Albert Ayler’s violent alchemy of Africa and Europe imbues ‘Copenhagen Live 1964’ with historical importance because more than fifty years hence, these ideas put into practice sound as radical today as they did back then.

The first jazz record released by the just-beginning ESP-Disk record company, ‘Spiritual Unity’ quickly put this tiny label on the map, as well as thrust Ayler to the forefront of the free jazz movement when it was released more than a year later. Even then, this record was well ahead of the frontier of jazz and remains so today.

It’s about more than mere individuals playing well, and this performance brings real meaning to the words “spiritual unity.”