This just came in via e-mail, the tour dates of US3 whose latest album Questions also features Alison Crockett.

Oh, and if someone provides me with a ticket for the concert in Hamburg/Germany, I promise to go :-)

Some of you have asked me what I have listened to when this site was in hibernation. Well, I re-discovered some of my “old” records and some songs from artists, who had me their records, has really grown on me and became something like an all-time-favourite. Ok, the list would be very, very long anyway. If you have a large record collection you know what I mean. You go through the piles of records and think ‘oh, that was such a great tune, how come I haven’t heard it for a long while?’ So, if you should come up with a list of your all-time-favourites you’ll end up somewhere in the thousands.
Anyway, here are a few songs I’ve listened to and that now mean a lot to me:

Julie Dexter Walk With Me
Fay Victor: Zootoon
Joanna Pacale: Too Marvelous For Words
Myron: Heaven
Dee Daniels: A Song For My Father
Emma Hutchinson: Altea
Monica Dillon: My Baby
Carmen Lundy: Windmills Of Your Mind
Harvey S.: Momentano/Before
Kipper Jones: Better
Frank McComb: When You Call My Name
Juliet Kelly: Too Late Now
Ledisi: Feeling Orange And Sometimes Blue
Maiuko: Breakdown The Walls (reprise)
Tom & Julie: Like Ours
Fertile Ground: Yellow Daisies

Eventually there was a kind of musical revelation to me: the music of Alice Coltrane.
The odd thing is that the first time I’ve heard a song by Alice Coltrane (A Love Supreme, that appeared on the bonus CD of Red Hot + Cool Stolen Moments) it meant nothing to me then and I was like “mmm that sounds strange, more punishing than rewarding, oh my gosh, the widow wanted to punish her late husband John with this recording and spolied it”. Well, that was in 1994 over ten years ago and I guess you really have to evolve your taste in music before you are able to understand spiritually influenced music like Alice Coltrane has recorded.

Years later I really discovered instrumental jazz through releases by McCoy Tyner, Archie Shepp, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, and Courtney Pine. And it was McCoy Tyner’s Extensions album that re-introduced me to Alice again. I just fell in love with Message From The Nile and I really liked the harp you can hear on it. Looking at the CD showed me that this was Alice Coltrane playing the harp, an instrument used rather seldom on jazz recordings.
The next step was of course lookin for releases by Alice in the records stores in Hamburg/Germany. From her Impulse years there were only a few available over here. So I’ve purchased three of her albums Journey in Satchidananda, Monastic Trio and Ptah, The El Daoud.

I really liked Ptah then (especially Turiya And Ramakrishna and Blue Nile) - and still do it now. Turiya And Ramakrishna is still the most soulful instrumental jazz song I know. But I guess in the meantime I really understand the title song Ptah, The El Daoud.
The real revelation and a great journey into Alice Coltrane though were the albums Huntington Ashram Monastery, Universal Conscousness, Lord Of Lords and most of all World Galaxy. Yes, the album that features her version of A Love Supreme, the musical icon by John Coltrane, that only few people dare to touch. Will Downing did a clever thing with his debut album by adding vocals to the song and turning it into a soul song.

The addition of strings to songs like Galaxy In Turiya or Galaxy In Satchidananda adds real depth, drama and spirituality to the songs and thus makes World Galaxy one of the best jazz albums of all times for me. I would even dare to say that Alice has outdone John with her version of A Love Supreme. After more then ten years (remember 1994?) I finally love this song with the introductory narration by Swami Satchindananda about love and the organ Alice plays throughout the song.

I’ve never been into classical music, but I must admit I like Alice versions of Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird. In the liner notes to her Lord Of Lords album there’s an oblique explanation by Alice about The Firebird:

“On March 20, 1972, I was blessed with the good fortune of receiving a visitation from the great master composer, Mr. Igor Stravinsky, whom I had never met before in life. After a warm and intimate discussion on the subject of music, he said: “I wanted you to receive my vote.” I did not fully understand his meaning. He then presented me with a small glass vial containing a clear, colorless liquid. He was seated in a comfortable armchair; he held me close and said, “Daughter, this vial was for your grandmother, but instead, I kept it in reserve for you.” He then asked if I would like elixir, I said yes. As he walked away for it, I began to drink from the vial. To my surprise, it was difficult to swallow. When it was finished, Mr. Stravinsky returned. Since that time, I have kept the album photograph from Mr. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in my room. As opposed to this photograph, he had the appearance of an elderly man, but none of the weariness or age lines shown on this face.
Since that time, it has been incumbent on me to proceed forthrightly into the great master Stravinsky’s works. Divine instruction has been given to me throughout the entire arranging of this music, even down to the smallest detail. Ohnedaruth, when he was John Coltrane, seven years ago, introduced to me the music of, as he termed it, “a Universal musician and composer,” Mr. Igor Stravinsky.”

