Astral Weeks is an album by Charles Mingus.
It is an unauthorized "bootleg" recorded live in Copenhagen, on April 14, 1964. during Mingus' European tour in that month. The performance was provided by a sextet of jazz musicians, led by bassist Charles Mingus, from the United States. It included:
- alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet: Eric Dolphy
- tenor saxophone: Clifford Jordan
- piano: Jaki Byard
- trumpet: Johnny Coles
- drums: Dannie Richmond
The music was originally released as a vinyl L.P. on the Moon label (mlp016-1) but the date of this first release is not well documented. This L.P. is now a very rare item. The work was re-released in 1990 as a compact disc, also on the Moon label (MCD 016-2). There may have been subsequent re-releases. Mingus' Astral Weeks contains only two tracks: "Fables of Faubus" and "Meditations", although the full performance of his group's music that day also included other compositions that are absent from the Moon releases.
How it came to pass that Mingus' Astral Weeks (recorded 1964) and Van Morrison's famous album Astral Weeks (recorded 1968) have the same title is a matter of speculation.
Famous quotes containing the word weeks:
“Erasing the failure of weeks with level fingers,
she sleeks the fine hair, combing: “You’ll look fine tomorrow!”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)