As Oliver Nelson is known primarily as a big band leader and arranger, he is lesser known as a saxophonist and organizer of small ensembles. Blues and the Abstract Truth is his triumph as a musician for the aspects of not only defining the sound of an era with his all-time classic "Stolen Moments," but on this recording, assembling one of the most potent modern jazz sextets ever. Lead trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is at his peak of performance, while alto saxophonists Nelson and Eric Dolphy (Nelson doubling on tenor) team to form an unlikely union that was simmered to perfection. Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Roy Haynes (drums) can do no wrong as a rhythm section. "Stolen Moments" really needs no comments, as its undisputable beauty shines through in a three-part horn harmony fronting Hubbard's lead melody. It's a thing of beauty that is more timeless as the years pass. The "Blues" aspect is best heard on "Yearnin'," a stylish, swinging, and swaying downhearted piece that is a bluesy as Evans would ever be. Both "Blues" and "Abstract Truth" combine for the darker "Teenie's Blues," a feature for Nelson and Dolphy's alto saxes, Dolphy assertive in stepping forth with his distinctive, angular, dramatic, fractured, brittle voice that marks him a maverick. Then there's "Hoedown," which has always been the black sheep of this collection with its country flavor and stereo separated upper and lower horn in snappy call-and-response barking. As surging and searing hard boppers respectively, "Cascades" and "Butch & Butch" again remind you of the era of the early '60s when this music was king, and why Hubbard was so revered as a young master of the idiom. This CD is a must buy for all jazz collectors, and a Top Ten-Fifty favorite for many.

(by Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide)

Those who find Coltrane’s music challenging should give this cool gem a spin. It finds the saxophonist in a reposeful mood, offering fairly laidback late-night renditions of eight jazz standards, including Gene DePaul’s ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’. Ballads features the same musicians (Tyner, Garrison and Jones) that served up A Love Supreme, but the music is more reflective and less intense. Even so, it’s still a classic Coltrane opus dominated by a distinctive probing saxophone sound. If A Love Supreme is a step too far for those looking to buy John Coltrane for the first time, then Ballads is much more palatable.

(www.udiscovermusic.com)

Live at Newport was the first live recording McCoy Tyner led...According to Willis Conover's original liner notes, Tyner was worn out from playing Montreal the night before, and he was paired with three musicians he'd never played with before (trumpeter Clark Terry, alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano, and bassist Bob Cranshaw), two of who were using borrowed instruments. Given such chaotic circumstances, it's not surprising that the quintet (also featuring drummer Mickey Roker, a former colleague of Tyner's) chose to play two standards, plus Tyner's "Monk's Blues," Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'n' You," and the improvised opening jam, "Newport Romp." What is a surprise is that not only does the group hold together, but they excel. They sound empathetic, as if they've played many times before, yet there are enough sparks to signal that they're still unsure of what the other will play. The results are thoroughly compelling and unpredictable, even when it's just a Tyner showcase, like "Monk's Blues." Essentially a solo showcase with support from Cranshaw and Roker, Tyner really pushes on this number, beginning it as a Monk homage and pushing it to continually inventive territory. It's the riskiest playing on the record from Tyner, but just because Live at Newport isn't as risky as his work with Coltrane during the early '60s doesn't mean it's limp or complacent...accessible but stimulating, engaging and vibrant from beginning to end.

(S. Erlewine, allmusic.com)

The fact that pianist McCoy Tyner was dead tired when he was to lead a quintet that had never performed together before at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival is not apparent for a second on this excellent live set. The show almost didn't go on; Clark Terry had left his flugelhorn in somebody's car, but, luckily, he borrowed Bill Berry's trumpet. When the men hit the stage on that July afternoon, however, all problems seemed to float away in the summer air. In short, this is a dynamic performance that offers some of Tyner's best playing in the early stage of his career.

The sleep gets rubbed out of the eyes with the burning opener "Newport Romp," as Tyner and the rhythm section burn behind Terry and saxophonist Charlie Mariano. Shifting gears, a loping reading of the classic "My Funny Valentine" offers a taste of the elegant lyrical side of Tyner's style. The trio of Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker really gels on the standard "All of You" and "Monk's Blues." In the end, the quintet reforms to close with a funky mambo/swing read of Dizzy's "Woody 'N' You" that makes us thankful that the show went on.

(cduniverse.com)

Until it was reissued in 1998, this was one of the more elusive Impulse sets of the 1960s. Recorded in 1963 and co-led by John Coltrane's drummer and bassist (Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison), the music is most significant for introducing Sonny Simmons (alto and English horn) and Prince Lasha (flute and clarinet), who are joined in the sextet by underrated baritonist Charles Davis and Trane's pianist McCoy Tyner. Each of the musicians except Jones contributed an original (there are two by Davis); the music ranges from advanced hard bop to freer sounds that still swing. While Garrison's contributions are conventional (this was his only opportunity to lead or co-lead a date), Jones is quite powerful. However, it is the playing of both Simmons, who tears it apart on English horn during "Nuttin' Out Jones," and Lasha (when is he going to be rediscovered and recorded again?) that make this early "New Thing" date of greatest interest.

(by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)

The second Impulse! session for ballad singer Johnny Hartman followed his classic collaboration with John Coltrane. Hartman is heard in peak form throughout these 11 pieces, which include "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," "Sleepin' Bee," "Stairway to the Stars," and even "Charade." Tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet is on five of the songs, guitarists Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall help out on a few tunes, and Hartman is consistently accompanied by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Elvin Jones. This is one of his finest recordings.

(by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)

Crescent was Coltrane’s ninth album for Impulse!, the jazz division of ABC/Paramount that he quit Atlantic for, in 1961. Featuring his so-called classic quartet (Tyner, Garrison, Jones), it contained all original compositions and proved to be a very spiritual LP epitomised by the haunting ‘Wise One’, which opens with lush, rhapsodic chords from Tyner, who sets the mellow tone for Coltrane’s tenor sax, which enunciates a beautiful melody. The second side of the album was also remarkable for containing two tunes (‘Lonnie’s Lament’ and ‘The Drum Thing’) on which Coltrane doesn’t take a solo. Stylistically, it’s a perfect starter to prepare the listener for the following year’s A Love Supreme.

(www.udiscovermusic.com)

One of only two studio albums cut by the John Coltrane Quartet during 1964, Crescent is most notable for including five Coltrane compositions including the title cut, "Lonnie's Lament" and the swinging "Bessie's Blues." The music is excellent although not as fiery as the Quartet's live performances of the period.

(by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)

Unlike the original classic Blues and the Abstract Truth set from three years earlier, Oliver Nelson does not play on this album. He did contribute three of the eight originals and all of the arrangements but his decision not to play is disappointing. However there are some strong moments from such all-stars as trumpeter Thad Jones, altoist Phil Woods, baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Roger Kellaway and guest tenor Ben Webster (who is on two songs). The emphasis is on blues-based pieces and there are some strong moments even if the date falls short of its predecessor.

(by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)

This magisterial album, the saxophonist’s four-part sonic prayer dedicated to the divine creator, encapsulates the deep searching quality of John Coltrane’s music as his career neared its peak. The music is often intense, febrile and probing, but, paradoxically, it’s also blissfully serene in places. Trane is accompanied by his classic quartet, comprising pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. As well as being arguably Coltrane’s best ever album, A Love Supreme is also one of the greatest albums in jazz – and, significantly, it spawned the spiritual jazz movement. Though it’s not as accessible as Trane’s Prestige work, A Love Supreme possesses a hypnotic quality that can seduce even the most jazz-phobic of listeners and send them on a path to buy John Coltrane music.

