Free Jazz in Japan

Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz (1960) {Atlantic Japan, Paper Sleeve, WPCR-25110 rel 2006}
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© 1960, 2006 Atlantic / Warner Music Japan | WPCR-25110 | 24bit remastering
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Alto Saxophone

As jazz's first extended, continuous free improvisation LP, Free Jazz practically defies superlatives in its historical importance. Ornette Coleman's music had already been tagged "free," but this album took the term to a whole new level. Aside from a predetermined order of featured soloists and several brief transition signals cued by Coleman, the entire piece was created spontaneously, right on the spot. The lineup was expanded to a double-quartet format, split into one quartet for each stereo channel: Ornette, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Billy Higgins on the left; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell on the right.

The biggest volume so far in the Spiritual Jazz series from Jazzman Records – and maybe the best as well! This fantastic collection looks at the huge legacy of spiritual jazz that flowed from the Japanese scene in the postwar years – sounds that had their initial expression around the same time that the modal jazz of Miles and Coltrane was bursting forth in the US, but which also too so many twists and turns of its own – with some very strong influences along the way from Japanese folk and culture! Much of this music was initially restricted only to release on Japanese labels – and even later, as some of the artists attained fame, the global circulation of their music only happened with more commercial recordings.

Milt Jackson - Born Free (1966) {Limelight Japan 826 990-2 rel 1986}
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© 1966, 1986 Limelight Japan | 826 990-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Vibes

This obscure mid-'60s record by Milt Jackson has few surprises, though many jazz fans would be suspicious that the theme from the movie Born Free would turn into a viable jazz vehicle. Jackson's funky treatment of this normally laid-back piece works very well. Jimmy Heath, who plays great tenor sax on several tracks, contributed the funky original "Bring It Home (To Me)" as well as "A Time and a Place," which became one of his better-known compositions. Less successful is his chart of Jackson's somewhat monotonous "Whalepool." Pianist Cedar Walton, a favorite collaborator of the vibraphonist, is the centerpiece of their rendition of Miles Davis' landmark modal tune "So What." Long out of print, this Limelight LP has been reissued in Japan, but this recommended album will be expensive to acquire in either version

John Coltrane - Concert In Japan (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals B0015955-02 rel 2011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 418 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 170 Mb
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© 1966, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015955-02 | LP AS-9246-2
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modal Music / Free Jazz / Saxophone

This single-disc Concert in Japan by John Coltrane's 1966 quintet is a reissue of the original double LP that was released as IMR 9036C in 1973. Its three selections include two long instrumental pieces and a spoken introduction of the musicians in Japanese. These performances are compiled from two Tokyo dates. This set is not to be confused with the four-disc document that includes both Tokyo concerts in their entirety. The band here performs a 25-minute "Peace on Earth," a ballad that Coltrane wrote especially for the tour, to express his empathy and sympathy for the nuclear destruction Japan experienced during WWII. The tune moves outside, but stays well within the realm of spiritual boundary-pushing that the band was easily capable of.