Remembering John Coltrane on his 100th Birthday

Raising a glass to iconic jazz saxophonist/composer John Coltrane his 100th with a 1963 appearance on Jazz Casual, an interview with Ravi Coltrane and more.

Drummer Billy Hart releases live quartet recording "Multidirectional"

It's legendary drummer Billy Hart's 85th birthday today and we're celebrating the news of his latest release, Multidirectional recorded live – out now!

Here's the scoop...

Jazz drumming legend and NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart discusses his long-running quartet's first live album, Multidirectional (Smoke Sessions Recordings). This video includes live performances by the quartet, which features Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson, and Ben Street. Selections include "Sonnet for Stevie" (Turner), "Song for Balkis" (Hart), "Amethyst" (Hart), "Giant Steps" (Coltrane), and "Showdown" (Iverson). 

Legendary drummer Billy Hart credits the great Rashied Ali for introducing him to the term “multidirectional” – a descriptor for the elusive, daring approach to the kit that Hart and others of his generation had developed intuitively in response to the increasing freedom and exploration of the era’s jazz experimentation.

“Rashied Ali told me that ‘multidirectional’ was what John Coltrane called this freeform feel, where conventional structure was abandoned and the rhythms could cut in any direction,” he writes in OCEANS OF TIME: THE MUSICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BILLY HART, his captivating new memoir. Hart had begun to explore that style under the influence of Coltrane’s pioneering work, first venturing into the terrain while playing with Pharoah Sanders at the famed East Village club Slugs’.

More than half a century later, Hart has refined and evolved the approach into a singular percussive voice of unparalleled elegance, finesse and intricacy – as exemplified on MULTIDIRECTIONAL, the first live recording by his longstanding quartet featuring tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Ethan Iverson, and bassist Ben Street.

The album’s release arrives just in time for Hart’s 85th birthday, and vividly reveals that the beloved drummer still has surprises to reveal. No less an authority than Iverson, not just a collaborator for more than 25 years but a respected scholar of the music’s history, marvels at hearing Hart veer into this audacious direction.

“A year or two into playing with Billy and his quartet,” Iverson recalls to writer Nate Chinen in his liner notes, “I went over to rehearse, and he sat down at his drums and said: ‘I want some music in this band that’s like John Coltrane with Rashied Ali.’ Then he started playing in the style, which I don’t think I’ve heard Billy ever play in another setting. He was always swinging so hard, doing what he does at the highest level every time—but I didn’t catch a situation with Quest, or any other group live where I would have heard a taste of that.”

Not that Hart is a stranger to adapting his distinctive voice to multifarious approaches. Iverson mentions Quest, the post-bop quartet in which he joined Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach; add to that another venerated collective, the hard bop all-star group The Cookers, not to mention Herbie Hancock’s pioneering Mwandishi sextet – the context in which Hart earned his sobriquet Jabali, Swahili for “rock.”

Then there’s the long history of work with many of jazz’s greatest artists, a list that ranges from Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Smith to Bill Frisell, Charles Lloyd, Branford Marsalis and Joe Lovano, among countless others. In 2022 he took his well-deserved place among the ranks of NEA Jazz Masters.

For more than 20 years now, Hart’s stellar quartet has added inestimably to that legacy. Their studio albums have documented the development of the band’s scintillating chemistry and an intense yet spacious group sound. But something further bursts forth when they take the stage together, a kaleidoscopic searching and bristling energy that has finally been captured, like lightning in a bottle, in this exhilarating live recording from the stage of Smoke Jazz Club.

As Hart describes, “Everybody in the band has had a direction in mind since I met them, and there were times when we got to certain points but never got a chance to record it. We did make records, but we weren’t playing in front of an audience.”

The album is an ideal showcase for Hart’s quartet, the members of which are a generation younger than the drummer/bandleader but all acclaimed veterans in their own right. “I know I’ve changed a lot as a result of playing with Billy in this band,” Turner says. “In terms of our experience level, we’ve come closer to Billy, if that’s not too egotistical to say. We’re 20 years older. We’ve all improved. We’ve gotten better as musicians, more comfortable in our own skin.”

Hart inaugurates the set on mallets, establishing an almost reverent tone on “Song for Balkis,” a tribute to his daughter that also opened the quartet’s 2012 ECM release ALL OUR REASONS. The song turns tumultuous – and, yes, multidirectional – as Turner unfurls a probing solo. Trane’s influence becomes explicit on an unusually restrained version of “Giant Steps,” which gains intensity and velocity as the familiar tune progresses from Iverson’s tentative, agitated solo intro.