(www.udiscovermusic.com)

Two important things happened to Coltrane in 1957: The saxophonist left Miles Davis' employ to join Thelonious Monk's band and hit new heights in extended, ecstatic soloing. Coltrane also kicked heroin addiction, a vital step in a religious awakening that climaxed with this legendary album-long hymn of praise. The indelible four-note theme of the first movement, "Acknowledgment," is the humble foundation of the suite. But Coltrane´s majestic, often violent blowing (famously described as "sheets of sound") is never self-aggrandizing. Aloft with his classic quartet (pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones), Coltrane soars with nothing but gratitude and joy. You can't help but go with him.

(Rolling Stone)

Easily one of the most important records ever made, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme was his pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of his current deep spirituality, and also gave a glimpse into the next two and a half years (sadly, those would be his last). Recorded at the end of 1964, Trane's classic quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison stepped into the studio and created one of the most thought-provoking, concise, and technically pleasing albums of their bountiful relationship (not to mention his best-selling to date). From the undulatory (and classic) bass line at the intro to the last breathy notes, Trane is at the peak of his logical yet emotionally varied soloing while the rest of the group is remarkably in tune with Coltrane's spiritual vibe. Composed of four parts, each has a thematic progression leading to an understanding of spirituality through meditation. From the beginning, "Acknowledgement" is the awakening of sorts that trails off to the famous chanting of the theme at the end, which yields to the second act, "Resolution," an amazingly beautiful piece about the fury of dedication to a new path of understanding. "Persuance" is a search for that understanding, and "Psalm" is the enlightenment. Although he is at times aggressive and atonal, this isn't Trane at his most adventurous (pretty much everything recorded from here on out progressively becomes much more free, and live recordings from this period are extremely spirited), but it certainly is his best attempt at the realization of concept -- as the spiritual journey is made amazingly clear. A Love Supreme clocks in at just over 30 minutes, but if it had been any longer it could have turned into a laborious listen. As it stands, just enough is conveyed. It is almost impossible to imagine a world without A Love Supreme having been made, and it is equally impossible to imagine any jazz collection without it.

(by Jack LV Isles, All Music Guide)

Psychicemotus was released in 1965 and features Yusef Lateef on various flutes and tenor saxophone, Georges Arvanitas on piano, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer James Black. And while the Coltrane era of modal and free jazz was in full swing, Lateef always followed his own muse, and continued looking forward while looking back to ancient musics. His use of bamboo and Chinese wood flutes on the title track and "Bamboo Flute Blues" added not only dimension and texture, but rhythmic invention to standard jazz forms. Yet his readings of Jerome Kern's and Oscar Hammerstein's "Why Do I Love You," on which he plays tenor, swings elegantly while incorporating both hard bop and angular outside playing in his solo. Arvanitas is a near perfect foil for Lateef in that while he's not as technically flashy as Barry Harris, he is a deeply sympathetic player who uses accents and ostinati as grounding points, and prefigures rhythmic changes rather than just comping. The beautiful reading of Erik Satie's "First Gymnopedie" on which Lateef plays flute is an utterly beautiful, restrained, and adventurous reading, and is allowed to resonate rhythmically with hand-percussion fills by Black. While not Lateef's finest recording for Impulse (Live at Pep's takes the cake), it certainly is a worthy and memorable one.

(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)

This shouldn’t be at the top of anyone’s How To Buy John Coltrane list, unless you’re familiar with the esoteric sound of free jazz. But Ascension is an album to seek out as you get acclimatised to the saxophonist’s more avant-garde style. It was recorded six months after A Love Supreme but is radically different, with Coltrane surrounding himself with a ten-piece band that features three saxophonists (including Archie Shepp), two bassists and a pair of drummers to play a single, extended piece of music. Two versions of the composition were recorded, and recent CD reissues have featured both. While its collective improvisation reflects the growing influence of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler on his music, Coltrane nevertheless created a long-form improvised group composition without precedent.

(www.udiscovermusic.com)

Ascension is the single recording that placed John Coltrane firmly into the avant-garde. Whereas, prior to 1965, Coltrane could be heard playing in an avant vein with stretched out solos, atonality, and a seemingly free design to the beat, Ascension throws most rules right out the window with complete freedom from the groove and strikingly abrasive sheets of horn interplay. Recorded with three tenors (Trane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp), two altos (Marion Brown, John Tchicai), two trumpet players (Freddie Hubbard, Dewey Johnson), two bassists (Art Davis, Jimmy Garrison), the lone McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on the drums, this large group is both relentless and soulful simultaneously. While there are segments where the ensemble plays discordant and abrasive skronks, these are usually segues into intriguing blues-based solos from each member. The comparison that is immediately realized is Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz of five years previous. However, it should be known that Ascension certainly carries it own weight, and in a strange sense makes Coleman's foray a passive adventure -- mostly due to an updated sonic quality (à la Bob Thiele) and also Trane's greater sense of passionate spiritualism. Timed at around forty minutes, this can be a difficult listen at first, but with a patient ear and an appreciation for the finer things in life, the reward is a greater understanding of the personal path that the artist was on at that particular time in his development. Coltrane was always on an unceasing mission for personal expansion through the mouthpiece of his horn, but by the time of this recording he had begun to reach the level of "elder statesman" and began to find other voices (Shepp, Sanders, and Marion Brown) to propel and expand his sounds and emotions. Therefore, Ascension reflects more of an event rather than just a jazz record and should be sought out by either experienced jazz appreciators or other open minded listeners, but not by unsuspecting bystanders.

(by Jack LV Isles)

Given Hooker's unpredictable timing and piss-poor track record recording with bands, this 1965 one-off session for the jazz label Impulse! would be a recipe for disaster. But with Panama Francis on drums, Milt Hinton on bass, and Barry Galbraith on second guitar, the result is some of the best John Lee Hooker material with a band that you're likely to come across. The other musicians stay in the pocket, never overplaying or trying to get Hooker to make chord changes he has no intention of making. This record should be played for every artist who records with Hooker nowadays, as it's a textbook example of how exactly to back the old master. The most surreal moment occurs when William Wells blows some totally cool trombone on Hooker's version of Berry Gordy's "Money." If you run across this one in a pile of 500 other John Lee Hooker CDs, grab it; it's one of the good ones.

(by Cub Koda, All Music Guide)

Guitarist Mel Brown is hailed as "An Impulse! Discovery" on Chicken Fat, his debut for the label, and this album does feature a fantastic unique sound. Brown played in the bands of T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker, and has an aggressive (though not harsh) single-string picking style. For this date he is paired with either Herb Ellis or Arthur Wright on guitar, Gerald Wiggins on organ, and Brown's regular rhythm section of Paul Humphrey on drums and Ronald Brown on electric bass. There are a couple tracks that are played as pretty straight blues, but this is a hoppin' soul-jazz date. The tunes are bouncy and funky, and Brown's playing is a real treat. His bluesy, almost reckless soloing gives a vastly different flavor that the playing of guys like Grant Green or Melvin Sparks. Gerald Wiggins' organ playing is cool and swinging, and the electric bass of Ronald Brown makes this album about as funky as Impulse ever got. Both Herb Ellis and Arthur Wright get some solo space as well, with Ellis sounding quite interesting playing an unamplified 12-string on a couple cuts. Brown gets some nice tones as well, and on "Hobo Flats" plays "an electronic guitar with Wah-Wah distortion" (remember, this is 1967 jazz) "that gives a weird shimmering sound," according to the liner notes. Leave it to Impulse! to put a new spin on the guitar/organ sound. This is hot stuff.

