BY ANY MEANS – Live At Crescendo (Unofficial Re. 077/078/079 / 3LP-2010)

Label: Private Press / Unofficial Release 077/078/079-3LP
Other: AYVI-0770719-01 / AYVI-0780719-02 / AYVI-0790719-03
Format: 3 x Vinyl, Album / Country: Switzerland / Released: 2008/Re-2010
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded on October 19, 2007 at Club Crescendo, Norrköping, Sweden
Cover – Åke Bjurhamn
Photography By – Lars Jönsson / Joacim Jönsson
Recorded By, Mixed By – Per Ruthström
Executive-Producer, Liner Notes – Jan Ström
Layout – Stéphane Berland
Composed By – Charles Gayle / Rashied Ali / William Parker
7 320470 068335 / Rights Society: BIEM/n©b
Matrix / Runout (LP-1, side A): Private AYVI-0770719-01
Matrix / Runout (LP-1, side B): Private AYVI-0770719-01
Matrix / Runout (LP-2, side C): Private AYVI-0780719-02
Matrix / Runout (LP-2, side D): Private AYVI-0780719-02
Matrix / Runout (LP-3, side E): Private AYVI-0790719-03
Matrix / Runout (LP-3, side F): Private AYVI-0790719-03

side 1:
A1 - Introduction ........................................................................................................ 0:54
A2 - Zero Blues ......................................................................................................... 7:25
A3 - Hearts Joy ....................................................................................................... 13:23
side 2:
B - We Three ........................................................................................................... 14:37

side 3:
C1 - Different Stuff .................................................................................................... 6:28
C2 - Love One Another ........................................................................................... 10:40
side 4:
D1 - Straight Ahead Steps ........................................................................................ 7:19
D2 - Peace Inside ..................................................................................................... 8:33

side 5:
E1 - Machu Picchu ................................................................................................. 10:46
E2 - Cry Nu ............................................................................................................... 7:58
side 6:
F1 - Eternal Voice ..................................................................................................... 9:08
F2 - No Sorrow ......................................................................................................... 7:38

Personnel:
CHARLES GAYLE – alto saxophone
WILLIAM PARKER – bass
RASHIED ALI – drums, percussion

Given the group name and the personnel – wall-destroying saxophonist Charles Gayle, bassist William Parker and drummer Rashied Ali – you’d be forgiven for reaching for the seatbelt in anticipation of another obliterating slab of high energy instant composition. And you’d be half right. After all, this is the same group that cut the raging Touchin’ On Trane for FMP in 1991, still one of the most aggressively nuanced free jazz LPs to retain an umbilical connection to the New Thing. But the change of name also marks a slight change of tack. Live At Crescendo presents a 2007 concert from Sweden in its entirety. Gayle’s playing may not be any sweeter, but it immediately feels more informed by the eschatological gospel and blues that made up more traditionally ‘earthed’ Gayle sides like Ancient Of Days.

The longest track is just over 14 minutes, a mere feather on the breath compared to the steel tongue athleticism of earlier releases, but Gayle’s playing is so hyper-focused, so exactingly executed, that he devours the minutes, bracketing accelerated, smeared scales with boppy heads and sudden invasions of the alto’s most phantom registers.
Rashied Ali has cut some fairly pedestrian sides over the past decade or so, but for the duration of this set his reactions are as lightning fast and tonally astute as anyone who came up in his shadow. His various solo spots combine an almost machine gun-style rapid attack with an uncanny feel for timbre that means at points you could almost mistake his floor tom for Parker’s bass. Indeed, Parker and Ali sound particularly good together and between them they generate the kind of precariously accelerated architecture that Gayle loves to take nosedives from.

The first part of the show is slower, with tracks that feel more rigorously constructed, while the second is a little wilder, kicking off with a great vocal/horn piece by Gayle that feels like a more articulate take on the pan-African love cry of Arthur Doyle.
Parker’s “Eternal Voice” is another highlight, with Gayle picking out high, melodic complements to his singing arco work.

It’s a fantastic set, one that explodes the tradition while simultaneously bolstering it, like all of the most ass-flattening free jazz dates.

(By David Keenan / The Wire)

If you find it, buy this album!

JOHN COLTRANE QUINTET – Coltrane In Tokyo Vol. 1 (1966 / 2LP-1980)

Label: MCA Records – MCA VIM-4628–29(M)

MAPS 9764

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: 1980

Style: Free Jazz, Modal, Free Improvisation

Recorded live at Koseinenkin-Hall, Tokyo, on July 22, 1966.