Turner’s “Sonnet for Stevie” is propelled by Hart’s broad, unhurried swing foundation, Iverson’s solo seeming to hang suspended from Street’s sturdy basslines. Hart reaches back to the title track of a 1993 album for “Amethyst,” offering perhaps the date’s most striking example of the band’s fluid multidirectionality – never quite settling into a recognizable tempo or rhythm, yet maintaining a determined momentum and cohesiveness throughout. They conclude with Iverson’s “Showdown,” an introspective ballad that opened the quartet’s most recent studio outing, Just, highlighted by Turner’s eloquent melodicism over the leader’s sensitive, nuanced touch.

Deep into a storied career, Billy Hart remarkably continues to discover new paths to traverse. MULTIDIRECTIONAL refers to the rhythmic unpredictability displayed on this essential album, of course, but there’s a philosophy suggested by the word that defines Jabali’s restless curiosity – striking out along varied and divergent currents, unpredictable but always possessed by a resolute sense of direction. 

Get a copy of the Billy Hart Quartet's new album Multidirectional via Bandcamp right here. Note: the 180 gram vinyl pressing is limited to 500 copies. Check out the release trailer video and an interview following the credits below. 

Credits: 

Recorded Live at SMOKE Jazz Club, NYC December 7–10, 2023.

Produced by Paul Stache; Production Assisted by Damon Smith; Recorded by Paul Stache & Richard Bernard; Mixed by Chris Allen; Mastered by Chris Allen & Tyler McDiarmid; Photography by Jimmy & Dena Katz and Dave Kaufman; Liner Notes by Nate Chinen. 

R.I.P. jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette, 1942-2025

Sadly, versatile jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette has died of congestive heart failure at 83. He'll be greatly missed.

John Coltrane & Eric Dolphy's Village Gate performances from '61 released!

A rare 1961 audio document of the Coltrane Quintet with Eric Dolphy in action at the Village Gate in NYC has just surfaced.

Here's the scoop...

In the summer of 1961, John Coltrane headlined at the celebrated music venue, the Village Gate, with a lineup of musicians that included McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman, Elvin Jones, and the fiery playing of Eric Dolphy. Now after six decades, the live recording of the creative and transformative spirit that sprang from the pairing of Coltrane and Dolphy, and the evolving short-lived quintet, Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy (Impulse!) is available now worldwide in physical and digital formats. Check it out right here. Get a limited edition copy on orange vinyl right here. 

 

Recently discovered at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the recordings of these fabled performances—recorded by engineer Rich Alderson (using a portable Nagra tape recorder with an RCA-77 microphone) as part of a test of the club's new sound system—were seemingly lost, then found, and then disappeared again into the vast sound archives of the Library for the Performing Arts.  The tapes’ circuitous route over several decades seemingly mirrors Coltrane's ongoing musical journey in August of 1961.

 

Recorded during Coltrane’s month-long Village Gate residency with his quintet (often with a revolving cast of musicians), the album consists of eighty minutes of never-before-heard music. It offers a glimpse into a powerful musical partnership that ended much too soon – Dolphy sadly passed away three years later and this recording is the only live recording of their legendary Village Gate performances. In addition to some well-known Coltrane material (“My Favorite Things,” “Impressions,” and “Greensleeves”), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on “When Lights Are Low,” and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition “Africa,” that includes bassist Art Davis.

  

Evenings at the Village Gate showcases the poignant, brief relationship between John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. Coltrane first met Dolphy in Los Angeles and, when Dolphy moved to New York in 1959, they renewed their friendship. They recognized many of the same analytic and driving qualities in each other. Both came of age at the height of bebop, both were deeply interested in harmony and emotive expression and both employed vocal-like effects and a wide emotional range in their playing. The combination of their signature sounds—Dolphy's distinctively bright, sharply-stated voice set against Coltrane's darker, slurred phrasing—is a unique and evocative feature of their historic run at the Village Gate.

 

Accompanying the release are essays from two participants from those evenings at the Village Gate, bassist Reggie Workman and recording engineer Rich Alderson. Additionally, historian Ashley Kahn and jazz luminaries Branford Marsalis and Lakecia Benjamin offer valuable and insightful essays on the recordings. Check out clips of "My Favourite Things," "When Lights Are Low" and "Africa" followed by Ken Micallef's review after the tracklisting below. 