(by Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide)

Der Künstler über die CD

Die Geschichte unserer Impulse!-LP begann 1967 auf dem Newport Jazz Festival. Dort spielten Joachim und ich zusammen mit dem John Coltrane-Bassisten Jimmy Garrison und Aldo Romano ein sehr intensives Konzert. Direkt danach bot uns, zu unserer Überraschung, Produzent Bob Thiele an, ein Album für Impulse! aufzunehmen. Das Coltrane-Label! Allerdings hatten wir kurz vorher schon ein Angebot von Nesuhi Ertegun für Atlantic Records bekommen, dem wir schweren Herzens absagten. Kurz darauf saßen wir in der Klemme: Thiele war plötzlich telefonisch nicht mehr zu erreichen, Ertegun hatten wir verärgert. Da sagte Joachim: "Wir nehmen jetzt ein Taxi zum ABC Building!" Wir kamen gerade im 15. Stock an, als eine Tür aufging und Thiele auf uns zustürmte: "Wo seid ihr gewesen, ich habe auf euch gewartet!" Eine Woche später nahmen wir die Session in drei Stunden auf. Der Songtitel "The Saddest Day" bezieht sich natürlich auf den Tod von Coltrane, den wir wenige Tage vor der Aufnahme in der St. Patrick's Cathedral aufgebahrt gesehen hatten.

Although throughout much of his career Rolf Kuhn has been a swing-based clarinetist, he also has had an open mind toward much more adventurous jazz, possibly inspired a bit by his younger brother, pianist Joachim Kuhn. On this out of print but very intriguing LP, the two Kuhns, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Aldo Romano perform a 33-minute suite titled "Impressions of New York," which is divided into "Arrival," "The Saddest Day," "Reality," and "Predictions." The music flows with a strong momentum, never losing one's interest. Rolf Kuhn easily keeps up with his younger sidemen, and the overall results feature strong development and some surprises. Recommended.

(by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)

"LIGHT MY FIRE was something special," recalls Bob Thiele. "Because I believe it was the first time that we took some contemporary songs like the Doors' "Light My Fire" and recorded with a large orchestra." By 1967, however, such an event was not uncommon. Leading big bands, such as Count Basie's and Duke Ellington's, had already recorded Top 40 pop tunes in a big-band context. But as critic John F. Szwed points out, Thiele's innovation here was "the smaller group that has been set within the larger." In other words the success that Szwed attributes to this recording is Thiele's rock-and-roll rhythm section in a traditional jazz big-band.

With this recording, Thiele seemed to marry his divergent musical tastes. Unfortunately, Sid Feller's unimaginative arrangements highlight the robotic quarter-note cadenzas of the most pedestrian rock music. Without Szabo's incisive solos throughout, LIGHT MY FIRE would surely have many of the qualities associated with the anonymous Hollywood rock soundtracks of the period. It is certainly Szabo, and his performance alone, which draws the listener back to this recording. His blues riffing on "Rainy Day Woman," astounding finger dynamics in "Fakin' It" and typically inventive soloing in his own "Krishna" offer the listener ample pleasure. Szabo seems isolated from the proceedings though. The most interaction he has with the orchestra is in Feller's harmonically-rich arrangement of the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" where, briefly, he even spars with Tom Scott's workmanlike tenor.

Critic Frank Kovsky aptly intuited the album was "designed to demonstrate to followers of jazz and rock the virtues of 'the other' music." Only Szabo, who's ears were already tuned toward the emerging innovations of the new fusion guitars of Eric Clapton and George Harrison, brings Kovsky's insight to the target. The voice of his guitar peels through a session like this; a charismatic ability to blend light and shadow, and float effortlessly between narrowly defined concepts of rock or jazz. Even Thiele recalled, "I'll never forget one part of the project. "Sid Feller was the arranger and of course I was in the control room. He actually started to get confused because I was picking up on what Coltrane probably would have done where I signaled with my hands to just keep going or just keep repeating and let the guy [Szabo] play for almost as long as he wanted. Sid later told me, ' I didn't know what the hell to do or when to stop so all I could do was keep looking at you'." One can well imagine Thiele many times over entranced at the helm of a developing John Coltrane pattern and likewise sense a powerful sorcery directing Szabo during these sessions.

(www.dougpayne.com)

In 1969, Pharoah Sanders was incredibly active, recording no less than four albums and releasing three. The band on Jewels of Thought is largely the same as on Deaf Dumb Blind and Karma, with a few changes. Idris Muhammad has, with the exception of "Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah Hum Allah," replaced Roy Haynes, and Richard Davis has permanently replaced Reggie Workman and Ron Carter, though Cecil McBee is still present for the extra bottom sound. Leon Thomas and his trademark holy warble are in the house, as is Lonnie Liston Smith. Comprised of two long cuts, the aforementioned and "Sun in Aquarius," Jewels of Thought sees Sanders moving out from his signature tenor for the first time and delving deeply into reed flutes and bass clarinet. The plethora of percussion instruments utilized by everyone is, as expected, part of the mix. "Hum-Allah" begins with a two-chord piano vamp by Smith and Thomas singing and yodeling his way into the band's improvisational space. For 12 minutes, Sanders and company mix it up -- especially the drummers -- whipping it first quietly down into the most pure melodic essences of Smith's solo and then taking the tension and building to ecstatic heights with all manner of blowing and intervallic interaction between the various elements until it just explodes, before coming down in pieces and settling into a hush of melodic frames and the same two-chord vamp. On "Sun in Aquarius," African thumb pianos, reed flutes, sundry percussion, and orchestra chimes are employed to dislocate all notions of Western music. Things get very quiet (though there is constant motion); the innards of the piano are brushed and hammered quietly before Sanders comes roaring out of the tense silence with his bass clarinet, and then the tenor and bass share an intertwined solo and Smith starts kicking ass with impossibly large chords. It moves into another two-chord vamp at the end of 27 minutes, to be taken out as a closed prayer. It's more like a finished exorcism, actually, but it is one of the most astonishing pieces by Sanders ever.

(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)

Recorded in June of 1965 and released posthumously in 1970, Transition acts as a neat perforation mark between Coltrane's classic quartet and the cosmic explorations that would follow until Trane's passing in 1967. Recorded seven months after the standard-setting A Love Supreme, Transition's first half bears much in common with that groundbreaking set. Spiritually reaching and burningly intense, the quartet is playing at full steam, but still shy of the total free exploration that would follow mere months later on records like Sun Ship and the mystical atonal darkness that came in the fall of that same year with Om. McCoy Tyner's gloriously roaming piano chord clusters add depth and counterpoint to Coltrane's ferocious lyrical runs on the five-part suite that makes up the album's second half. In particular on "Peace and After," Tyner matches Trane's range of expression. The angelically floating "Dear Lord," a meditative pause in the album's center, holds true to the straddling of the line between modes of thinking and playing that define Transition, not quite as staid as the balladry of Trane's earlier hard bop days, but nowhere near the lucid dreaming that followed. Only nearing the end of "Vigil" does the quartet hint at the fury of complete freedom it would achieve later in the year on Sun Ship, or even more, provide a precursory look at terrain Coltrane would explore in duets with drummer Rashied Ali on Interstellar Space in 1967. [The omission of "Dear Lord” on some issues is replaced with the similarly subtle "Welcome" and still other issues include bonus album closer "Vigil"]

(by Fred Thomas, All Music Guide)

