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John Coltrane CDs:
Ascension
/
Ballads
/
Best of John
Coltrane /
Impressions
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My Favorite Things /
Selflessness /
A Love Supreme /
Giant Steps
Meditations
Kulu Se Mama /
Interstellar
Space /
The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions /
Stellar Regions /
Expression /
Afro Blue Impressions
Coltrane Complete Live in Stuttgart 1963
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John Coltrane
Stuttgart 1963
By Kalamu ya
Salaam
This is the quantum
physics of jazz—music of explosive power that shatters
preconceptions and forces whole new formulations of what
the music can and should sound like. All who knew
Coltrane describe him as a gentle man, and no one ever
described him as angry or “militant.” Coltrane’s music
however, especially during the sixties, was often
anything but gentle, and because of the stylistic
firestorm he created, Trane was often accused of
destroying the basis of modern jazz. In fact, articles
and interviews in Downbeat, the leading jazz
magazine of Coltrane’s era, sometimes described
Coltrane’s music as “anti-jazz.”
Had Coltrane not had a profound influence on numerous
musicians, the controversy about his music would have
been personal and limited, much as was the situation
with critical and popular reactions to saxophonist
Albert Ayler. Coltrane however was revered as an
innovator (some argued "genius") and leader of the
sixties avant garde movement in jazz.
Coltrane championed many younger musicians. Archie Shepp
and Pharoah Sanders are two in particular who went on to
have long and important careers following their
introduction to wider audiences by John Coltrane.
Coltrane
reintroduced and popularized the soprano saxophone in
jazz. After his artistic and popular success with “My
Favorite Things,” the use of the soprano as a second or
supplemental horn became de rigueur, if not in many
instances mandatory, for modern jazz tenor saxophonists.
However, beyond influencing personalities and
establishing trends, Coltrane’s major contribution was
the broadening and deepening of the harmonic and
rhythmic basis of modern jazz. Indeed, in a number of
cases, specific approaches to both standards and
originals were noted as utilizing “Coltrane changes.” A
new prevalence of 3/4 and 6/8 rhythms was also
attributed to Coltrane as popularized in songs such as
“My Favorite Things” and “Afro-Blue.”
Coltrane was the most influential jazz musician in the
sixties until his death in the summer of 1967. Although
he recorded prolifically for Impulse records (a label
sometimes referred to as “the house that Trane built”),
the majority of those recordings were studio sessions,
which were in most cases refinements and/or summations
of what Coltrane had been working on musically, and as
such they tended to be elegant and carefully crafted
even when they were controversial, as was the case with
the Ascension sessions.
Allow me a brief digression: it turns out that there
were two takes of Ascension and that after the initial
release, at Coltrane’s insistence the other session was
released. The problem was there was no notation that
there were two different sessions except for the session
numbers scratched into the vinyl disc around the label.
The music itself was so wild and wooly that most people
could not tell the difference. Only years after
Coltrane’s death was a double CD set released that
described the initial process and the two different
takes.
Ascension was iconoclastic music from John Coltrane in a
large ensemble, Impulse probably figured that’s all
people needed to know. My point however, is that despite
Coltrane’s obvious importance and influence, Impulse
records did not accord him maximum respect as an artist,
nor did they make major efforts to record Coltrane in
performance. In fact, after 1965, live recordings were a
rarity except for bootlegs and unofficial recordings
from Japan and Europe. And that brings us to the 1963 Stuttgart sessions that
is the focus of this week’s Mixtape. I’ve said it before
and it bears repeating, the recording patrimony of
modern jazz would be embarrassing in its paucity were it
not for thousands of European recordings often initiated
as radio and television broadcasts, and in most cases
drawn from public concert performances.
How meager would be the examples of what the music
sounded like in performance were it not European fans of
the music. With a musician of the reputation and prowess
of John Coltrane, it is a shocking example of mainstream
disrespect and disdain that there are not more live
recordings of Coltrane available. The Stuttgart sessions
contain over an hour of previously unreleased Coltrane
performances. The 28-minute version of “Impressions”
included on the Mixtape is one of those previously
unreleased performances—and, oh, what a performance it
is.
The raw power and awe-inspiring stamina of live Coltrane
is often exhausting just to listen in as Coltrane takes
flight on quarter-hour and longer solo excursions that
often ended up being duets/duels with drummer Elvin
Jones. I referred earlier to quantum physics, when you
listen to Coltrane and Jones engage each other in
classic performances what you hearing is both a fusion
and fission of modern music.
Coltrane and Jones are so closely in-tune with each
other that a steady 4/4 beat is not necessary to feel
the pulse of their music, but at the same time they seem
to be clawing away at every restraint, literally blowing
and beating away all constraints and conventions:
Coltrane summoning banshee howls and guttural oaths
designed to unleash a tumult of emotions, while Jones
artistically pounds out a torrent of poly-rhythms at a
pace and with an intensity still unmatched by any other
drummer. “Impressions” is a prime example of the
aforementioned description of Coltrane’s music.
The first half of “Impressions” features a fine solo by
pianist McCoy Tyner followed by one of the best Jimmy
Garrison bass solos ever recorded but then Mr. Trane
soars in on his saxophone and hold on tight, this is
going to be one of the rides of your life. To me what is
so startling about this particular solo is the harmonic
clarity. If you are at all familiar with modern jazz,
you will have little difficulty following the harmonic
progression even as you marvel at the raw power of
Coltrane’s solo, which never lets up.
Also included on the Mixtape is a beautiful take on
Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro-Blue,” a song popularized by
Coltrane and very often erroneously attributed to
Coltrane’s authorship.
Recorded November 4, 1963 at the end of a fall tour of
Europe, the Stuttgart sessions is absolutely brilliant
and absolutely required for any serious Coltrane
collection. Although this was not an official recording
sessions, the sound quality is good (I would have
preferred more snare and tom-toms from Jones and
slightly less cymbals, but that is a mere quibble). This
is of much better audio quality than many other bootlegs
from that era and for that alone we are thankful. But
beyond the audio quality is the fact that the music
itself is sterling. Coltrane freaks unite! We have
another flag to proudly fly.
Source:
Breath of Life
posted 25 November 2011
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music website >
http://www.kalamu.com/bol/
writing website >
http://wordup.posterous.com/
daily blog >
http://kalamu.posterous.com
twitter >
http://twitter.com/neogriot
facebook >
http://www.facebook.com/kalamu.salaam
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John
Coltrane Quartet 1963 Afro-Blue /
John
Coltrane—Impressions, 1963
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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