Straight Horning: Some Coltrane

I can't say I'm a huge fan of John Coltrane, but I try to revisit his work occasionally. Over the last few years usually this has been in the form of his soprano playing. Over the past couple of months I've been listening to two of his early works featuring the straight horn from 1960 - The Avant-Garde (with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Percy Heath and Ed Blackwell) and My Favorite Things (with McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis and Elvin Jones).

I've always been a little curious about The Avant-Garde. Initially it was because he explores some works by Ornette Coleman (whom I was listening to a lot when I came across this album) plus it's Coltrane's first studio recording on soprano. Coltrane is still finding his feet on soprano and that alone makes it worth checking out. I'm not sure if it's the recording, the remastering, or maybe Coltrane himself but I find his tone on his horn (particularly soprano) to be very mid and treble-ly - like the bottoms have been mixed out. And while he never had what I consider a dark sound, the lack of bottom end is very apparent on this recording. Different band, different tunes, soprano debut - it doesn't feel like a fully realized album and maybe I can see why Atlantic sat on it for a few years before releasing it in the mid 60s. I wouldn't consider this essential Coltrane, but I do find it a very interesting album and it's a shame he didn't explore this direction a little further (I'm a fan of Ornette and his band members so it's hardly surprising I feel that way).

My Favorite Things was probably the 3rd or 4th Coltrane album I heard - after Blue Train and Giant Steps.... then it was either My Favorite Things or A Love Supreme (but I think it was the former). I have friends for which My Favorite Things was the album that got them into jazz in a serious way. It never made a big impression on me and as a result I hadn't given My Favorite Things a listen in quite some time. In fact, I can only remember listening to it once since I took up the soprano sax in ernest back in 2010 so I decided to give it a whirl again. The contrast between his tenor and soprano make for interesting listening (recorded 3-4 months following The Avant-Garde he is still finding his way on the soprano) and I had forgotten how subdued the band sounds on the title track. And although the album has probably had a dozen spins over the past six weeks or so, I can't say it has grown on me and I have to admit My Favorite Things still tends to leave me a little flat.

Next up on my Coltrane soprano listening list are the half a dozen or so tracks featuring soprano on the 1961 Village Vanguard recordings. I'm always open to suggestions, so let me know your favorite recordings of Coltrane on soprano and I'll try to get around to listening to them!

Jazz April: week 4 listening

Don Cherry: Complete Communion (Blue Note)
It had been quite a while since I last gave this spin, and the passing of Gato Barbieri was my prompt. Listening to this a few times throughout the week made wonder why I haven't listened to this album more over the years. The music free yet well grounded and compositionally strong - the album features two 20 minute suites each comprised of 4 parts. Solid playing from all - Henry Grimes and Ed Black are a great rhythm section pairing, Barbieri seems to take a lead from Ornette and then shifts it into his own areas, and it nicely compliments Cherry's playing. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.

Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds (Prestige) & Into Something (Prestige)
Of these two albums recorded in 1961, my preference was leaning slightly towards the latter. The rhythm section (Herman Wright and Elvin Jones) kick things along a bit more. It's a little more straight ahead and has less variety than (3 blues, a rhythm changes and 3 standards) Eastern Sounds, and perhaps that was the mood I was in the couple of times I listened to the album this week. Later in the week I gave Eastern Sounds another run and got more into it. The variety is its strength but I could help wondering how the album would sound with the Wright/Jones rhythm section. Barry Harris is on both albums but, outside of the standard tunes, I don't feel he was best suited for this music. His comping is fine, but I haven't been able to get into is improvising. One thing that hung with me from these two albums was Lateef's tenor tone on the ballads.

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse)
More specifically The Complete Masters Super Deluxe Edition..... and even more specifically the six takes of "Acknowledgement" from the sextet session. That they didn't get past the opening movement is telling, and the additional saxophone (Archie Shepp) and bass (Art Davis) seems superfluous. However, how would we react to these sextet tracks had we not heard the original work (or if it never existed)?

Sal Mosca: Too Marvelous for Words (Cadence)
Disc 4 is from a concert in Rotterdam and showcases 10 originals by Mosca (the disc ends with "You Got To My Head"). Sal's virtuosity is in service of the music rather than pyrotechnic wizardry. Tour de force doesn’t seem apt as he makes it seem so effortless. Lets hope that this set (and last years release on Sunnyside The Talk of the Town) brings Sal some well overdue attention. 