Sometimes written off as an also-ran to her more famous husband, Alice Coltrane's work of the late '60s and early '70s shows that she was a strong composer and performer in her own right, with a unique ability to impregnate her music with spirituality and gentleness without losing its edges or depth. Ptah the El Daoud is a truly great album, and listeners who surrender themselves to it emerge on the other side of its 46 minutes transformed. From the purifying catharsis of the first moments of the title track to the last moments of "Mantra," with its disjointed piano dance and passionate ribbons of tenor cast out into the universe, the album resonates with beauty, clarity, and emotion. Coltrane's piano solo on "Turiya and Ramakrishna" is a lush, melancholy, soothing blues, punctuated only by hushed bells and the sandy whisper of Ben Riley's drums and later exchanged for an equally emotive solo by bassist Ron Carter. "Blue Nile" is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; Coltrane's sweeping flourishes on the harp nestle in perfectly with flute solos by Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson to produce a warm cocoon of sound that is colored by evocations of water, greenness, and birds. Perhaps as strong as the writing here, though, are the performances that Coltrane coaxes from her sidemen, especially the horn players. Joe Henderson, who can always be counted on for technical excellence, gives a performance that is simply on a whole other level from much of his other work — freer, more open, and more fluid here than nearly anywhere else. Pharoah Sanders, who at times with John Coltrane seemed like a magnetic force of entropy, pulling him toward increasing levels of chaos, shows all of the innovation and spiritual energy here that he is known for, with none of the screeching. Overlooked and buried for years in obscurity, this album deserves to be embraced for the gem it is.

(by Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide)

The CD reissue of Alice Coltrane's landmark Journey to Satchidananda reveals just how far the pianist and widow of John Coltrane had come in the three years after his death. The compositions here are wildly open and droning figures built on whole tones and minor modes. And while it's true that one can definitely hear her late husband's influence on this music, she wouldn't have had it any other way. Pharoah Sanders' playing on the title cut, "Shiva-Loka," and "Isis and Osiris" (which also features the Vishnu Wood on oud and Charlie Haden on bass) is gloriously restrained and melodic. Coltrane's harp playing, too, is an element of tonal expansion as much as it is a modal and melodic device. With a tamboura player, Cecil McBee on bass, Rashied Ali on drums, and Majid Shabazz on bells and tambourine, tracks such as "Stopover Bombay" and the D minor modally drenched "Something About John Coltrane" become exercised in truly Eastern blues improvisation. Sanders plays soprano exclusively, and the interplay between it and Coltrane's piano and harp is mesmerizing. With the drone factor supplied either by the tamboura or the oud, the elongation of line and extended duration of intervallic exploration is wondrous. The depths to which these blues are played reveal their roots in African antiquity more fully than any jazz or blues music on record, a tenet that exists today over 30 years after the fact. One last note, the "Isis and Osiris" track, which was recorded live at the Village Gate, features some of the most intense bass and drum interplay -- as it exists between Haden and Ali -- in the history of vanguard jazz. Truly, this is a remarkable album, and necessary for anyone interested in the development of modal and experimental jazz. It's also remarkably accessible.

(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)

John Klemmer was (along with Eddie Harris) a pioneer and an innovator at utilizing electrical devices on his saxophone. For this live set, Klemmer used an Echoplex on his tenor and soprano and was joined by keyboardist Mike Nock, electric bassist Wilton Feldman, drummer Eddie Marshall, Victor Feldman on percussion, and (on two of the eight songs) vocalist Diana Lee. Recorded live on June 17, 1972 (with additional recording added five days later), this CD reissue gives one a good example of Klemmer's playing before his mood music records caught on. He certainly achieved some unusual effects at the time although he never became an influential force. Worth investigating by open-eared listeners.

(by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)

A live performance from saxophonist Klemmer and friends captured in 1972 at the Ash Grove in LA. All originals and all wrapped in the blanket of sound created by Klemmer's idyllic visions. Peaceful without being sappy, strong without being harsh. Although performed in front of an audience there are passages a bit dreamlike and personal. Never one to grandstand John shares the spotlight around with his fellow travelers. Wonderful cover art on this gatefold sleeve has a bit of that early seventies utopian wishfulness about it.

(tralfaz-archives.com)

Kwanza is a curious Archie Shepp recording. Released in 1969 on Impulse, it features cuts recorded between September 1968 and August 1969 with an assortment of lineups. Four of the album's five cuts were produced by Bob Thiele, and one, "Slow Drag," by Ed Michel. Shepp composed three tunes here, and he is in the company of musicians such as Grachan Moncur III (who composed "New Africa"), Jimmy Owens, Dave Burrell, Wally Richardson, Bob Bushnell, Bernard Purdie and Beaver Harris, Leon Thomas, Charles Davis, Woody Shaw, Cedar Walton, Wilbur Ware, Joe Chambers, Cecil Payne, and others. As the title might suggest, Kwanza is a joyful record, full of celebration in blues and jazz. "Back Back" opens the set with a colossal funky blues that feels like an out version of the JB's with Burrell kicking it on B-3. The all-too-brief "Spoo Dee Doo," showcases Thomas' unique, and truly awesome vocal stylings along with Tasha Thomas and Doris Troy providing a swinging backing R&B chorus. "New Africa" is the most vanguard track here, with a different rhythm section than on "Back Back," and no guitar, Burrell returns to his piano. It begins in a manner that suggests anger, but not rage. It becomes an edgeless, rounded meditation on joy and gratitude, a statement of purpose at realization and transcendence with Shepp, Owens. and Davis playing alongside Moncur as a monumental choral line in timbres; textures, big harmonic reaches and ultimately resolution. "Slow Drag," is a funky blues tune, it struts a minor key line that feels like a mutated "Wade in the Water," but its Latin rhythms and the killer bass work of Wilbur Ware make the cut a standout. The set closes with Cal Massey's "Bakai," a tune that walks a fringed line on the inside and swings like mad. Kwanza may not be one of Shepp's better known recordings, but it is certainly one of his fine ones.

(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)

»Treasure Island« war 1974 nach »Fort Yawuh« das zweite Album, das Keith Jarrett für das Label Impulse! einspielte. Zu diesem Zeitpunkte hatte er bereits fünf Alben für den Münchner Konkurrenten ECM aufgenommen, die den Pianisten musikalisch allerdings von einer anderen Seite zeigten. Auf »Treasure Island« präsentierte sich Jarrett (der hier neben Piano auch Sopransaxophon spielte) mit seinem amerikanischen Quartett, das aus Avantgarde-erfahrenen Musikern bestand: Tenorsaxophonist Dewey Redman, Bassist Charlie Haden und Schlagzeuger Paul Motian. Hinzu kamen außerdem Gitarrist Sam Brown sowie die beiden Perkussionisten Guilherme Franco und Danny Johnson.

Der All Music Guide bezeichnet das amerikanische Quartett, das Keith Jarrett in den 1970er Jahren mit dem Saxophonisten Dewey Redman, Bassist Charlie Haden und Schlagzeuger Paul Motian unterhielt, als die beste Band, mit der der Pianist je zusammengespielt hat.

Darüber kann man angesichts von Jarretts euopäischem Quartett mit Jan Garbarek und dem Standards-Trio mit Gary Peacock und Jack DeJohnette natürlich trefflich diskutieren. Unbestreitbar ist, dass das amerikanische Quartett besser als jedes andere Ensemble Jarretts erstaunliche Vielseitigkeit zum Vorschein brachte.

»Treasure Island« war 1974 das zweite von insgesamt acht Alben, die dieses Quartett (das hier noch um den Gitarristen Sam Brown und die Perkussionisten Guilherme Franco und Danny Johnson erweitert wurde) für Impulse! aufnahm.

