Login
This album is one avant-garde album for sure! Right off the bat it starts with a barage of horns, drums and piano on The Father and The Son and The Holy Ghost. As with the classic album Free Jazz, you have sounds coming from different channels and this all adds to the insane craziness that you have going on. Some of the sax from Coltrane I kind of don't like on here. He blows so hard I think his head is going to pop off and I can't imagen what he looked like playing this live! This is the release where I like Rashied Ali the best. His drums seem to be spot on and he has awesome solos, not that he never did anyway, but I just like hearing him a lot in this album for some reason. Maybe he stands out more. Elvin Jones seems to use the Tom more out of the two drummers and it all sounds great.
The first two tracks run as one long piece and you don't even know the switch over at all. I absolutely love McCoy Tyners piano on Compassion. It's the perfect blend of improv and free jazz. Just fucking amazing and I almost wish I could get it just as a solo somehow. It honestly sounds like two people are playing the piano...unreal! Love starts off with a bass solo by Jimmy Garrison and it's very very quiet. Then John comes in with a very soft sax and it's a very relaxing tune, compared to what you just heard before hand. This is probably my favourite track on here as it has a little bit of everything. Everyone seems to be doing their own solos and in such a masterful way too. Like the first two tracks, these last three run as one peice and the pace soom picks up when we get to Consequences. The horns get harsher, the drums get faster and the overall mood is telling you to "Suffer and face this music!" There's another long McCoy Tyner solo finishing off this track and it's not as brutal, as in Compassion, but instead it's light and spans all the keys it seems. The disc ends with the very nice Serenity. A gental, melodic piece with some of the best Coltrane improv sax you'll hear I'm sure.
It's no surprise that album came before Ascension as the two have a very similar quality to them. I for one enjoy them both the same and this type of jazz was what made John really get noticed!
Credits:
Bass - Jimmy Garrison
Drums [Left Channel] - Rashied Ali
Drums [Right Channel] - Elvin Jones
Piano - McCoy Tyner
Composed By, Saxophone [Tenor], Percussion [Left Channel] - John Coltrane
Saxophone [Tenor], Tambourine, Bells [Right Channel] - Pharoah Sanders
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ on November 23, 1965.
