof of Ayler's titanic standing.
www.jazztoma.com
By: José Francisco Tapiz
Ayler Records continúa con su labor de publicar música en directo y preferiblemente de free-jazz y música improvisada. Como undécima referencia, se hace presente más allá del nombre del sello, Albert Ayler.
Con el permiso de los gestores del legado de Ayler (Albert Ayler Estate) llega esta grabación con el cuarteto que grabaría "Vibrations" en fechas próximas a la de esta grabación: Don Cherry a la trompeta, Albert Ayler al saxo tenor, Gary Peacock al bajo y Sunny Murray a la batería. O lo que es lo mismo, uno de los cuartetos imprescindibles del "free-jazz".
En cuanto al material incluído en esta grabación nos encontramos con dos sesiones: seis temas en directo en el club Montmartre de Copenhague (45 minutos aproximadamente) y 3 temas (20 minutos) grabados al cabo de una semana en la Radio Danesa en Copenhague.
En cuanto a los temas en vivo recogen la excitación del directo y en general uno se encuentra al cuarteto en estado de gracia y mostrando la música de Albert Ayler en toda su crudeza, iniciando un camino que posteriormente ha sido y sigue siendo seguido en incontables ocasiones.
En definitiva, imprescindible grabación para los seguidores de Albert Ayler y más que recomendable para los que quieran escuchar un trozo de historia.
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The Jazz Review
By: Mark Keresman
The late Albert Ayler (he died in 1970) remains an enigma. From his mysterious death (he was found floating in NYC's East River - jumped, fell or pushed: unknown) to his towering, virtually mythic sonic presence, Ayler continues to confound, mystify and delight. He was something of an oddity in the context of the prevailing jazz hierarchy: unlike most "free" players, Ayler did not emerge from the bebop tradition - he was a tenor (and occasionally alto) saxophonist from Ohio who was inspired by R&B and the newly flowering (late 50s/early 60s) jazz avant-garde. His big, deep, wide sound on the horn was inspired by the depth of the blues and gospel, the direct simplicity of folk and gospel melodies and the "vocal" capabilities of the saxophone - Ayler strove for the most "vocal" sound possible, almost as if he were speaking in tongues like some seer/shaman who felt The Spirit enter him. David Murray, Peter Brotzmann and even rock & roll singer/poet Patti Smith count A.A. as an important influence/inspiration. (In a late 70s issue of the pop 'zine Hit Parader, Patti Smith contributed a poem dedicated to the man; she described him thus: "mysterious as a lily and just as perfect.")
The Copenhagen Tapes consists of two live quartet performances in Denmark, September 1964: one club date (at the legendary Montmartre) and one set for Danish Radio (the latter includes a brief interview w/ A.A.). While not immediately "accessible" to ears not weaned on "out" music, this disc captures the full flowering of the early/mid-1960s jazz. While maintaining a "forward" rhythmic impetus, "swing" in the usual sense is de-emphasized: the "rhythm section" plays on equal footing with the soloists, who themselves are less about "heads" and even "notes" and more about pure sound, a wild, unrestrained, very human sound. Gary Peacock, in particular, is amazing: his bass sound is nearly as "vocal" as Ayler's on the tenor and Don Cherry's on the trumpet. Looked at in the context of the time: as Jackson Pollock was/is to abstract painting, Ayler is/was to jazz. Although not recommended to those new to the avant garde/free thing, this set, with its crisp, vibrant sonic quality and nearly 70-min. running time, is unreservedly recommended to fans of Albert Ayler and those of his "offspring" Ken Vandermark, Hal Russell and Arthur Doyle.
All About Jazz
By: Derek Taylor
Albert Ayler's recorded legacy remains woefully scant, especially for a figure of his musical stature and reach. Coupled to this comparative paucity is the fact that the bulk of his recordings from live concert settings where the acoustics and engineering were often suspect. Prime culprits arose out of his iconoclastic reputation and the general stigma levied toward free jazz in the Sixties. 21st century listeners are the worse off for it. Fortunately further documents of his artistry do exist and it's only fitting that the label bearing his surname should serve as the conduit for their circulation to the masses.