If you have the time and want to experience great spiritually moving music, that even moves an atheist like me, I recommend that you start with these albums:

Ptah, The El Daoud
World Galaxy
Huntington Ashram Monastery
Lord Of Lords
Universal Consciousness

And to close this excursion into the music of Alice Coltrane, here’s a quote a friend of mine once said when I played him some of Alice’s songs “Who needs drugs when you can appreciate this music”

[more infos about Alice on the internet: jazzsupreme.com, silent-watcher.net, theglobalist.com, allmusic.com]

The Jazzcat has a fine review of a live performance of Carmen Lundy, from which the picture above is, er, borrowed :-)
There also a short video clip from Carmen’s performance of All Day, All Night (from her This Is Carmen Lundy album) at the Vic in Santa Monica. And if you’re living in London/UK consider yourself very lucky, since Carmen will be at Ronnie Scott’s for several days (June 6-13th, 2005)

  

You like the music of Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Faye Adams, Sarah Vaughan, Martha Davis, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Cab Calloway, and Ruth Brown? You like to see a movie that features all these artists and more? You have a broadband connection to the internet? You don’t wanna pay a dime for it? “Impossible” I hear you say. Nope, just visit archive.org and download the Rhythm and Blues Revue from 1955. The stand-up comedy between the performances is a little bit dated but it’s still a fine movie if you like one of the above mentioned artists.
And you will find even more interesting movies on offer like Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe or Reefer Madness. Just browse the Feature Films page of the internet archive.

Since the nice folks at Heads Up kept sending some records during jazz-not-jazz hibernation it’s more than fair to review the new album No Boundaries by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Touted as Zulu Goes Classical on Heads Up’s website No Boundaries is indeed an interesting concept that combines South Africa’s a cappella band par excellence Ladysmith Black Mambazo with the strings of the English Chamber Orchestra. Having recently discovered the magic of strings on Alice Coltrane’s World Galaxy and Lord Of Lords albums, I must admit that I really like the idea and - what’s even more important - the result.

I especially like the original compositions here like the opener Jabulani, an update from their early album Thandani, or Ngingenwe Emoyeni (Wind Of The Spirit Of God), that’s maybe the song on the album that sounds the most one might expect a Zulu band to sound like.

Dona Nobis Pacem, which is taken from the Missa Brevis for Youth Choir by Isak Roux is one of the stand-out songs for me with it’s gospel-inspired handclapping.

The only thing that’s not working in my ears is the inclusion of the tenor Robert Brooks on two songs (J.S. Bach’s Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring and F. Schubert’s Sanctus (Heilig, Heilig, Heilig). First of all this won’t work for me because I’m not into classical music and on the other hand it just sounds to forced to me to marry classical European music and Zulu music. Whereas on songs like Walil’ Umtwana (The Child Is Crying) or Amazing Grace/Nearer My God To Thee it’s just done with ease and great credibility.

All in all an ispiring album that’s worth to check out if you’re musically open-minded.

For more infos visit headsup.com and mambazo.com.

While the Fertile Ground album was certainly “old news” this is a real news. The Yellowjackets will release their new album Altered State on March 25, 2005 on Heads Up

Although Yellowjackets have released numerous albums, their Time Squared release was my first Yellowjackets album. This was certainly because I was more into vocals all the years and I only recently discovered my love for instrumental jazz (and then I’ve gone to the other extreme with discovering the opus of Alice Coltrane - but more about that in another post soon).

Altered State brings us eleven original compositions amongst them a full vocal track in the shape of The Hope, that features Jean Baylor on vocals and has a nice gospel influence with the Perri sisters on background vocals (although Sharon, Lori, Carolyn and Darlene are renamed Perry here).

The ten instrumentals Bob Mintzer, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip, and Marcus Baylor have created are all fine and flawlwess and perfect for a lazy day at home although some songs could’ve been improved with adding a little more depth to them in my opinion. Especially the inclusion of the bass clarinet here and there reminds me of smooth jazz’ icon Kenny G. but maybe it’s just that this particular instrument is forever spoiled for my ears :-)

For more infos visit headsup.com and yellowjackets.com.

Of course there were some great albums released during jazz-not-jazz’ hiatus. One of them is Fertile Ground’s Black Is… album released on Blackout Studios/Counterpoint Records.

Who owns Fertile Ground’s Spiritual War or Sesaons Change album will know that they are one of the best bands out there that offer a great melange of soul, jazz, poetry, reagge and dub. In their music you find echos of soul’s music icons like Stevie, Marvin, Donny, or Roberta.

All songs are lovingly sung by vocalist extraordinaire Navasha Daya adding even more depth and spirituality to the music. Listen for Spiritual World with its Yoruban prayer for example (”Cause down here is something different/ Adding experiences to my soul/ It may be viewed just like a prison/ But it’s necessary for my growth/ In this schoolplace world we’re living/ Our personality we must control/ We must keep a higher vision/ Remembering our purpose and our role“)

Live In The Light, the first single, offers what we all loved about 70s soul music. A funky upbeat groove and lyrics that dare to voice an opinion (”So let’s stop the war, stop poor, stop for peace/ Stop the bomb, stop the bush, stop the beast/ Stop for love, stop the lies, stop the fights/ Stop the deaths, stop the hate, live the light“).

And the good things continue with songs like Another Day, the spoken words entry An Artist Prayer or one of my favourites Yellow Daisies, although I could virtually name every song on Black Is… as favourite song. They are all great and if you’ve missed this album on its release in autumn 2004 make sure to get it now.

For more infos visit blackoutstudios.com and counterpointrecords.co.uk.