Don Cherry: "Mu" first part/"Mu" second part (Actuel)
After giving the above Cherry album a couple of runs, I pulled out this duo with Ed Blackwell. Whenever I hear this album I get the feeling that it's just a couple of friends who got together to play some music and decided to record it (there's a casualness about it that appeals to me). As I closely listen to Blackwell, the more I enjoy his playing.

Ned Rothenberg's Sync: Port of Entry (Intuition)
Aside from being a fan of Rothenberg, the instrumentation of Sync was what drew me to this group - alto sax/clarinets/shakuhachi along with Jerome Harris (acoustic guitar & bass) and Samir Chatterjee (tabla & percussion). Although this one deserves more listens, my initial impression left me wanting for a bit space and I wanted to like it more than I did. Since recording this back in the 1997/98, Sync have recorded a couple more albums and I'm keen to hear how they developed.

Don Cherry: Down Beat Feature 1963

LeRoi Jones' (Amiri Baraka) feature on Don Cherry (b. Nov 18, 1936) from the November 21, 1963 issue of Down Beat Magazine. Click on image to view full article as PDF. Here are more vintage magazine articles.

Ornette Coleman "Blindfold Test" and "Caught In The Act" Five Spot Review

Here are a few pages from the January 7, 1960 issue of Down Beat Magazine. First up, Ornette Coleman is the subject of Leonard Feather's "Blindfold Test." He comments on the likes of George Russell, Charles Mingus, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis and Yusef Lateef. Then his quartet (with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins) is "Caught In The Act" at the Five Spot Cafe by George Hoefer. Enjoy.

Listenings of Late

Well - here's what's been on of late.....

Miles Davis: "Live in Tokyo" (CBS)
This disc led me to listening to a bunch of Sam Rivers last week.

Sam Rivers:
"Vista" (Meta) A nice trio of Adam Rudolph (percussion), Harris Eisensadt (drums) and Rivers on Tenor/Soprano sax/Flute/. He didn't slow down in his later years - recorded in 2003 just before his 80th birthday.
"Crystals" (Impulse). I was familiar with the 2 big band discs from the 1990's on RCA but this one was new to me. A very distinctive big band writer.
"Waves" (Tomato)
"Hues" (Impulse)
"Streams" (Impulse)
Sam Rivers output from the 70's has managed to evade my ears until I had bit of a binge this week. Feel-wheeling, powerful blowing with plenty of continuity.

Cecil Taylor:
"Jazz Advance" (Transition) A bold debut with the added bonus of some early Steve Lacy.
"Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come" (Revenant Records) A live recording of an early incarnation of the Cecil Taylor Unit.
"Unit Structures" & "Conquistador" (Blue Note) Two classics on Blue Note (I tend to favor the latter). I enjoy the contrasts in this group - the bass playing of Silva & Grimes....Taylor's density & Lyons roots in Bird.
"For Olim" (Soul Note) Recommended if you are wondering where to start with Taylor's solo work.

There has been plenty of Ornette Coleman related albums on too.
Ornette Coleman:
"Something Else!" (Contemporary) I hadn't listened to this one in ages. I remember one of my friends being into this album (Hi Brad!)  and playing 'The Blessing' back in our days at what is now the NZSM.
"The Shape of Jazz to Come" (Atlantic)
"Live at the Golden Circle Vol.1" (Blue Note)
"Free Jazz" (Atlantic) Other disc I hadn't listened to in quite some time. Enjoyed much more this time round.

Old & New Dreams: "Old & New Dreams" (Black Saint) For those of you that enjoy Ornette Coleman's work on Atlantic this group (of Coleman Alumni) makes an excellent follow up.

Keith Jarrett: "Fort Yawh" (Impulse) Jarrett's 'American Quartet' - a group I haven't listened to that much.

Don Cherry: "Complete Communion" (Blue Note) A nice place to start with Cherry's work after the Coleman Quartet. Two, four movement suites with nice playing all round - particularly the rhythm section of Ed Blackwell & Henry Grimes.

John Coltrane & Don Cherry: "The Avant-Garde" (Atlantic) I feel this album is pretty up & down and can see why it wasn't initially released by Atlantic - must have sounded quite tame compared to what Coltrane was playing when it was released in 1966 ( the year "Ascension" & "Meditations" were released). Coltrane's earliest studio date on soprano.