Historically compelling recordings that register weakly on the listen ability scale occur all too often in jazz. It's an art form where fans are willing to overlook musical and audio shortcomings simply because of the rarity of what's at hand. These tapes from 1964 are welcome exceptions. Before transfer to CD, careful attention was paid to cleaning them up.
Peacock is particularly well preserved in the sonic strata, his strings sounding full and rotund through the spidery lattices of notes loosed by his flurried fingers. His adroit solo statement during the closing minutes of the first "Vibrations" is remarkably well captured, a nuanced study in precisely plucked strings and throbbing tone clusters.
Ayler's zigzagging phrases slice across the porous harmonic blanket supplied by bass and drums, while Cherry's punchy brass soars tartly above.
Murray carves out oblique pulse-driven beats that resolutely resist strict meter and refuse to be nailed down. The drummer's moans accompany the scurrilous horns on the ecstatically charged "Saints" and craft a ghostly vocal counterpoint. On "Mothers" Ayler pulls out his vibrato stops from the start, drenching the audience in a warm current of matriarchal pathos. Dropouts and slight hiss do arise, but they're relatively minor throughout the concert date.
The final three tracks offer a studio quality snapshot of the quartet, prefaced by illuminating spoken introductions from Ayler himself and a Danish radio announcer (translation available at the Ayler website). The trio of pieces is less raw than their live brethren, but the improvisatory energy on hand remains at a premium.
All in all they're a perfect capstone to a package destined to be deemed one of the finest issues of the year. Hell, make that the decade.
All About Jazz - NYC
By: Andrey Henkin
The Copenhagen Tape, released by the meaty Ayler Records (a label to be thanked for unearthing live Mike Osborne), was recorded in that fair city with the super group of Don Cherry on trumpet, Gary Peacock on bass and Sunny Murray on drums.
The liner notes indicate that had he not died just before, Dolphy may have joined the quartet at this show.
While it is fascinating to ruminate what this quintet would sound like, The Copenhagen Tapes offer enough compelling moments to be thankful that this new recording exists as is.
Ayler and company play all his chart-toppers from the ESP and other sessions. Cherry is an excellent foil for Ayler. His approach is the understated canvas upon which Ayler splashes his wild bursts of color.
The sound is clear without losing the slight echo of the Club Montmartre. Peacock’s bass playing especially comes through quite richly; his playing keeps the rhythm while floating just enough to either side of it to keep things interesting.
Sunny Murray, who has claimed to be the original proponent of free jazz drumming, contributes his typically staccato style.
The trio of Ayler, Peacock and Murray had logged a lot of time together and it shows in the tightness of the improvisations. And with a Cherry on top, The Copenhagen Tapes are a cheaper and longer alternative to the hard-to-find ESP sides.
Dagens Nyheter (SE)
January 17, 2003
By: Magnus Säll
He is like a horse that has kicked and pawed in the box for years in order to be free. And when he eventually does, the feeling of freedom is so strong that he almost pasts out.
Albert Ayler stands on the stage at Montmartre in Copenhagen in September 1964 and moves to the basic, all dead points be deleted.
Action playing which demands: everything at once!
The American poet Ted Joans saw Albert Ayler’s group arrive in Denmark: “Their sound was so different, so unique and raw, like to scream ‘FUCK’ in Sant Patric’s Cathedral during a sold out Easter service. ( … ) Some Danish answered with bad whistling, others screamed to the musicians to shut up. I sat chocked, intoxicated and surprised to what I experienced. Their music didn’t sound like anything I’ve heard before”.
He was not the only one who was hit. John Coltrane had heard Ayler earlier and tried to sound like him for many weeks, but he had to give up. John Coltrane’s last whish was that Ayler, together with Ornette Coleman, should play at his funeral.
