  |
|
|
 |
|
CD |
| 6.969 Ft
|
|
| 1. | Sita Ram
|
| 2. | Walk With Me
|
| 3. | Translinear Light
|
| 4. | Jagadishwar
|
| 5. | This Train
|
| 6. | The Hymn
|
| 7. | Blue Nile
|
| 8. | Crescent
|
| 9. | Leo
|
| 10. | Triloka
|
| 11. | Satya Sai Isha
|
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz; Modal Music; Modern Creative
Recorded: Apr 28, 2000-Jun 12, 2004
Alice Coltrane - Leader, Wurlitzer organ , Piano, Synthesizer
Ravi Coltrane - (1, 3-4, 7-9) Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Producer
Oran Coltrane - (6) Alto Saxophone
Charlie Haden - (3, 5, 8, 10) Bass
James Genus - (2, 4, 7) Bass
Jack DeJohnette - (1, 3, 5, 8, 9) Drums
Jeff "Tain" Watts - (2, 4, 7) Drums
To the listening audience: At this time in history, I tried to share the light upon the greatness and Infinite Oneness of the humanity, the universe, and the vast Beyond. Within the light of this Oneness, the Supreme allows us to soar into the transcendental glories of divine Consciousness endowed with joy, peace, and love.
- Very truly, Alice Coltrane
Translinear Light is Alice Coltrane's first recording in 26 years, since she withdrew from active performing and recording in the late '70s to open an ashram and devote herself primarily to spiritual pursuits. If she had never made another recording, she still would have a lofty place in the jazz pantheon, as a gifted pianist and organist, as the pianist in her husband John Coltrane's final band and last recordings, as a pioneer on the harp in jazz, and for her own legacy of penetrating albums that continued the lineage of musical/spiritual exploration that John Coltrane began in his later recordings.
Although Alice Coltrane retired from her career in music, she never stopped playing, and her music was an integral part of the services at the ashram and a major influence on the young Ravi, who was not quite 2 years old when his famous father died. Ravi, with his mother's encouragement, started playing the saxophone in his early 20s and undertook a patient, diligent apprenticeship as a sideman that has led to a mastery of the instrument that is all his own, as well as critical recognition as one of the leading saxophonists of his generation
In 1998, Alice Coltrane came out of retirement to perform in a special concert with her son at New York's Town Hall in 1998. This concert marked Ravi's coming of age as a musical force in his own right and showed Alice still at the peak of her formidable powers. Four years later, they performed together at Joe's Pub to celebrate the release of Ashley Kahn's book on the making of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and were again garlanded with critical encomiums. Translinear Light is the realization of Ravi Coltrane's dream to record with his mother and to bring her art back to public recognition.
The astonishing fact of Translinear Light is that Alice Coltrane's artistry is as fresh, complete, and compelling as in any of her celebrated works of thirty years ago or more. Her rigorously inventive approach to the music overflows with richly harmonized, exquisitely embellished ideas. Playing acoustic piano on tracks like her own "Translinear Light" and John Coltrane's "Crescent" she shows all the dexterous and imaginative powers at her command, from shimmering arpeggios to powerful thrusting chords. She authoritatively exploits all of the instrument's tonal and harmonic possibilities from the rumbling bass to the tinkling top wind chime notes. Though she doesn't play the harp on this recording, she often makes the piano sound like a harp.
In her idiosyncratic voicings on the Wurlitzer organ, the profound influence of Indian and Eastern music can be heard, with bent notes and a raga-like approach to improvisation, as on her arrangement of the traditional Hindu hymn "Sita Ram" which opens the album. She can make the instrument sound like an electric guitar, and joyously summons up psychedelic realms on her arrangement of the spiritual "This Train" and in dizzying tour-de-force soloing and exchanges with Ravi's tenor on John Coltrane's "Leo".
Her spacious, cosmic synth playing is heard on two movingly direct and simple hymns backing up affecting saxophone performances from each of her two sons: "Jagadishwar" which features Ravi Coltrane on tenor saxophone and "The Hymn", with Oran Coltrane on alto saxophone.
A heightened sense of occasion pervades the CD and everyone on the album plays in the stratosphere of their talents. Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette are among the greatest living practitioners of their instruments; both have recorded with Alice Coltrane on her classic albums; both play with astonishing power and inspiration here. Haden's spontaneous free-jazz duet with her on "Triloka" is a thing of beauty; his big, warm sound grounds the album. DeJohnette's mastery is breathtaking throughout, and on "Leo" he erupts into a 2:30 minute unaccompanied drum solo of dazzling virtuosity.
James Genus and Jeff "Tain" Watts are both giants of their generation of jazz artists and perform on three tracks with great aplomb. "Blue Nile" elicits bravura performances from both of them: Watts sets up an insistent African-flavored rhythm, and Genus takes an eloquent solo, while Ravi turns in extraordinary work on tenor saxophone.
With this recording, Ravi Coltrane assumes the mantle of his legacy. As a producer, he brings a profound understanding of both his parents' contributions. As a saxophonist, the need to stand on his own merits has cultivated an authority, simplicity, and freedom in his playing that is uniquely his, even when he summons up his father's spirit on tracks like "Crescent" or "Leo".
For Alice Coltrane, it is clear that all music is devotional music. Translinear Light is a logical extension of the spiritual and musical path that John and Alice Coltrane began together. It is radiant, cosmic, psycho-active music, which, despite its depth and complexity, has a timeless and universal appeal. This is one for the history books.