Previously released on Coltrane In Japan (Impulse! ‎– IMR-9036C / 3LP-1973)

Album Photography : Tadayuki Naitoh

Album Designed by Hisashi Tominaga

Manufactured By – Victor Musical Industries, Inc.

Matrix / Runout (A-Side Run Out): VIM-4628 - 9764A-1

Matrix / Runout (B-Side Run Out): VIM-4628 - 9764B-2

Matrix / Runout (A-Side Run Out): VIM-4629 - 9764A2-1

Matrix / Runout (B-Side Run Out): VIM-4629 - 9764B2-2

A1 - Introduction To My Favorite Things ........................................................ 14:40

        (Solo By Jimmy Garrison)

A2 - My Favorite Things Part 1 ....................................................................... 11:36

B  -  My Favorite Things Part 2 ....................................................................... 31:20

C  -  Leo Part 1 ............................................................................................... 17:15

D  -  Leo Part 2 ............................................................................................... 28:00

Personnel:

John Coltrane – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone

Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, bass clarinet

Alice Coltrane – piano

Jimmy Garrison – bass

Rashied Ali – drums, percussion

JOHN COLTRANE QUINTET / Coltrane In Tokyo Vol. 1 (1980 Japanese MCA rainbow label 5-track double vinyl LP), recorded live during Coltrane's only tour of Japan at the Koseinenkin Hall, Tokyo on July 22nd 1966 with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison and Rashied Ali.

Coltrane In Tokyo is a remarkable set of music, documenting two stints in Tokyo in July of ’66, it shows Coltrane with his newest cronies at some absolutely inspired heights of playing. Their sound is unlike anything that came before it, fed by the fiery push and shove of the more melodic Coltrane and the fractured torment of Pharoah Sanders; Alice Coltrane’s otherworldly piano playing and Rashied Ali’s untraceable flurry of rhythms "powered" by the increasingly dissonant, thumping grooves of Garrison’s masterly interweaving.

Coltrane In Tokyo sees Coltrane climbing towards the height of his gradual evolution, and each document of Coltrane’s journey is seemingly more mind-opening than the last. His explorations into foreign tonal and improvisational ideas with Eric Dolphy on 1962’s Ole Coltrane planted the seed for his mystical brand of intense soul-searching, only to be expanded upon time and time again until it seemed as if the man were ready to explode with ambition for want a higher state of understanding. Coltrane’s thirst for new sounds is fundamentally intertwined with his desire to see the universe from a new, higher perspective, and this is why his music exudes its spiritual, even cosmic aura.

Arriving in July 1966, Coltrane is only one year away from his untimely death, but his fervor for life is at an all-time high. His stream-of-consciousness investigations are more adventurous than ever, and this record encapsulates brilliantly the heart of what makes jazz music so compelling. The opening cut of this set is a wild retelling of an old favorite that everyone knows: “My Favorite Things.” But not everyone knows this version. The main theme is merely alluded to, putting all the focus on the improvisation; and to see the constant re-invention of such a well-known standard from its humble beginnings on Coltrane’s 1961 release to the hour-long epic majesty as presented to Japan on this night is absolutely extraordinary. It’s a testament to the immortality of jazz as an artform and its room for constant reinvention, solely through the unique sensibilities of the musicians telling their own stories.

There’s almost a sense of competition going on here, with Coltrane bumping up the ferocity to match the atonal shrieks of his sideman. The take on “Leo” here, a cut that originally appeared as a sax-drum duet on Interstellar Space illustrates the dynamic fury of the ensemble like nothing else. The addition of the extra horn and Alice Coltrane’s piano adds new dimension to the tune in unexpected ways, coloring it with new shades of ethereal chaos. The highlight may still be when all else goes silent, though, and Rashied Ali’s drum solo takes over. He tears open conventional hard bop style and shows me the song’s rhythm through a kaleidoscope, fracturing my sense of time and momentum. There’s unbelievable power behind his playing, his kick drum pounds like the stomp of a warhorse; his fills tumbling, dynamic, atmospheric. Alice C.’s piano solo immediately thereafter spirals through realms of the unreal and climaxes into a full-on imaginative flight from Coltrane and later Pharoah.

