Funky tonk, indeed. In the fall of 1971 the Miles Davis septet embarked on a 21 date tour of Europe. Captured for broadcast on Norwegian television was the ensemble’s ascendant set at Chateau Neuf in Oslo, Norway. A high water mark of this iteration of Davis’ band, the incendiary hour-plus set runs the voodoo down and back again, with untethered performances from all involved. Edging into the beyond, Keith Jarrett appears especially possessed…
Category: Jazz
Abstract Truths: An Evolving Jazz Compendium – Volume 8
The return of Abstract Truths. This series began in 2016 as a way to highlight jazz in all its many forms. The selector for this installment’s dig finds musician and collage artist Ilyas Ahmed weaving a two-plus hour tapestry of sound, spanning 1964-2021.
Diversions :: Spencer Zahn On Keith Jarrett
We recently caught up with Spencer Zahn whose new album, Pale Horizon, dropped last week via Cascine. A multi-instrumentalist whose varied output touches on jazz and piano-based works, for this installment of Diversions Zahn dives deep into the works of fellow traveler, Keith Jarrett.
Alice Coltrane :: Yogaville 1993
Beautiful Alice Coltrane artifacts keep popping up, whether in official guise (last year’s Turiya Sings collection) or unofficial bootleg situations (the astonishing Berkeley 1972 double LP). Somewhere in between is this recently unearthed video of Coltrane performing at the Yogaville complex in Buckingham, Virginia, in the 1990s.
Turiya Alice Coltrane and Devadip Carlos Santana :: Illuminations
Coming together in an unlikely but harmonious collaboration under their recently bestowed Sanskrit names, Turiya Alice Coltrane and Devadip Carlos Santana recorded Illuminations as a reflection of their newfound spiritual awakening. Released in 1974, the album embodies a deliberate shift for both artists, who had edged closer to explicitly devotional compositions throughout the early seventies…
Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins :: Unreleased Duet, July 1993
Likely a precursor to the 2004 ECM double-duo-album Which Way Is East, which was Higgins’ final recording, the ’93 duet contains a familiar acoustic ambience—beautiful, ragged, scruffy—and sounds imprecise but locked in: theme and un-variation that could only be crafted by these two Americans.
Alice Coltrane :: 16mm Documentary
Culled from a 1970 documentary created for a segment of the Black Journal television program, this unearthed 16mm color film finds Alice Coltrane between the albums Huntington Ashram Monastery, and Ptah, the El Daoud.
Captured three years after the death of John Coltrane, the piece begins in media res outside the Long Island, NY home the artist shared with her late husband and children. In a floating voiceover, Coltrane reflects on matters of the spiritual and beyond, as we catch a glimpse of the family’s domestic life on the property. A scant yet powerful fifteen minutes, things soon turn to music as the film shifts to a grip of rare, live footage of Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders getting free in performance. Highly recommended.
Don Cherry :: It Is Not My Music (Swedish TV Documentary, 1978)
As a followup to last year’s phenomenal Don Cherry archival releases and book via Blank Forms, check out Det Är Inte Min Music (It Is Not My Music), a remarkable 1978 doc on the musician made by Swedish filmmaker Urban Lasson. Over the course of about an hour, we follow Don, his partner Moki and their kids from the pastoral Swedish countryside to the decidedly un-pastoral urban landscape of late-seventies NYC.
Robin Kenyatta :: Girl From Martinique
Funky: the last descriptor one would ever reach for while describing an ECM record…but that’s exactly what this is! Released in 1970, Robin Kenyatta’s lone ECM effort finds the reedman employing the clavinet vamp of Wolfgang Dauner, swathes of reverb, electronics, and the rhythm section of bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Fred Braceful. Come for “Blues For Your Mama”, stick around for the rest.
Nikolaj Hess :: Spacelab & Strings
Danish pianist/composer Nikolaj Hess returns, melding two ensembles on Spacelab & Strings. Interweaving a classical string quartet with a piano trio, the recombinant septet finds Hess delving into new abstractions, exploring color, tonality and time.
Don & Moki Cherry :: Organic Music Societies
Organic Music Societies, a new book (and its accompanying exhibit, currently on display at the Blank Forms gallery space in Brooklyn) is a fantastic and thorough documentation of Don and Moki Cherry’s time together, packed with dazzling art and photography, insightful essays, and illuminating interviews.
John Surman :: Upon Reflection (ECM)
Here’s something to get lost in, the hypnotic world of British reedman John Surman, courtesy of his 1979 ECM effort, Upon Reflection. Recorded in Oslo, with production helmed by Manfred Eicher, the recording finds Surman in widescreen form experimenting with sequencers and synthesizers in addition to his duties working bass clarinet and baritone/soprano saxophone.
Tune In, Zone Out :: Silent Ways
Silent Ways offers an immersive submersion into the depths of “In A Silent Way.” Composed by Joe Zawinul and made famous as the title track of Miles Davis’ first all-electric LP, it’s a song that doesn’t attempt to stop time as much as it attempts control time. Speed it up, slow it down, stretch it out, turn it upside down
Wolfgang Muthspiel :: Angular Blues
There’s a particular clarity made possible by the trio format, something guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade make clear on Angular Blues, Muthspiel’s fourth album as bandleader for the storied ECM label. This spacious arrangement makes for magnificent listening.
Journeys In Satchidananda ~~ Versions
In recent years, the smoky, mystical groove of Alice Coltrane’s “Journey In Satchidananda” has emerged as a go-to vehicle for musical travelers of varying stripes. This two-hour mix pulls together a selection of these journeys (along with some offerings from Alice herself). Hey, if you’re going to listen to a single bass line for 120 minutes, I can think of no better candidate than the god-like lope that Cecil McBee originally laid down back in 1970. No matter where these musicians go on their respective journeys, there’s a unifying questing vibe, a desire to tap into the cosmic imagination. Spend some time with them on a higher plane.