This wonderful New Year's greeting arrived in my inbox yesterday from the poet Chen-ou Liu, who lives in Canada. I asked his gracious permission to share it blog readers here and he was kind of enough to grant it.
Heading into the new year, "Spritual" is as fine a composition, at once detailed and melodic, complex and basic, as one can imagine, rendered live by one of the best improvisatory ensembles as there ever was. This was the first album with the classic John Coltrane Quartet: Elvin Jones, Paul Chambers, and McCoy Tyner. For this selection the incomparable Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet makes this piece levitate.
And below is "an outake" from the original album, with Coltrane and Dolphy ascending to amazing heights of musical transcendence:
The mind is, of course, the most complex instrument of all, certainly proven by these stellar tunes. For those who prefer their transcendence a tad more melodic, here are two of my favorite recordings from Coltrane's Atlantic years, "Equinox" and "Central Park West":
Posts
.jpg)