This visit in Copenhagen was not Ayler’s first in Scandinavia. He came to Sweden in the beginning of the 60’s and about a year later he made his first recording thanks to Bengt “Frippe” Nordström. He played in Copenhagen together with the piano player Cecil Taylor. At that time he was unknown, a very margin person for most people.
When he returned in 1964 he was still controversial but, still, a musician with his own name and with a band of his own. The bop and the post-bop was side stepped and had to give up for the pain of the trough. New aesthetic for a new time.
But one was easily fouled: the music, which sounded revolutionary, had in reality deep roots.
Many of the most important names of the radical jazz had started in the New Orleans jazz or some other kind of black music.
Albert ayler for instance played with the blues player Little Walters’ tour band. He sad that “all music should have the roots at Louis Armstrong”.
In Ayler’s music one can hear the group improvisation from the New Orleans music, the ecstasy from the gospel music in the churches, the earthy of the blues.
And Swedish folk songs: in the sleeve notes to this CD it is claimed that Ayler’s “Ghost” is built on Gunde Johansson’s “Torparevisan”.
Beautiful “The Copenhagen Tapes” - released by the small, suitably named Ayler Records in Gusum - contains of formerly unreleased recordings from Ayler’s Copenhagen visit in September 1964: from one of the Montmarte concerts and from a radio recording the same week. There can also an interview by Ayler be heard (the voice is surprisingly soft and mild).
Action of culture is felt as an understatement in this case. The musicians are childish happy to be able to say their message. Listen to the poetry of Gary Peacocks bas, the inner rhythm in Sunny Murray’s at first glance broken-in-pieces drumming, the trembling butterfly tone form the trumpet player Don Cherry. And so Ayler: wide, untidy, snorting tenor saxophone directed direct to the sun. What naivety!
The resistance starts here. Place George Bush to a forced listening to “Vibrations” or “Mothers”, not even he could miss the message of love.
Västmanlands Länd Tidning (SE)
December 20 2002
Johan Lif
Jazzens historieskrivning är anekdotisk, omgiven av rykten och retorik. Färgstarka episoder, mer eller mindre fiktiva, ur de stora jazzmusikernas liv förväntas säga något om deras musik. Genikulten ersätter den materiella analysen och vi tvingas att tala om musiken på marknadsförarnas och mytmakarnas villkor.
Denna cd dokumenterar en konsert med tenorsaxofonisten Albert Ayler i Köpenhamn 1964.
Det är en inspelning som påminner oss om att vi saknar ett kritiskt språk för att tala om den fria jazz som uppstod på 60-talet. I stället för att skapa ett nytt använder vi ett gammalt och otillräckligt: biografins språk.
Få moderna jazzartister är lika mytomspunna som Ayler. Ända sedan hans kropp fiskades upp ur East River 1970 har vilda teorier om orsaken till hans död florerat. Där vissa har velat se en mordisk konspiration riktad mot radikala svarta artister (Hendrix hade dött bara någon månad tidigare, Coltrane tre år tidigare) har andra spekulerat om maffian och knarkaffärer och de svarta pantrarna.
I dag vet vi att det sannolikt var ett självmord, sprunget ur en spänd familjesituation. Men det spelar ingen roll. Mer fruktbart är att försöka beskriva Albert Aylers musik i all dess brådskande, bråkiga högintensitet. Också här saknas ett etablerat, fungerande språk. Det som en gång var reklamklyschor skapade av skivbolag för att sälja en produkt (fraser som "the new thing" och "avant-garde") har i dag blivit historisk sanning. Vi är oförmögna att förstå frijazzen som annat än forcerat framåtskridande.
Musikens historia är inte linjär. Den är inte en serie av alltmer avancerade konstnärliga uppfinningar genom en tom tidsrymd. Visst ville Albert Ayler framåt men hans musik sträckte sig också bakåt: mot blues och New Orleans, mot melodier enkla som barnvisor. Han inledde sin karriär som saxofonist i ett rhythm'n'blues-band, och det idiomet lämnade han egentligen aldrig. När han under några år i början av 1960-talet levde i Skandinavien turnerade han i svenska folkparker och spelade schlager - en av dessa, Gunde Johanssons Torparvisan, kan ha inspirerat Ayler till att skriva stycket Ghosts (tanken svindlar).
