condition (record/cover): NM / NM
Albert Ayler's first album under his own name, cut in Copenhagen in early 1963 for the Debut label with a Danish rhythm section that had no idea what was about to hit them. And really, how could they? Ayler takes "Summertime", "Bye Bye Blackbird" and other standard material and pulls them apart from the inside - the vibrato already enormous, the phrasing already completely his own, the vision fully formed before anyone in New York knew his name. Listen to "Summertime" and try to stay unmoved. Impossible. This is the sound of a man politely saying goodbye to the tradition while embracing it harder than anyone. Where it all begins, and a record every serious Ayler shelf is built on. Fantasy pressing of the original Debut session.