Für Freejazzer und New Thing Freunde ist Alice Coltrane eine der klassischen, musikalischen Größen schlechthin. Für alle anderen Jazzfans ist sie, neben der Tatsache die Ehefrau von Saxophon Legende John Coltrane zu sein, eine brilliante und extrem vielseitige Pianistin.

Coltranes Wurzeln lagen ursprünglich im Bop, im Laufe ihrer Karriere spielte sie u. a. mit Stan Getz, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, Kenny Burrell, Pharoah Sanders und nicht zuletzt John Coltrane. 1969 übernahm Alice Coltrane McCoy Tyners Platz in John Coltranes Working Band.

Gegen Ende der 60er Jahre wurde Alice Coltrane zu jener psychedelischen Free Jazz Ikone die sie bis heute darstellt. Insbesondere die Alben "Universal Consciousness" und "A Monastic Trio" halfen diesen Mythos zu begründen. Da verwundert es nicht, das alle Welt auf das erste musikalische Outing Coltranes seit Dekaden wartet. Alice Coltranes "Translinear Light" setzt dann auch genau da an, wo man es sich wünscht : progressiver Jazz trifft auf weite modale Klangfarben mit fernöstlichen Elementen. Dabei ist "Translinear Light" deutlich zugänglicher als frühere Aufnahmen und in jedem Fall im modernen Jazz wurzelnd (sowohl Grandmaster Trane als auch Charles Lloyd hätten ihre helle Freude an "Translinear Light").

Alice Coltranes "Translinear Light" ist in jedem Fall zu empfehlen. Den Weg in die Sammlung eines jedem Jazzfans wird Alice Coltranes neues Album spielend finden !

Alice Coltrane erinnert sich ihrer genialen Alben aus den späten Sechzigern und frühen Siebzigern, als sie von den Errungenschaften ihres Mannes ausgehend mit Musikern wie Pharoah Sanders und Joe Henderson einen völlig neuen Kosmos erschloss. Ein- ziger Musiker, der bei den neuen Aufnahmen von damals noch übrig blieb, ist Charlie Haden. Diese Musik ist frei und doch schön, avantgardistisch und doch in rituellem Sinn streng traditionell, ja geradezu schamanisch.

(W. Kampmann in Jazztherik 10 / 04)

Alice Coltranes Musik atmet einen lebendigen Geist, der durch keine Schulen gelehrt werden kann, sie bildet eine so überzeugende eigene Welt, dass man sich bald kaum in einer anderen aufhalten möchte.

(S. Richter in Stereo 11 / 04)

Spirituelle Kraft treibt die Musik von Alice Coltrane noch an. Da lotet sie zum Beispiel mit wuchtigen Akkorden die Klangmöglichkeiten ihres Flügels aus. Was das Instrument an Ausdrucksmöglich- keiten nicht bietet, findet sie in komischen Synthesizer- Sounds oder auf einer fernöstlich klingenden Wurlitzer- Orgel. Die Söhne Ravi und Oran beerben in ihrem Saxofonspiel den hymnischen Gestus des Vaters John Coltrane.

(L. Jänichen in stereoplay 11 / 04)

Ein Gipfeltreffen zweier deutscher und zweier amerikanischer Jazz-Legenden! Die Brüder Rolf und Joachim Kühn nach langer Zeit wieder gemeinsam auf CD - erstmals zusammen mit den US-Stars John Patitucci und Brian Blade. Das Comeback-Album der beiden Gewinner des Echo Jazz 2011 in der Kategorie "Lebenswerk" Joachim Kühn gilt international als einer der ganz Großen des modernen Jazz-Piano, seine Solo-CDs und Zusammenarbeiten mit Legenden wie Ornette Coleman haben ihn weit über die deutschen Grenzen bekannt gemacht. Sein Bruder Rolf gilt als einer der letzten Meister der Jazz-Klarinette und spielte mit Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald und zahllosen anderen. Jetzt kommen beide mit einem packenden Modern Jazz-Album zurück, das wirkliche Fans dieser Musik zu Beifallsstürmen hinreißen wird. Dies ist kein Lounge-Jazz, sondern endlich wieder fordernder, intensiver, improvisierter Jazz von vier absoluten Meistern ihrer Instrumente. "Lifeline" schlägt auch einen Bogen zum legendären 1967er Album der beiden, "Impressions Of New York", das damals sensationellerweise auf dem US-Label Impulse erschien - so wie ihr großartiges neues Album ebenfalls.

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Your Queen Is a Reptile signals the arrival of Caribbean-born, London-based saxophonist/clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings' Sons of Kemet on Impulse! The band's unusual lineup -- saxophone/clarinet, tuba, and two or three drummers -- fits with the historic label's revolutionary tradition forged by John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, etc. Hutchings is no mere descendent of his heroes, however. Over nine years he's amassed dozens of musical credits (including work with Mulatu Astatke and Yusef Kamaal) and leads three different bands: Sons of Kemet, Shabaka and the Ancestors, and the electro space-jazz outfit Comet Is Coming.

This is Sons of Kemet's third album. Its title refers to the white patriarchy as made manifest in royal and political matriarchies (the queen and Theresa May), and their unrepentant racism toward immigrants. The nine tracks pay homage to iconic black women from Angela Davis and Harriet Tubman to social psychologist Mamie Phipps Clarke and Hutchings' own great-grandmother Ada Eastman. Despite the charged nature of the concept, these sounds are not easily categorized as "angry." In fact, if one knew nothing about the motivation here, she would swear these sounds reflected only black celebration and joy. Herein lies the terrain where the carnival tradition of the Caribbean stretches west and north simultaneously to New Orleans marching bands and South London's adventurous, well-integrated contemporary music scene; it's where modern avant-jazz meets funk, folk tradition, grime (thanks to two raps by poet Joshua Idehen), and reggae (courtesy of toaster Congo Natty). "My Queen Is Ada Eastmen" opens with rolling double-drum kits (Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford -- the latter alternates with or complements Eddie Hick and Moses Boyd) while Theon Cross' tuba establishes a hypnotic bassline and Hutchings weaves a labyrinthine, almost snaky melody. They dig deep into reggae with "My Queen Is Mamie Phipps Clarke," as Natty delivers a Rasta poem with Hutchings' tenor winding around him amid stretched-out dub effects. "My Queen Is Angela Davis" equates, knotty, martial, yet funky rhythms as Cross and Hutchings exchange a contrapuntal lyric line that touches on carnival music and Arabic double-harmonic scales. While "My Queen Is Nanny of the Maroons," titled for the famed Jamaican anti-colonialist, uses a hypnotic Nyabinghi rhythm, the tuba lays down a rocksteady bassline and Hutchings breathes out a gentle modal ballad. Nubya Garcia adds a second saxophone to "My Queen Is Yaa Asantewaa" amid an incantatory Ghanaian-style drumming and declarative tuba. On "My Queen Is Albertina Sisulu," the drumming and stretched harmony delineate where South African township jive meets avant-jazz (and traces a direct line from Brotherhood of Breath). Hip-hop, funk, and Fela all meet in closer "My Queen Is Doreen Lawrence" (titled for the Labor MP), with punchy tenor lines, roiling snares, and kick drums with bleating below the floor bass notes. Your Queen Is a Reptile is easily Sons of Kemet's most compelling outing. It offers inspired stylistic contrasts, canny improvisation, and killer charts. It's tight, furious, joyous, and inspirational.

