Free Soul 20th Anniversary , Supervised by: Chosen songs / Toru Hashimoto (SUBURBIA), Free Christmas will deliver the best Christmas to decorate the last of the 20th anniversary of Soul.
Brilliant work from Coltrane – recorded in the 60s, but not issued until the late 70s, and only then, not properly in print until the release of this great package! The material is classic Coltrane Quartet sessions – with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones working with Trane to craft some long tracks that show the expanding genius of the group at the time. The spirit of the work is in the "new thing" mode of the 60s – more adventurous than even Coltrane's work from a few years before – and titles include "Living Space", "Dusk-Dawn", "The Last Blues", and "Untitled 90314".
A set that definitely lives up to the poetry promised in its title – with none of the too-clean sounds you might guess from its hand-washing reference either! The album's one of the freest, most organic sessions we've heard from pianist Masabumi Kikuchi – almost improvised at points, but with a poetic cohesion in the piano lines that's really great – kind of an offbeat sense of lyricism that points in the same directions that Steve Kuhn or Keith Jarrett were heading in the late 60s. Drummer Masahiko Togashi plays lots of cool percussion and even a bit of gong – and Gary Peacock's bass here is as great as on any of his other excellent Japanese recordings. Titles include "Dreams", "The Trap", "The Milky Way", "Apple", "Get Magic Again", and "End".
Reissue with the latest remastering and the original cover artwork. Comes with a description written in Japanese. A firey session from the quartet of George Adams and Don Pullen – a set that has the group stretching out in some of their most spiritual modes, yet still finding plenty of time to swing as well! Adams is tremendous on tenor – a very fresh voice in the post-Coltrane world, with phrasing that is all his own – even more amplified when he switches to flute – and Pullen's got this ability to go outside, and show his knowledge of the darker corners of the keyboard – yet never let that side of his playing overwhelm things, possibly because the rhythmic accompaniment from Cameron Brown on bass and Dannie Richmond on drums is so strong. Tracks are all long, and very individual – with the group in high spirits on the titles "Earth Beams", "Magnetic Love Field", "Saturday Nite In The Cosmos", "More Flowers", and "Dionysus".
One of the greatest recordings ever made by John Coltrane in his late years – a spare set of duets with drummer Rashied Ali, recorded in 1967, but never issued until after his death! Trane and Ali play in a free spiritualist mode, with no other accompaniment – making for a very unique album, especially for the time, and setting the tone for years of New York improvisation in the 70s. Titles include "Mars", "Venus", "Jupiter", and "Saturn".
Key 60s material from the great John Coltrane – even if the set wasn't ever released until the late 70s! The album's kind of a "prequel" to the later Meditations record, and it stands as a key bridge between Coltrane's modal years and his more spiritual sounds – delivered here by a core quartet, without the larger accompaniment that graced the later version! The classic quartet is at their best – McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums – and the sound is slightly more inside than later, but no less filled with searching and yearning! CD version contains a 12 minute extended alternate take of "Joy", the centerpiece of the composition.
Reissue with the latest remastering and the original cover artwork. Comes with a description written in Japanese. George Adams and Don Pullen knock it out of the park on this one – finding great company in each other's presence, and really moving things forward in the process! The set begins with a long track titled "Mingus Metamorphosis", and that really sums up the spirit of the record – an 80s reworking of all the ideas that the players had learned from Mingus, but with an individual, personal sense that's all their own – and very different than some of the more standard modes of the Mingus Dynasty group that continued the legacy in a more direct manner. Adams is bold one minute, lyrical the next – and plays both tenor and flute – alongside Pullen on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and Dannie Richmond on drums.