| Product Summary | | Label: SAVOY/WEA | | UPC: 00795041774422 | | Release Date: 1/13/2009 | | Buy.com Sku: 210526046 | | Item#: M4JVD4 | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 2060 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Shine ~ Ravi Coltrane |  | | 2. First Circuit ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 3. Still Life, A ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 4. Epistrophy ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 5. Amalgams ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 6. Narcined ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 7. One Wheeler Will ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 8. Last Circuit, The ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 9. Before With After ~ Ravi Coltrane | | | 10. For Turiya - (featuring Brandee Younger/Charlie Haden) ~ Ravi Coltrane | |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Ravi Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Luis Perdomo (piano); Drew Gress (acoustic bass); E.J. Strickland (drums). | | Audio Mixer: Steve Genowick. | | Being the son of the late jazz icon John Coltrane and harpist Alice Coltrane, tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane has quite a legacy to live up to. But the younger Coltrane isn't trying to escape his father's influence--he just wants to channel it in his own way. While his style is alternately energetic and moody post-bop, Ravi is not shy about embracing inspiration outside of mainstream jazz, such as the funk-flavored "Narcined" along with the free and spiritual strains of "For Turiya." (Jazz bass great Charlie Haden guests on the latter.) Unlike some jazz players, Ravi Coltrane also has the advantage of a long-standing band behind him, so his music as a whole has a distinctive sound. | | Ravi Coltrane's second CD as a leader for the Savoy label (his fifth overall) is balanced between improvisation based on spontaneous themes and compositions that have a certain direction, both concepts blessed with a purpose and vision. Blending Times, as its title implies, signifies his coming of age, his dedication to finding his own voice on the tenor saxophone, and his use of a free-form approach much like his famous parents, John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane, in their later years. Armed with a skilled band of pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer E.J. Strickland, Ravi Coltrane is quite able to utilize his dual stylistic persona in ways that work in terms of accessibility and freshness, blending the roots of his heritage and bloodlines into his own hard-fought and compelling mannerisms. Perdomo, who has worked with the saxophonist for a number of years, is particularly brilliant and close to amazing, wending his way in and out of stated short phrases or motifs on the improvisations and contributing the opener, "Shine," a saintly spiritual tune gliding -- although free of a time signature -- beyond beauty. Ralph Alessi's "One Wheeler Will" is the singular piece cemented in distinguishable phrases -- albeit in a choppy and kinetic 13/8 ostinato -- rooted in the N.Y.C. neo-bop that defined contemporary jazz in the 1980s. The nine-minute "For Turiya" was written many years ago by Charlie Haden for Alice Coltrane, and here it is revised, with Brandee Younger on harp, Haden on his ever stoic and soulful bass, and Ravi Coltrane's somber and remorseful tenor sax echoing an ultimate elegy epilogue prayer. The band stretches Thelonious Monk's "Epistrophy" via a quick, cleverly executed waltz in a 4/4 framework with a lopped-off beat at the end of each completed phrase, further emphasized by Perdomo's picture-perfect swaths and swipes. Five of the free-form pieces are credited as improvisations conceived and directed by Ravi Coltrane, and all have a similar but non-threatening quality of patience, virtue, and sharing, merging from various duo settings to the full band eventually joining in. "First Circuit" is a free bop jam, while "A Still Life" has a two-note bass call from the ever present Gress merging into currents and torrents ? la John Coltrane's sheets of sound concept. "Amalgams" is another floating/spiritual combine, "Narcined" is an unforced funky butt dance, and "Before with After" is a somber prelude to "For Turiya." Where Ravi Coltrane's sound may not be immediately identifiable, he has for sure made his craft a viable and attractive sound in a marketplace where there are many players who closely imitate his legendary father. This is a very fine effort, understated overall, and one that can easily be recommended to all modern jazz lovers who find room for unconventional music not branded by academia, the so-called tradition, or overt commercial considerations. ~ Michael G. Nastos |
Producer: Ravi Coltrane |
Musical Guests | | Brandee Younger | | Charlie Haden |
| | Artist Overview | | Lke his legendary, almost mythic father, John Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane is a tenor saxophonist , but he didn't go into the family business the usual way. Ravi was only two years old when his father died so the elder Coltrane's musical legacy wasn't an issue for the son until much later on. Young Ravi listened to Motown, James Brown, funk, classical music, and rock; he didn't get seriously into jazz until his late teens. After schooling, Ravi got practical experience with drummer Elvin Jones and pianist Joanne Brackeen. Ravi Coltrane's sound is huskier and more mercurial, somewhat evoking Joe Henderson in phrasing or Johnny Griffin in its linearity than that of his father. |
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| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 01/13/2009 | | Original Release Date : 2009 | | Catalog ID : SVY 17744 | | Label : Savoy Jazz (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00795041774422 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Down Beat (p.72)
- "With his long-time working quartet, Coltrane's music here is progressive within what most would accept as the contemporary mainstream. It is pure, earnest and marinated in modal flights that move freely over a permissive and responsive rhythmic underpinning that lets the music move where it likes."JazzTimes (pp.72-73)
- "Coltrane favors harmonic and rhythmic ambiguity....He exhibits a bold vulnerability that's refreshing to behold." |
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