(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)

Eine tatsächliche Sensation. Eine komplett unveröffentlichte Studio-LP, am 6.3.1963 mit dem klassischen Quartet in seiner Blütezeit aufgenommen, die Mastertapes gingen verloren, im Nachlaß seiner 1. Ehefrau fand sich ein Referenz-Band, der Sound richtig gut (mono). Die einfache LP/CD-Version enthält 7 Titel: 2 sind völlig unbekannte Originale (bei beiden spielt er Sopran-Sax), unbenannt, das eine swingend im typischen Trane-Sound der Zeit, das andere schon ziemlich spirituell, melodisch ausgezeichnet, ein bischen Latin-Flair – ein echtes großartiges Highlight! Auch „Slow Blues“ (mit 11 Min. längster Track) kannte man nicht; ja, langsam und mächtig bluesig, doch zugleich agil, emotional, sehr gehaltvoll, in der 1. Hälfte ohne Piano, in der (schnelleren) 2. mit – ein weiterer toller Höhepunkt! Was auch auf Nature Boy zutrifft (das erst 2 Jahre später, wesentlich anders, wieder auftauchte, auf Quartet Plays), dunkel in klasse Atmosphäre, ausnehmend melodiös, wunderschön, ein feinst federnder komplexer Rhythmus, und sehr komprimiert. Wie auch Impressions, Highlight Nr. 4, zwar auf mehreren LPs drauf, aber sonst immer nur live! Gewohnt schnell, ausgesprochen konzentriert (was hier auf die meisten Stücke zutrifft, sehr auffallend!!), einfach packend! Bleiben noch das ebenfalls exzellente One Up One Down (nicht umgekehrt!), das es bislang nur auf Live-Bootleg gab (ganz straight swingend und feurig, BeBop-Tradition klingt an) und Franz Lehars Vilia (relativ konventionell/ein wenig 50s-angelehnt, wiederum hoch melodisch). Dessen Alternativ-Version auf der Deluxe-Edition (es gibt 7, auf 41 Min.) ist das einzig bekannte Stück hier (erschien als Bonustrack auf Live At Birdland), die beiden Fassungen sind jedoch ganz unterschiedlich im Charakter – schon weil 1x mit Tenor-, 1x mit Sopran-Sax gespielt! Was erstaunlicherweise (Trane experimentierte halt gerne) mehrfach vorkommt. Schon deshalb, und weil weitere Einzelheiten erheblich bei den Alternativ-Versionen abweichen (z.B. die Tempi bei 3 Impressions-Bonustakes), ist die Deluxe-Edition wirklich lohnend! Noch ein Wort zur hohen Melodiösität: Dazu trägt bei, daß Trane ungewohnt oft die Themen wiederholt (z.B. nach den Soli). Absolutes Muß, finde ich.

(dvd, Glitterhouse)

Years of canonization have obscured how John Coltrane was at a bit of crossroads in the early '60s, playing increasingly adventurous music on-stage while acquiescing to Impulse!'s desire to record marketable albums. Whenever he could, producer Bob Thiele would capture Coltrane working out new music with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassist Jimmy Garrison. One of these sessions happened at Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio on March 6, 1963, when Coltrane's quartet was in the thick of a residency at New York's Birdland and just before they were scheduled to cut an album with vocalist Johnny Hartman. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman appeared in record stores in July 1963, but apart from "Vilia," which popped up on an Impulse! sampler in 1965, the March 6 session sat on the shelf for decades, eventually getting ditched when the label decided to clear out its vaults in the 1970s. Coltrane's reference tape survived, eventually unearthed by his family and assembled for release as Both Directions at Once by Impulse! in 2018.

Both Directions at Once -- which is available as a single disc and as a double-disc set containing all the alternate takes from the session -- exists on a plane that's somewhere between a rehearsal and a finished album. Two of the original songs are untitled, their melodic themes are perhaps a shade fuzzy, the band is vigorous but loose. It lacks the polish of the albums Impulse! released during Coltrane's lifetime, in other words, but that slight rough edge also lends Both Directions at Once no small share of vitality which, in turn, makes it seem even livelier when compared to the two collaborative LPs the label put out in 1963. Throughout the recordings, the quartet is stretching and testing itself, inching ever closer to the exploratory sound that would define Coltrane's mid-'60s. They're still firmly within the realm of accessible bop here, expanding "Nature Boy" and finding crevices within the bars of "Slow Blues," while the original material -- including "Impressions," which would provide the title track on a subsequent 1963 album -- is conversational yet elliptical, pushing at the boundaries of the expected without truly breaking free. As a historical document, this is a necessary footnote, providing evidence that the experimental side of Coltrane did not lay dormant during the early '60s, but the pleasant surprise is that Both Directions at Once is also enjoyable on its own terms as a long-playing record. Impulse! has sequenced the existing recordings so they have an ebb and flow that mirrors a finished album. Just as impressively, the bonus disc of alternate takes works on its own terms, while also lending an illusion that the first disc is a completed work. And that means Both Directions at Once is truly a rare thing: an important discovery from the vault that's also a blast to hear.

(by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide)

Das im vergangenen Jahr erschienene Sons-Of-Kemet-Album »Your Queen Is A Reptile« fand mit seiner atemlosen Jazz-Energie unzählige Fans und steht an der Spitze diverser Bestenlisten 2018. Saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings feierte damit seinen großen Durchbruch. Jetzt legt er mit seiner zweiten Formation einen Elektro/Jazz-Kracher gleichen Kalibers nach.

Mit dem Bandprojekt The Comet Is Coming bringt er auf Impulse! Records einen unerhörten Mix aus Jazz, Electronica, Funk und Psychedelic Rock heraus, der zwischen Jazz Club und Tanzfläche eine verdammt gute Figur macht.

Zusammen mit Schlagzeuger Betamax und Keyboarder Danalogue sucht King Shabaka, wie sich Hutchings hier nennt, einen neuartigen Zugang zum Jazz. In einem Feature im englischen The Guardian wird die Gruppe für ihr »intergalaktisches Mash-Up aus Jazz, Afrobeat und Electronics« in den Himmel gelobt. Die derzeit in allen Medien angesagte junge englische Jazz-Generation hat in Shabaka Hutchings ihr Gesicht gefunden.

England's sci-fi jazz trio the Comet Is Coming have been exploring the cosmos since 2015 when drummer Maxwell Hallett (Betamax) and keyboardist Dan Leavers (Danalogue) were playing a gig as futurist duo Soccer96 when they encountered Shabaka Hutchings (King Shabaka) hanging near the stage with a saxophone. They invited him up and improvised. Received enthusiastically, the trio formed the Comet Is Coming to explore a mutual love of Sun Ra, John and Alice Coltrane, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and future-forward electronica. After issuing the critically acclaimed Prophecy EP in 2015, they followed with the full-length Channel the Spirits a year later and were nominated for the Mercury Prize. Hutchings, one of the U.K.'s most prominent young saxophonists and bandleaders, inked a deal with Impulse! in 2017. His Sons of Kemet project's acclaimed Your Queen Is a Reptile in 2018, a stellar work of modern modal jazz, was internationally acclaimed. Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery picks up where Channel the Spirits and its follow-up EP Death to the Planet left off as it attempts to "envisage a 21st century take on spiritual jazz that is part Alice Coltrane, part Blade Runner." Their association with the legendary American label -- home to many of their influences -- raises expectations that are both warranted and met. As evidenced by album-opener "Because the End Is Really the Beginning," these cats have no interest in revivalism; theirs is an evolutionary new thing. A blissful synth drone introduces Hutchings' hypnotic sax before shifting into a more dynamic space as Betamax's cymbal shimmer and kick drum pronunciations signal the arrival of the previously unknown. It remains held in a state of tension before "Birth of Creation," prefaced by the rhythm section, articulates a frame for Hutchings' spidery bass clarinet melody that builds on their multidimensional textures. "Summon the Fire" sounds like its title. Amid pulsing analog synths, Hutchings' distorted tenor horn meets Betamax's overdriven snare in a show of pulsing, hard grooves, and the entire record lifts off in an orgiastic celebration of grime-influenced, danceable destruction and creation. "Blood of the Past" is darker, tenser, and freer, given added dimension via the apocalyptic poetry of guest Kate Tempest. An airy intro gives way to skittering, urgent, dubby electro funk in "Super Zodiac." "Timewave Zero" enters from the margins in a soundscape at once cinematic and intimate before articulating a fusion of spiritual jazz-funk, dancehall rhythms, and punky grime. "The Universe Wakes Up" closes the set and atmospherically evokes the spirits of the Coltranes as CIC attempt to reach beyond the heavens. Hutchings' circular breathing underscores the aggressive pulse of the rhythm section. Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery is urgent, sophisticated, and humorous. It actually delivers the music of tomorrow via the traditions of past and present; it's a convulsive exercise in the articulation of inner and outer space.