En estetisk primitivist? Nej, sådana beskrivningar är reduktionistiska och i förlängningen ofta rasistiska. Aylers melodier är bara utgångspunkter för improvisationer, och här försvinner all idyllisk naivism i ett tumult som är lika chockerande angeläget i dag som det var för 35 år sedan. Tonerna spelas vid bristningsgränsen, fraserna rusar omkring varandra, dras mot ett rytmiskt centrum som antyds men aldrig stabiliseras: taktslag far i väg som träflisor åt alla håll. Själva tonen är överväldigande - få saxofonister lyckades blåsa fram ett så massivt ljud som Albert Ayler - och rymmer oväntad ömsinthet likväl som berättigad aggressivitet.
För att förstå musiken räcker det inte med att mystifierande nonsens om "inre konstnärlig nödvändighet": det krävs en helhetsblick. Den frigörelse som hörs hos Albert Ayler är inte bara formell utan också politisk. Det var samma krafter som skapade denna musik som drev fram de stora Vietnamdemonstrationerna. Den svarta befrielsekampen ekar i varje ton. Det dissonanta tumultet avspeglar ett samhälle i snabb förändring samtidigt som det tycks mana till ännu snabbare rörelse: det kan låta skrämmande eller extatiskt, beroende på ens perspektiv.
I Europa bemöttes svarta jazzmusiker med större respekt än på hemmaplan; en jämförelsevis progressiv kulturpolitik medgav större konstnärlig frihet än snikna nattklubbsägares profitbegär. Albert Ayler gjorde sina första inspelningar i Sverige 1962 tack vare beundraren och outsidern Bengt "Frippe" Nordström. Hans svenska ackompanjatörer, två artiga jazzmusiker av den äldre skolan, hade svårt att hänga med. Ibland spelade han i Stockholms tunnelbana.
På denna cd framträder han med musiker av hans egen kaliber: trumpetaren Don Cherry, basisten Gary Peacock och trumslagaren Sunny Murray.
Det är lysande. Lyssna på inledningen på Vibrations: hur Aylers uppslitande saxofonskrik kompletteras av Cherrys betydligt mer lyriska trumpet, hur Murrays rytmiskt fria trumspel både skapar och tar utrymme. Improvisationerna är kollektiva och otåliga. Musikerna vill allt, med en gång. Frijazzen är i dag formaliserad. Musiker som David S Ware har gjort en identifierbar genre av 1960-talets landvinningar. Det är trevligt men inte omskakande.
Det som gjorde Albert Aylers musik engagerande skapades i dialektiskt samspel med yttervärlden och i kritisk dialog med traditionen. För att förstå det duger det inte med hjältedyrkan. Det krävs att man lyssnar.
Dia Pa Zon (PL)
By: Thomasz Sekowski
Bez wzgledu na to co napisze o Albercie Aylerze i jego muzyce ryzykuje, ze zabrzmi to jak paplanina idioty (jego muzyka wywiera bowiem na mnie tak silne wrazenie), badz dziennikarska stronniczosc. Najlepiej zatem bedzie powiedziec minimum tego, co niezbedne. I nie chce przy tym nikogo przekonywac do niczego, w zaden sposób.
Kopenhaga na poczatku lat 60. byla dla Aylera waznym miastem. W roku 1963 nagral wraz z miejscowymi muzykami plyte "My Name is Albert Ayler" (Black Lion). Z upodobaniem grywal wówczas z Cecilem Taylorem (nagrania te dotad sie nie ukazaly). Wreszcie we wrzesniu 1964 r. zagral koncerty w znanym klubie "Montmartre". Ówczesna formacja moglaby byc nazwana super kwartetem. Skladala sie z Aylera grajacego na tenorze, Dona Cherry'ego na trabce, Gary'ego Peacocka na basie oraz perkusisty Sunny'ego Murraya. "The Copenhagen Tapes" zawieraja zapis z koncertu, który odbyl sie 3 wrzesnia w "Montmartre" oraz nagrania ze studia Danish Radio, które powstalo tydzien pózniej.
