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Rating: There are timeless masterpieces that populate the immense universe that is music, the quintessential art form that, not by chance, deservedly takes its name from the term antiquity used to denote art and its forms in general. Over the years, this language - artistic form, if you will - has evolved in increasingly complex and nuanced ways, adopting a wide array of forms and shades. Cultures, places, and historical events have contributed to enriching this artistic heritage, and it was a historical event, the deportation of African natives to America initiated by the Spanish and Portuguese, that centuries later became the catalyst for the birth of jazz.
Born from the clash between Western schooling and the culture of African peoples, jazz is a genre to which we owe much for the wealth of innovations that, over its evolution, it brought to both the harmonic and rhythmic sides; its centennial history boasts a host of figures now recognized by many, musicians of value on par with the great composers of the Neoclassical period such as Stravinsky or Ravel, and it is precisely one of these gentlemen that I am preparing to write about today, seeking to bring to the readers' attention one of his most beautiful works. It is noteworthy how Coltrane's prolific period, immediately following the collaboration with Miles Davis, was relatively brief, lasting less than a decade. From the late fifties until '67, the year when the saxophonist prematurely died due to liver cancer, the intense activity of the musician allowed him to excel first in hard bop, then in modal jazz, finally reaching the often angular and revolutionary language of free jazz by the mid-sixties. According to Coltrane, music was indeed an experience to be lived in total expressive freedom; he himself saw in the advent of avant-garde genres an additional opportunity for expression and not the scandalous issue that was manifested by other musicians such as Davis himself. In less than ten years, Coltrane left an indelible mark; his music, not appreciated and not understood by many in its final phase, was eventually proclaimed "cultured" music; his legacy is invaluable and can be found in the numerous live and studio recordings released first by Atlantic and later by Impulse, which we also recognize for its merit in having recovered over the years a vast amount of unpublished material aimed at further highlighting the greatness and genius of this musician.
The transition in 1961 to the Impulse record label saw him give birth to one of his most beautiful sessions; "Africa Brass" was recorded alongside the immensely successful quartet with which the musician, in the same year, ended his ties with Atlantic, releasing to the public the beautiful "Olé". Hence Elvin Jones on drums, Reggie Workman on double bass, and a monolithic McCoy Tyner on piano; the pieces are arranged with the assistance of an orchestra which featured other great personalities of the period, including Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and Eric Dolphy on alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet. The atmosphere is decidedly modal, with the "serpentine" phrasing of Trane on the soprano sax opening the dance in this complete version with the jazz reinterpretation of the classic "Greensleeves"; Workman's vibrant bass line meshes with Tyner's piano and the brass, creating the fundamental support for a Coltrane who spares no effort, making us feel truly small in the face of the awareness of what a single man can do with his instrument in hand. Another classic interpreted by the quartet is "Song of the Underground Railroad"; the tranquility of "Greensleeves" is abandoned for a decidedly faster and more effervescent tempo, the main theme is repeated before giving way to Coltrane's lengthy improvisations on the Tenor and Tyner's majestic piano intervention, which stimulates the auditory pathways and the listener's imagination as few pianists can.
As we mentioned a few lines above, John Coltrane is a musician who never shunned experimentation, often and willingly seeking novelty and refined, non-traditional sounds, driven by the desire to express himself freely and not by an attempt to seem original for the sake of winning the public's admiration; indeed, this inclination ultimately caused him to lose the support of some of his admirers and the musicians with whom he collaborated, Tyner included.
Considerably more experimental than the other compositions is "Africa," a blues with tribal overtones, which precisely because of its refined nature combined with the depth and emotional charge unleashed by the main theme, Coltrane and Tyner's improvisations, and the entire context, stands as one of the masterpieces of this session, along with the splendid ballad "The Damned Don't Cry". The latter, written by trumpeter Cal Massey, alternates particular and poignant moments of unease with others of the purest, most vibrant swing; the theme is played by the trumpet and then by the entire orchestra, above which the melancholic phrasing of Coltrane's sax will weave.
I recommend to all who haven't done so already, to listen to this complete version, it contains some tracks not present in the original version, including "Blues Minor," an original piece by Trane.
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