(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)

Man sagt: Lightning never strikes twice. Aber es gibt Ausnahmen. In der Jazzwelt wird der Blitz jetzt ein zweites Mal einschlagen!

Im Juni 2018 veröffentlichte Impulse! Records »Both Directions At Once« ein »verlorenes Album« von John Coltrane, aufgenommen im Jahr 1963, das neue Kompositionen Coltranes, aufgenommen mit seinem Classic Quartet mit McCoy Tyner (Piano), Jimmy Garrison (Bass) und Elvin Jones (Drums), zum ersten Mal ans Tageslicht brachte. Die Resonanz bei Medien und Fans war wie erwartet riesig, das jahrzehntealte Album landete auf Platz 21 der US-Billboard-Charts (Coltranes höchstes Debüt aller Zeiten), führte die Jazz-Charts auf der ganzen Welt an und brachte Coltrane unter die Top-20 der Pop-Charts in Großbritannien, Frankreich, Deutschland, Japan, Italien und vielen weiteren Ländern. Bis dato hat »Both Directions At Once« weltweit mehr als eine Viertelmillion Alben verkauft.

Obwohl es ganz danach aussah, dass es sich hier um einen Jahrhundertfund handelt, hat das Schicksal jetzt ein zweites »Coltrane-Ass« aus dem Ärmel gezogen, denn bei Recherchen im Nachzug zu »Both Directions At Once« fand sich ein weiteres Tonband mit einer bislang komplett unveröffentlichten Session des Meisters.

1964 gingen John Coltrane und sein Classic Quartet in Rudy Van Gelders Studio und nahmen in einem für Coltrane beispiellosen Schritt neue Versionen einiger seiner berühmtesten Kompositionen auf. In dem Jahr, in dem er auch »A Love Supreme« aufnahm, wurde Coltrane von Gilles Groulx, einem kanadischen Filmemacher, kontaktiert. Groulx bereitete seinen Film »Le Chat Dans Le Sac« vor, eine in Montreal spielende Liebesgeschichte mit politischen Untertönen. Groulx, ein eingefleischter Coltrane-Fan, war fest entschlossen, den als schwierig geltenden Saxophonisten einen Soundtrack für seinen Film kreieren zu lassen. Groulx trat über einen persönlichen Kontakt zu Bassist Jimmy Garrison an Coltrane heran, und dieser stimmte erstaunlicherweise zu.

Kurzentschlossen trommelte Coltrane seine Quartett-Kollegen Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones und McCoy Tyner direkt zwischen den Aufnahmen für die inzwischen legendären Alben »Crescent« und »A Love Supreme« im Juni '64 in den Van Gelder Studios zusammen um etwas in der Coltrane-Welt Beispielloses zu tun: frühere Werke neu zu interpretieren und aufzunehmen.

Regisseur Gilles Groulx war bei den Aufnahmen anwesend. Heute ist unklar, wie viel kreativen Input der Filmemacher hatte und wie viel kreative Abstimmung zwischen ihm und Coltrane stattfand. Auf ¼-Zoll analogem Mono-Band aufgenommen, wurde die Session am 24. Juni 1964 von Rudy Van Gelder in seinem Studio nicht nur aufgenommen, sondern auch abgemischt und gemastert. Überglücklich nahm Groulx am darauffolgenden Tag das Masterband nach Kanada, obwohl in seinem Film am Ende dann nur zehn Minuten der 37- Minuten Aufnahme Verwendung fanden. Für die weltweit erste Veröffentlichung der Musik wurde »Blue World« jetzt von Kevin Reeves bei Universal Music Mastering in New York vom ursprünglichen Analogband neu gemastert, die Vinyl-Edition wurde von Ron McMaster in den Capitol Studios geschnitten.

»Blue World« demonstriert Coltranes künstlerische Entwicklung zusammen mit seinem Classic Quartet an einem Fixpunkt seiner Karriere. Es ist bezeichnend, dass diese Session zwischen zwei von Coltranes expansivsten, spirituell transzendentesten Platten stattfand, die seine Wahrnehmung von dann an bestimmen sollten.

Eine weitere Coltrane-Entdeckung von Weltgeltung!

Tatsächlich noch ein Album mit unveröffentlichten Studioaufnahmen! Im Juni 1964 (1/2 Jahr vor A Love Supreme) mit seinem klassischen Quartet eingespielt (für einen eher überflüssigen Film), von Rudy Van Gelder aufgenommen/gemixt, remastered von den Originaltapes. Ungewöhnlich für Coltrane: Er nahm dafür alte Stücke aus seinem Repertoire neu auf, die erstmals auf Alben von 1957 bis 1962 erschienen (auf Giant Steps, Traneing In, Coltrane Jazz und Coltrane), freilich bis auf das Titelstück (das eigentlich Out Of This World heißt) in anderen Besetzungen. Großteils in (teils wesentlich) kürzeren Fassungen, es klingt konzentriert, (zumal im Vergleich mit den Originalen) ungeheuer souverän, und meist auch und v.a. irgendwie spiritueller, quasi im Vorgriff auf das, was danach kommen sollte… Und tatsächlich deutlich bis ganz klar (noch) besser! Mit Ausnahme von Blue World, das ich auf ähnlichem Level sehe (aber erheblich anders gespielt!). In diversen Stücken soliert Trane wenig, variiert v.a. das Thema (das aber oft wunderbar), einige erweitern das harmonische Grundgerüst, andere erscheinen in mehrfacher Hinsicht weiterentwickelt. Dabei sind: Das herrliche Naima (2 Versionen; sachte feinfühlige diffizile verzaubernde Schönheit!). Besagtes Titelstück (Classic Trane der Zeit inkl. sehr schneller auch ausbrechender Tonkaskaden, ein aufbrausender Schluß mit leicht freier Tendenz). Like Sonny (agiler, kraftvoller als bekannt, die Latin-Essenz verstärkt). Village Blues (3 Versionen, Blues-basiert, lebendiger, das Original wirkt statischer). Traneing In (wohl das „konventionellste“ Stück hier, trotz avanciertem Spiel gegen Schluß). Fazit: Nicht so essentiell wie Both Directions At Once letztes Jahr, aber erstklassig, und lohnend auf alle Fälle!

