ALBERT AYLER LIVE IN EUROPE 1964 - 1966

Tracks

1.   Mothers                                         (7:39)

2.   Children                                         (8:05)

3.   Holy Spirits                                   (8:13)    (actually Vibrations)

Personnel

Albert Ayler   (tenor saxophone)

Don Cherry   (trumpet)

Gary Peacock   (bass)

Sunny Murray   (drums)

Recording Details

September 3, 1964
(The recording date given is November 5th. 1964, but these three tracks are taken from the September 3rd session, released in 2002 as The Copenhagen Tapes by Ayler Records.)

Club Montmartre, Copenhagen

Tracks

4.   Our Prayer                                     (4:24)

5.   Ghosts / Bells                               (11:11)

6.   Truth Is Marching In                    (7:06)

7.   Omega                                            (3:40)

(Track 4 by Donald Ayler. The rest by Albert Ayler)

Personnel

Albert Ayler   (tenor saxophone)

Donald Ayler   (trumpet)

Michel Samson (violin)

Bill Folwell (bass)

Beaver Harris (drums)

Recording Details

November 3, 1966

Berlin Jazz Festival

Release Details

All tracks released as Albert Ayler Live In Europe 1964 - 1966 on Landscape (France) LS2-902  and Landscape 902 (CD).
Tracks 1-3. 5-7 released as Albert Ayler on Philology (Italy) W 88.
Tracks 4-7 released as The Berlin Concerts - 1966  on Relyable (Italy) 001.

[Tracks 1-3 included in the 2002 release of The Copenhagen Tapes  on Ayler Records (Sweden) aylCD-033.
All tracks included in the 2004 release of HOLY GHOST: rare & unissued recordings (1962 - 70) 9 CD Spirit Box on Revenant Records RVN 213.]

(This release in its various forms has probably caused the most confusion in the whole of Ayler’s discography. The November 5th date for the 1964 tracks has always been accepted and even the sleevenotes of The Copenhagen Tapes refers to it. However there’s no doubt the three tracks were recorded on September 3rd. And despite the usual confusion with Ayler’s titles - ‘Holy Spirits’ is ‘Vibrations’ because the version on The Copenhagen Tapes includes Ayler’s introduction.

The Philology LP was originally given away free with the Italian  ‘Musica Jazz’ magazine and was not distributed in the normal fashion. The Relyable LP has the four tracks from the 1966 Berlin concert on Side 1. On Side 2 three of the same tracks (5-7) are repeated in doctored versions. All the tracks are mistitled. Relyable was an Italian bootleg label and this was their only release (under this name). Francesco Martinelli has provided the following breakdown of the Berlin tracks:

“The original tape used for all the issues of these recordings, three Lps (Relyable 551, Philology 88, Landscape 902) and one CD (Landscape 902) documents 4 pieces played in Berlin (we don’t know if this is Ayler group’s set in its integrity, or in the correct order). All the rest are variations on title/durations. This is the correspondence table, ordered like the Landscape CD issue for ease of reference:

Original Tape                         Philology                               Relyable (durations from cover)
                                                                                             Side 1                      Side 2

Our Prayer  4:32                             -                                       Omega  4:32
Ghosts - Bells  11:00                Ghosts - Bells  11:28               Our Prayer  11:00       Ghosts  13:25
Truth is Marching In  7:00          Truth is Marching In  7:20         Alpha  7:00                Bells 6:15
Omega  3:45                            Omega  3:49                           A. C.  3:45                Jesus  5:45

The duration on the cover for “Jesus ” is wrong - in reality it’s 4:20 because of 0:40 at the beginning of tuning up. Our Prayer was not issued on the Philology Lp and called Omega on the Relyable. Relyable gives the title Ghosts or Our Prayer to the track labeled, on the Philology issue, Ghosts-Bells. This is in fact a combination of the two themes with more materials inserted so I think the title makes sense.The first side of Relyable has a better sound but some crude editing, and in the last piece (titled Our Prayer) there’s a huge cut in the violin solo. The second has a muddier sound but more space is left around the tracks. It is possible to hear the group tune-up and the applause. To identify the correct titles comparisons were carried out with the Live in Greenwich Village - The Complete Impulse Recordings and Love Cry. My identification confirms the titles used on the Landscape issue.”

[Back cover of Philology W 88]

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