Translinear Light marks Alice Coltrane's return to recording after a 26-year hiatus. Her last outing, the live and marvelous Transfiguration, was issued by Warner Bros. in 1978. Coltrane's son, saxophonist and composer Ravi, produced the disc; he plays saxophones on five of the set's 11 cuts and contributes percussion to two others. Other musicians here include Charlie Haden, James Genus, Jeff Watts, Jack DeJohnette, and son Oran who plays alto in duet with her on one selection Translinear Light opens with a reprise of Alice's "Sita Ram," originally recorded for 1971's Universal Consciousness. Ms. Coltrane plays her signature style on the Wurlitzer organ with DeJohnette playing a synth drum and Ravi contributing organic percussion. Her long lines of individually played notes are set against a droning chorded backdrop, and are instantly recognizable. There is no speculation in her playing; an authoritative, deeply Eastern melodic sensibility saturates her improvisation. The shimmering piano intro of the traditional "Walk With Me," with its deep gospel roots set against a modal framework, brings the ancient hymn into the modern world and traces the artist's steps from her Detroit roots in the church to playing blues to the edge of the jazz vanguard without slipping into dissonance. It strolls back into a gently swinging lyric that almost literally sings atop the rhythm section of Watts and Genus before moving back to the open minor mode. The title cut is a ballad with Ravi on soprano and Haden and DeJohnette in support. The interplay betweenAlice and Ravi from the tune's slowly evolving head into the knotty modal chords and single-note runs that spark the dialogue, is simply breathtaking. The pair wind around and through one another as the rhythm section offers an insistent chromatic foundation. Though she has recorded them before, there are new readings of her late husband's "Crescent" and "Leo"; both offer new harmonic dimensions and emotional interpretations on the originals. She doesn't revisit them so much as recontextualize them musically. Ms. Coltrane plays piano on the former and a driven, fiery Wurlitzer on the latter, making the track a blistering maelstrom of activity. DeJohnette's drumming on these cuts is wildly incisive and canny. Ravi's soloing and accompaniment here -- and indeed throughout the album -- make this his most inspired performance on record. "Triloka," a duet with Haden, is sublime; a deeply meditative and lyrical work, it is especially poignant after the workout of "Leo." Ultimately, Translinear Light offers a poetic, well-rounded, and utterly convincing portrait of the artist's return to the public eye, at the top of her game. Translinear Light is a major entry in Coltrane's catalog. It is a defining, aesthetically brilliant statement from a master composer, improviser, and player. If ever there were a candidate for jazz album of 2004, Translinear Light is it.
--- Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Alice Coltrane
Active Decades: '60s, '70s, '80s and '00s
Born: Aug 27, 1937 in Detroit, MI
Died: Jan 12, 2007 in Los Angeles, CA
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde, Avant-Garde Jazz, Free Jazz, Modal Music
Music obviously ran in Alice Coltrane's family; her older brother was bassist Ernie Farrow, who in the '50s and '60s played in the bands of Barry Harris, Stan Getz, Terry Gibbs, and especially Yusef Lateef. Alice McLeod began studying classical music at the age of seven. She attended Detroit's Cass Technical High School with pianist Hugh Lawson and drummer Earl Williams. As a young woman she played in church and was a fine bebop pianist in the bands of such local musicians as Lateef and Kenny Burrell. McLeod traveled to Paris in 1959 to study with Bud Powell. She met John Coltrane while touring and recording with Gibbs around 1962-1963; she married the saxophonist in 1965, and joined his band -- replacing McCoy Tyner -- one year later. Alice stayed with John's band until his death in 1967; on his albums Live at the Village Vanguard Again! and Concert in Japan, her playing is characterized by rhythmically ambiguous arpeggios and a pulsing thickness of texture.
Subsequently, she formed her own bands with players such as Pharoah Sanders, Joe Henderson, Frank Lowe, Carlos Ward, Rashied Ali, Archie Shepp, and Jimmy Garrison. In addition to the piano, Alice also played harp and Wurlitzer organ. She led a series of groups and recorded fairly often for Impulse, including the celebrated albums Monastic Trio, Journey in Satchidananda, Universal Consciousness, and World Galaxy. She then moved to Warner Brothers, where she released albums such as Transcendence, Eternity, and her double live opus Transfiguration in 1978.
Long concerned with spiritual matters, Coltrane founded a center for Eastern spiritual study called the Vedanta Center in 1975. Also, she began a long hiatus from public or recorded performance, though her 1981 appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz radio series was released by Jazz Alliance. In 1987, she led a quartet that included her sons Ravi and Oran in a John Coltrane tribute concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Coltrane returned to public performance in 1998 at a Town Hall Concert with Ravi and again at Joe's Pub in Manhattan in 2002.
She began recording again in 2000 and eventually issued the stellar Translinear Light on the Verve label in 2004. Produced by Ravi, it featured Coltrane on piano, organ, and synthesizer, in a host of playing situations with luminary collaborators that included not only her sons, but also Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Jeff "Tain" Watts, and James Genus. After the release of Translinear Light, she began playing live more frequently, including a date in Paris shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and a brief tour in fall 2006 with Ravi. Coltrane died on January 12, 2007, of respiratory failure at Los Angeles' West Hills Hospital and Medical Center.
---Chris Kelsey, Scott Yanow & Thom Jurek, All Music Guide |
|
CD bolt, zenei DVD, SACD, BLU-RAY lemez vásárlás és rendelés - Klasszikus zenei CD-k és DVD-különlegességek |  | | Webdesign - Forfour Design |
|
|