Coltrane liked to open his tunes with extended bass solos, which is evident in both of the near-hour long tracks, “My Favorite Things” and “Crescent”. This technique is something I’ve fallen in love with, as Jimmy Garrison’s bass throughout the album adds gravity to the music, nimbly intermingling with Ali’s schizophrenia, somehow navigating the polyrhythms and outlining the groove. But, stripped of all the other elements, Garrison’s bass delineates the atmosphere of the tune with ad-libbed solos that draw the listener into the world of the song before the rest of the band takes flight, beating around connotations and whispers of a hardbop swing, scaling through hints of motifs and building cleverly with tense chords and transient grooves. When the rest of the band comes tumbling in nearly 15 minutes into “My Favorite Things,” the stage has been set, the lights dimmed, the incense burned...

If you find it, buy this album!

JOHN COLTRANE QUINTET – Coltrane In Tokyo Vol. 2 (1966 / 2LP-1980)

Label: MCA Records – MCA VIM-4630–31

MAPS 9765

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: 1980

Style: Free Jazz, Avant-garde Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded Live at Sankei-Hall, Tokyo, on July 11, 1966.

Previously released on Second Night In Tokyo (ABC Impulse! ‎– YB-8508–10-AI / 3LP-1977)

Album Photography : Tadayuki Naitoh

Album Designed by Hisashi Tominaga

Manufactured By – Victor Musical Industries, Inc.

Matrix / Runout (A-Side Run Out): VIM-4630 - 9765A-1

Matrix / Runout (B-Side Run Out): VIM-4630 - 9765B-2

Matrix / Runout (A-Side Run Out): VIM-4631 - 9765A2-1

Matrix / Runout (B-Side Run Out): VIM-4631 - 9765B2-2

A  -  Afro Blue Part 1 ...................................................................................... 21:50

B  -  Afro Blue Part 2 ...................................................................................... 17:30

C1 - Introduction To Crescent ........................................................................ 13:10

        (Solo By Jimmy Garrison)

C2 - Crescent Part 1 ...................................................................................... 12:20

D1 - Crescent Part 2 ...................................................................................... 27:55

D2 - Short Closing Theme : Leo ...................................................................... 1:25

Personnel:

John Coltrane – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone

Alice Coltrane – piano

Jimmy Garrison – bass

Rashied Ali – drums, percussion

JOHN COLTRANE Coltrane In Tokyo Vol. 2 (1980 Japanese MCA rainbow label 6-track double vinyl LP), recorded live during Coltrane's only tour of Japan at the Sankei-Hall in Tokyo on the 11th of July 1966.

The songs on this album are noted for their very lengthy running time, all during which each player takes long, free solos, and sometimes the melody is not even played but only briefly alluded to.

By this point in his career, Coltrane was firmly enmeshed into the avant-garde style of jazz. Sanders, who was an innovator of free jazz, influenced Coltrane's playing through his technical use of overblowing and fierce vibrations of the reed, and this record is remarkable for its use of multiphonics, overtones, and other extended musical techniques from both players.

The surreal marathon of 40-minute opener “Afro-Blue” on this album is by far the longest Coltrane ever recorded. It opens with the well-known head before Coltrane takes a modest soprano sax solo, getting free but restrained, then passing over the reigns to a fervent Pharoah, whose solo takes it to the edge. He wastes no time getting atonal before transforming into a grand, beautiful cascade of multiphonic despair and ecstatic overtones, shrieking for the entire duration of his 12+ minute solo. Alice C.’s piano solo dances freely with ghostly grace and tempered insanity, only to lead into an unbelievable 18-minue solo from Coltrane, whose warped melodicism creates a psychokinetic energy to match the intensity of Pharoahs’s all-out visceral whirlwind. Coltrane’s interaction with Ali is remarkable, the two always feeding off one another and, no matter how free and unrestrained, staying remarkably tight through the windstorm of free-flowing tempo fluctuations, as if their minds were merged in meditation.

After a 12-minute bass intro, Coltrane's song "Crescent" is kicked off, with both saxophones taking ferocious solos during the almost hour-long version. The performance concludes with a short statement of the theme from "Leo", behind the MC's introduction of the band.

Coltrane’s dive into the avant garde is clearly manifested here, as his group goes to the edge to find the zone and suspend themselves there. The level of intensity, longing, and joy that pervades the collective imagination of this recording gives it a towering stature in the jazz world. It is an album with a presence that cannot be ignored by any music fan...

_Review by Kyle Banick

If you find it, buy this album!