Caly zarejestrowany material jest absolutnie zdumiewajacy, ale nagranie koncertowe zasluguje na szczególna uwage. Poziom energii, która wyzwolila ta wrzesniowa noc, byl nieporównywalny z niczym. Ayler byl jak tornado niszczace wszystko w zasiegu wzroku. Don Cherry czynil racjonalne próby, by dopasowac sie do majestatycznego szalu Aylera, glównie po to by zaznaczyc swoje wlasne miejsce. Ale nie byl to wówczas pojedynek równych sobie. Ayler królowal niepodzielnie. Choc grozna sekcja rytmiczna - Gary Peacock i Sunny Murray byla równie bezkonkurencyjna. Obaj muzycy zabierali nas w szalona podróz w nieznanych kierunkach, po to by potem wrócic do punktu wyjscia i dolaczyc do liderów.
Nie oszukujmy sie. To byla uduchowiona muzyka. Ayler nie wyrazal gniewu poprzez swoja muzyke. Jego dzwieki byly pelne radosci, nadziei, poczucia zbawienia. Nazywajcie to jak chcecie. Muzyka ducha. Dzwiekowa droga do rewolucji. Byl tylko jeden Albert, a "The Copenhagen Tapes" staly sie jego niemal ostatecznym powodem do chwaly.
Hallandsposten (SE)
By: Thore Rösnäs
Albert Ayler (1936-70) är, inte minst i Sverige, en ikon för frijazzen, och han har dessutom fått ge namn åt ett litet våghalsigt svenskt skivbolag: Ayler Records. Det var f ö också i Sverige Ayler gjorde sina första skivinspelningar, vilka ordnades av Bengt Frippe Nordström.
Nu kommer Ayler Records med en CD där Albert Ayler spelar tillsammans med Don Cherry på trumpet, samt Sunny Murray trummor och Gary Peacock bas.
Den innehåller musik från två tillfällen: en konsert på den legendariske jazzklubben Montmartre den 3 september 1964, och en inspelning för danska radion en vecka senare.
Det här är inte musik som man använder som huvudkudde utan snarare för att hålla sig vaken och alert. Och lyssnar man vaksamt finns det mycket att hämta i musiken där Don Cherrys vekare spel kontrasterar verkningsfull mot Albert Aylers våldsamhet i uttrycket. Kompet med den frenetiskt pådrivande Murray och Peacock ofta klangsköna basspel ger en effektiv och trygg grund för gruppens anfall.
Det här var en tid när det gällde att förgöra regler och riva gränser.
Radioinspelningarnas bättre inspelningskvalitet ger en bättre bild av samspelet och de enskilda instrumenten. Och genom att radioinspelningen innehåller tre "låtar" som också finns med på konserten får man en demonstration av att den fria improvisationen framför allt handlar om ögonblickets ingivelse.
New Jazz Improv
By: Hernani Faustino
O eterno saxofonista Albert Ayler (ressuscitou) no final de 2002. A pequena editora sueca Ayler Records, conseguiu negociar com os familiares do saxofonista a edição de uma gravação realizada na Dinamarca em 1964, com um dos mais importantes e fundamentais quartetos de free jazz. A magnitude explosiva do free jazz, uma verdadeira revolução, com os criadores genuínos que romperam com a tradição.
The Copenhagen Tapes é constituído por duas sessões, a primeira um registo de um concerto no Club Montmartre, e a segunda uma sessão gravada para a rádio dinamarquesa. Jazz resplandecente e com grande carga dramática, aliás a espiritualidade no jazz apenas adquiriu uma verdadeira e genuína essência nas vozes de John Coltrane e Albert Ayler, bem como uma força impressionante e por vezes caótica, mas com uma expressão revolucionária única.
Albert Ayler lives!