Major Works of John Coltrane: Ascension 1 & 2 / Om / Kulu Se Mama / Selflessness

Crowns of Jazz (100 items)
list by Ruisperkele

It's strange to call this album a 'debut', because Michael already had a incredible track record as a member of the Brecker Brothers, Steps/Steps Ahead as a sideman. Joined by an excellent line-up of musicians, Michael plays inspired. The compositions are good (not great), and the album contains excellent soloing. Pat Metheny and Michael just sound fantastic together. The bonus track at the end is... read more

Description: John Coltrane's twin bookends of spiritual outreach and fulfillment (A Love Supreme from December of 1964, and Meditations from November of 1965) represent the final incandescent emotional peak of his classic quartet, and by the end of '65, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner would leave the band, to be replaced by Rashied Ali, Alice Coltrane, and the young reed firebrand Pharoah Sanders, as the tenor saxophone giant ventured ever further into the uncharted realms of universal chant and freeform improvisation. In between were a slew of recordings that stretched the boundaries of form and content as far as the saxophonist John Coltrane's twin bookends of spiritual outreach and fulfillment (A Love Supreme from December of 1964, and Meditations from November of 1965) represent the final incandescent emotional peak of his classic quartet, and by the end of '65, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner would leave the band, to be replaced by Rashied Ali, Alice Coltrane, and the young reed firebrand Pharoah Sanders, as the tenor saxophone giant ventured ever further into the uncharted realms of universal chant and freeform improvisation. In between were a slew of recordings that stretched the boundaries of form and content as far as the saxophonist's tenuous connections to the jazz tradition were concerned, but which rank among the most visceral, emotionally intense recordings since humans first walked erect--each an event unto itself. Herein are the collective polyphonic pandemonium of Ascension (Trane's response to Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz and Albert Ayler's New York Eye and Ear Control), the psychedelic/mystical turmoil of Om, and the Afrocentric constructs of Kulu Su Mama. Frenetic in execution, ritualistic in its collective focus, this music ranges from prayer-like declamations, to thermonuclear collective meltdowns that are not recommended for the faint of heart. --Chip Stern ... (more) (less)