 

Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy

1) My Favorite Things (15:45)

2) When Lights Are Low (15:10)

3) Impressions (10:00)

4) Greensleeves (16:15)

5) Africa (22:41)

  

Happy Birthday Art Farmer!

Remembering trumpeter Art Farmer with an early gem featuring saxophonist Benny Golson and a young McCoy Tyner. 

R.I.P. Charnett Moffet, 1967-2022

Sadly, jazz bassist Charnett Moffett passed away recently after suffering a heart attack. He was just 54. He'll be greatly missed. 

Watch Azar Lawrence with McCoy Tyner & Juini Booth in Berlin, 1974

Here's some rare footage of saxophonist Azar Lawrence with Mcoy Tyner at Berliner Jazztage following an interview with Azar.

Watch McCoy Tyner live at the Molde Jazz Fest '75

McCoy Tyner is joined on stage in Norway by Azar Lawrence, Juini Booth, E. W. Wainwright and Guillerme Franco. 

 

Shabaka & The Ancestors release We Are Sent Here By History

Check out three songs from Shabaka & The Ancestors' powerful new album on Impulse! followed by a spiritual jazz mix assembled by Shabaka Hutchings.

Shabaka Hutchings' Astro Black Mix track listing:

Feelin' Good - John Coltrane
Astral Travelling - Pharoah Sanders
Contemplation - McCoy Tyner
Om Shanti - Alice Coltrane
Believe, For It’s True - Billy Harper
Kubi - Zim Ngqawana
Fanfare - Bokani Dyer
Because You Knew - Mandisi Dyantyis
The Rain - Eddie Gale

R.I.P. McCoy Tyner, 1938-2020

Sadly, pianist/composer McCoy Tyner, best known for his groundbreaking work with the John Coltrane Quartet, has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. 

Happy Birthday McCoy Tyner!

Here's piano great McCoy Tyner performing "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit" with Azar Lawrence, Alphonse Mouzon and Juini Booth in 1973. 

One For The Weekend: John Coltrane

Here's the title track off the just released "Blue World" album recorded by John Coltrane's classic quartet on June 24, 1964. 

Yet another "lost" John Coltrane album Blue World due Sept 27

The music of Blue World was cut by John Coltrane's classic quartet for Gilles Groulx's 1964 film Le Chat Dans Le Sac.

LINKS
NPR A Lost John Coltrane Album is Found Thanks To A French-Canadian Director

Lost John Coltrane recording with classic quartet due June 29th

John Coltrane's session from March 6, 1963 – featuring three unknown compositions – will be issued as Both Directions At Once.

RIP Alphonse Mouzon, 1948-2016

Remembering master percussionist Alphonse Mouzon with his performances alongside McCoy Tyner and Doug Carn. 

Happy Birthday Stanley Turrentine

Remembering the tenor titan with Wahoo featuring Lee Morgan, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner & Bob Cranshaw.

Happy Birthday John Coltrane!

Celebrating John Coltrane's birthday with some rare performance footage of A Love Supreme from 1965.

Watch the McCoy Tyner Quartet live in 1971

McCoy Tyner is joined by Alphonse Mouzon, Sonny Fortune & Calvin Hill on WNET's SOUL!

Happy Birthday Reggie Workman!

José James previews new album in Toronto

As part of the 2012 NuFunk Festival, in collaboration with Do Right! Music, jazz sensation José James will play the Great Hall on Friday March 2.

The supremely soulful Minneapolis-born singer combines a deep knowledge of the jazz tradition with a b-boy's respect for hip hop culture (check his creative reinvention of Freestyle Fellowship's Park Bench People below) for a spiritually potent sound all his own. Undeterred by the lack of support from commercial radio and the woefully out-of-touch mainstream jazz media, James steadily built a global following with stellar festival performances, sold-out club dates and profile-raising collaborations with McCoy Tyner, Jazzanova, Chico Hamilton, Nicola Conte, Wynton Marsalis, Flying Lotus, The Heritage Orchestra, Christian McBride, Toshio Matsuura, Simbad and Robert Mitchell.

While James'superb swing through the standards on 2010's For All We Know (Impulse!) served notice to the jazz establishment that the promising young baritone had serious chops, the next album could be the topper. As such, James' return to Toronto to preview material for his forthcoming release No Beginning, No End will make his show at the Great Hall (1087 Queen West) a major event.

Tickets are $20 advance and available at Play De Record (357A Yonge), Soundscapes (572 College) and Rotate This (801 Queen West).

Park Bench People by José James



LINKS
NuFunk Festival www.Nufunk.ca
José James www.josejamesmusic.com