I am beat. Enjoy the music everyone. Steven D
Today marks what would have been John Coltrane’s 88th birthday. The video clip I am sharing is from his “Classic Quartet” period, and is a piece I have always treasured. Today also marks the release of one of his later concerts, which may well offer hints as to what direction his music would have taken had he not succumbed to cancer so young. It will be a minute before I can afford to pick up this newest recording, but if it is anything like the above-linked article describes, it will be right up my alley. I don’t have3 the formal musical training that probably most jazz fans have – in fact my formal training is precisely zero. All I know is what I like and how the music makes me feel. Coltrane’s music – including his later work – leaves me in a good place. As to what direction he would have taken had he lived, we might never really know, although I’d like to think that pieces like “Kulu Se Mama” might have given some hints. If so, he would have been at home during the heyday of the early AACM, Black Artists Group, Don Cherry’s increasingly world music explorations, and so on.
Anyway, before I begin to ramble, enjoy the “Alabama” video.
