Old Don Cherry

John Coltrane - The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings {7CD Box Set Reissue 2013}
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© 2013 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner | 8122796427
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Modal Music / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

The Heavyweight Champion is a box set that lives up to its title. Collecting all of John Coltrane's Atlantic recordings, including a fair number of unreleased takes as well as an entire disc of alternate tracks and studio chatter, the seven-disc box set documents a pivotal moment in Coltrane's career, as he was moving from hard bop and sweet standards to a more daring, experimental style of playing influenced by the avant-garde. Much of the music is hard bop (Giant Steps) or lushly melodic (My Favorite Things), but the latter discs show the saxophonist coming to terms with the more experimental movements in jazz. The scope of this music is, quite simply, breathtaking – not only was Coltrane developing at a rapid speed, but the resulting music encompasses nearly every element that made him a brilliant musician, and it is beautiful.

One of the towering figures of 20th century's music, Alabama-born pianist and organist Herman "Sun Ra" Blount (1914) became the cosmic musician par excellence. Despite dressing in extraterrestrial costumes (but inspired by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt) and despite living inside a self-crafted sci-fi mythology (he always maintained that he was from Saturn, and no biographer conclusively proved his birth date) and despite littering his music with lyrics inspired to a self-penned spiritual philosophy (he never engaged in sexual relationships apparently because he considered himself an angel), Sun Ra created one of the most original styles of music thanks to a chronic disrespect for both established dogmas and trendy movements.

Rob Blakeslee Quartet - Waterloo Ice House (1999) {Louie Records - Louie 012}
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© 1999 Louie Records | Louie 012
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Trumpet

Sometimes a jazz band will perform sans piano simply because the bar or hall doesn’t own one, or for a New Orleans funeral procession the reason is obvious. The choice not to record with an available piano is a conscious one. Take Ornette Coleman’s 1960 quartet, Sonny Rollins at The Village Vanguard 1957, or John Zorn’s Masada of the 1990s all elected to free themselves from the constraints of those black & white keys. I’m telling you this because Rob Blakeslee’s quartet opts for openness and the freedom. Peace. Blakeslee and Rich Halley are regular contributors to the West Coast bands of Vinny Golia and recordings from his label 9Winds.

One of the most prominent and influential Italian jazz musicians, pianist/composer Giorgio Gaslini's music wed elements of 20th century classical music (serialism, aleatory) with avant-garde jazz and pop idioms; he termed his widely encompassing style "total music." Gaslini took piano lessons as a child and began performing at the age of 13. He formed and recorded with a jazz trio at the age of 16, and at 19 he performed at the International Jazz Festival in Florence. Gaslini attended the Conservatorio in his home town of Milan, studying composition, conducting, and piano. Gaslini's interests were varied; in the late '50s and early '60s he led a jazz quartet, composed for film, and led several Italian symphony orchestras…