(dvd, Glitterhouse)

Der Saxophonist, Komponist, Philosoph und Schriftsteller Shabaka Hutchings kehrt mit einem brandneuen Album seiner für den Mercury Prize nominierten Band Sons of Kemet zurück. Black To The Future, die vierte LP der Band und die zweite auf Impulse! Records, wird am 14. Mai veröffentlicht.

Es ist das bisher dynamischste Projekt der Band mit prominenten Sängern wie Angel Bat Dawid, den Dichtern Moor Mother und Joshua Idehen sowie dem Grime-Künstler D Double E.

Shabaka Hutchings ist stets im Einklang mit - wenn nicht sogar vor - den kulturellen Themen, die in unserer Welt herumwirbeln: Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft. Er gräbt vergessene Mythologien aus, entschlüsselt Klänge der Vergangenheit und stellt eine These für die Zukunft auf. Das setzt sich mit Black To The Future fort, einem politisch ergreifenden und musikalisch reichhaltigen Album, das wie geschaffen dafür ist, im Regal neben Archie Shepps Attica Blues oder John Coltranes Alabama zu stehen.

Musikalisch ist Black To The Future eine weitreichendere Angelegenheit als frühere Sons of Kemet-Alben. Die Kerngruppe - Theon Cross (Tuba), Edward Wakili-Hick (Perkussion), Tom Skinner (Perkussion) - wird durch Gäste wie den britischen Saxophonisten Steve Williamson, den Chicagoer Bandleader und Sänger Angel Bat Dawid, den amerikanischen Dichter Moor Mother, den legendären britischen Grime-MC D Double E, den britischen Künstler/Rapper/Spoken-Word-Musiker Kojey Radical und andere erweitert. Shabaka Hutchings fügt auch komplexe Schichten von Holzblasinstrumenten in der gesamten Platte hinzu, die er während Lockdown einspielte.

Shabaka Hutchings sagt: "Black to the Future ist ein klangliches Gedicht zur Beschwörung von Macht, Erinnerung und Heilung. Es stellt eine Bewegung dar, die neu definiert und bekräftigt, was es bedeutet, nach schwarzer Macht zu streben."

Before listening to Black to the Future, Sons of Kemet's fourth album, reading the track list first is recommended. Bandleader Shabaka Hutchings sequenced it as a poetic statement to accurately and aesthetically foreshadow the record's narrative, thereby framing the context for its music. Sons of Kemet remains a quartet with Hutchings on reeds and woodwinds, Theon Cross on tuba, and Edward Wakili-Hick and Tom Skinner on drums and percussion; they are joined here by a slew of vocal and instrumental guests. Black to the Future carries the torch of musical polemic from Max Roach's We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, Archie Shepp's Attica Blues, and Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson's It's Your World to Linton Kwesi Johnson's Bass Culture, Rip Rig & Panic's Attitude, and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Sons of Kemet address the Black experience from colonial slavery to Black Lives Matter's international ascendancy amid the struggle for self-determination while erasing artificial boundaries between jazz, dub, highlife, Afrobeat, calypso, rap, funk, and soul, without sterile posturing.

"Field Negus" commences with moaning tenor saxes, roiling snares, and kick drums. Joshua Idehen's urgent, narration was recorded during the BLM protests after George Floyd's death. The collective erases historical time between past and present: They're angry; they know oppression never sleeps. The interplay between Hutchings and guest saxist Steve Williamson blurs skronk and post-bop. "Pick Up Your Burning Cross" features Angel Bat Dawid and Moor Mother trading vocal lines as clattering Afrobeat meets Latin funk inside post-bop. On "Hustle," Kojey Radical and Lianne La Havas entwine rap and honeyed soul over Hutchings' layered woodwinds and reeds and Cross' unruly tuba solo as the drummers trade syncopated fours. In "For the Culture," Hutchings' instruments frame grime emcee D Double E's rap in Middle Eastern modalism, while Cross adds slinky rhythmic pulses and harmonic invention atop a massive Afrobeat groove. "To Never Forget the Source" is a fingerpopping meld of calypso, rhumba, and South African township jazz, rife with call-and-response between brass and reeds. "In Remembrance of Those Fallen"'s lilting whistles and flutes join tenor saxophone and tuba amid zigzagging Latin and Brazilian rhythms, while cumbia meets son jarocho, and skittering Afrobeat as Hutchings sings and screams through his horn amid a rhythmic dirge and dissonant tuba. "Imagine Yourself Levitating" intersects dub reggae, out jazz, and spidery funk. Idehen returns on closer "Black," delivering a prophetic screed as the band chaotically runs through the album's preceding catalog of styles and sounds. He stridently asserts that "Black is tired," while the band bristles. He delves into Black history's record of oppression for proof, but emerges with the hopeful realization that, "This Black praise is dance! This Black struggle is dance! This Black pain is dance!" Black to the Future jams is a staggering achievement. Musically and culturally, Sons of Kemet not only holistically conceive of a future, they begin to create one right now.

(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)

In den 60er und 70er Jahren verbanden die Jazz-Harfenistinnen Alice Coltrane und Dorothy Ashby den flirrenden Klang des Instrumentes mit dem Groove des Jazz. In diese großen Fußstapfen tritt jetzt Brandee Younger mit ihren atemberaubend schönen, mal schwebenden, mal zupackenden Jazz- und Soul-Sounds.

Sie hat schon mit Musikern wie Pharaoh Sanders, Lauryn Hill und The Roots zusammengearbeitet und hat ihr Major-Label-Debüt in den legendären Van Gelder Studios in New Jersey aufgenommen.

Coltranes Meisterwerk live

1965 veröffentlichte John Coltrane sein Album »A Love Supreme«. Das berühmteste und erfolgreichste Studioalbum des Jazzsaxofonisten in Form einer Suite zählt heute zu den wichtigsten Alben des Jazz.

Coltrane nannte »A Love Supreme« eine »bescheidene Opfergabe an das Göttliche«. Keine andere Komposition oder Aufnahme wurde in ähnlicher Weise dargeboten. »A Love Supreme« war sowohl ein individuelles Testament als auch ein öffentliches Statement, eine Predigt des universalistischen Glaubens.

Der Konzertmitschnitt »A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle« erweitert nun die Geschichte eines großen Musikers und eines zeitlosen Musikstücks.

Obwohl es John Coltranes berühmtestes Album war, hatte er es nur selten auf die Bühne gebracht. Bislang stammte die einzige bekannte Liveaufnahme von einem Auftritt auf einem Jazzfestival im französischen Städtchen Antibes an der Côte d’Azur im Jahr 1965. Sie wurde 2002 auf CD veröffentlicht.

Mit »A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle« gibt es nun erstmals eine weitere vollständige Live-Version der Suite, die im Oktober 1965 in Seattle aufgenommen wurde. Es handelt sich dabei um eine seltene private Aufnahme. Das Set wurde 1965 von John Coltrane und Joe Brazil am letzten Abend von Coltranes einwöchigem Aufenthalt im Jazzclub »The Penthouse« in Seattle aufgenommen. Die Performance fand im Sextett statt, das neben dem »klassischen Quartett« mit Pianist McCoy Tyner, Bassist Jimmy Garrison und Schlagzeuger Elvin Jones, aus Pharoah Sanders (Saxofon) und Donald Garrett (Bass) bestand und teilweise noch um Carlos Ward (Saxofon) erweitert wurde.

Die Aufnahmen gingen jedoch größtenteils in den Archiven von Joe Brazil verloren, bis sie nach seinem Tod 2013 wiederentdeckt wurden. »A Love Supreme: Live In Seattle« ist mit über 75 Minuten mehr als doppelt so lang wie die ursprüngliche Studio-LP. Das Tracklisting finden Sie im Folgenden.