Pharoah Sanders Quartet - The Creator Has A Master Plan

barabara sounds sez:

Late-period Pharoah, and by this time (2003) he has mellowed substantially. The fire is muted but, like all the great players, he still has his tone and his edge.

Yes, much of the album is located well in the jazz centerfield, focusing mostly on down-tempo ballads. And yes the album includes 6 minutes of outright dross that you should program out of your playlist and your life for ever (look at the track listing and you know already which one I mean). But there are also some fine moments of pure Pharoah, especially on the three longest tracks.

Plus there's a reason why this album is memorable – to me, at least. The last time I saw him play live was with on this same visit to Tokyo that he laid down these sides. With these same fine musicians in his group. In a small club, and from very close up. He's been back a couple of times since then (I missed the gigs) but who knows, I may never have that chance again...

dusty sez:

A nice mix of the two sides of Pharoah Sanders – the spiritual jazz elements first developed in his Coltrane years, and some of the more straight-styled blowing he explored in later years! The album's got a bit more of the latter than the former – despite the title – but it still is a beautiful demonstration of the deep, deep soul found in Sanders' tenor – still a tremendously expressive instrument after all these years!

personnel:

Pharoah Sanders tenor sax; William Henderson piano; Ira Coleman bass; Joe Farnsworth drums

tracks:

Want To Talk About You; Moon Rays; Tokyo Blues; Greatest Love Of All; The Creator Has A Master Plan; Welcome; Tina; It's Easy To Remember

recorded April 23, 2003 at Wonder Station, Tokyo.

Kohsuke Mine - Out Of Chaos

barabara sounds sez:

Fine flowing modal music from Mine and his crew (a crack team of the usual j-jazz suspects) from back in '74. This was one of Mine's first outings after switching from alto to tenor and definitely one of his best ever. Also one of the first albums on the very righteous East Wind label. The stately lyrical second track (by Kikuchi) is a standout here, sandwiched between the two high-power numbers penned by Mine.

The concept for the cover art is questionable (red gloop as a representation of chaos? Or maybe the art director used this image because s/he was clean out of chaos?). But when it comes to the music, there's nothing lacking here whatsoever! [ripped from the CD reissue]

personnel:

Mine Kohsuke tenor sax; Kikuchi Masabumi piano; Okada Tsutomu bass; Hino Motohiko drums

tracks:

Recollection; Little Abi; Cross Wind

Ravi Coltrane - Mad 6

AAJ (Mark F.Turner) sez:

Recorded in New York in 2002... the ten selections were recorded with two different groups, including the talents of pianist George Colligan and bassist James Genus on one half of the tracks with pianist Andy Milne and bassist Darryl Hall on the other half. Both groups share the skills of drummer Steve Hass.

Ravi bookends the set with two of his father’s compositions “26-2” and “Fifth House”; each delivered with contemporary facelifts. His tenor tone is deep and muscular as he delivers angular and quick notes. On the aforementioned cuts the tempos are fast with Ravi and Colligan trading burning solos. Ravi is also equipped with a potent soprano arsenal on Jimmy Heath’s “Ginger Bread Boy” and Thelonious Monk’s timeless “Round Midnight,” which is reborn with a very funky groove.

Ravi’s own selections are also significant as he adds odd cadences on “Avignon“ and “The Return of the Olymbus.” Steve Hass delivers polyrhythms galore and Genus and Hall also provide staunch bass lines and solos. Slower selections continue to reveal a lush tenor sound on Mingus’s “Self Portrait in Three Colors”. The selection ends with Ravi silhouetting the melody behind a nice bass solo by James Genus.

BBC (Peter Marsh) sez:

This is a pretty fierce blowing session; the opening "26-2" (one of the album's two John Coltrane tunes) bursts out of the traps like a greyhound on steroids. The leaders's tenor wraps itself with an easy grace around the kind of fierce, metrically tricky pulse that Dave Holland excels at. This kind of rhythmic cut and thrust informs most of Ravi's original tunes; there are echoes too of Steve Colman's cerebral fun moves (particularly on "Between Lines"). But there's a warmth here often absent in Coleman's work.

Like his dad, Ravi has a gift for choosing drummers. Steve Hass propels two different quartet lineups with intelligence and a formidable technique which suggests he's been listening to the cutups of drum 'n' bass as much as Tony Williams or Roy Haynes. Like Billy Kilson or Marvin Smith, he's always up to something worth listening to, while on the slower tunes he's beautifully unobtrusive. Mingus's "Self Portrait in Three Colours" is especially lovely, with George Colligan's plangent piano underpinning an emotive, considered solo from the leader. Similarly Monk's "Ask Me Now" (opening with sweet solo statement from bassist James Genus) gets a sympathetic treatment...

barabara sounds sez:

This is probably my favorite of Ravi Coltrane's albums as leader. But you have to hear the man playing live — especially if it was alongside his mother. Not that I did — but there are two brilliant live sets posted over at Ish's wonderful Ile Oxumare, here and here.

He's currently on a short US tour — details here. And you can hear a few tracks over at his web site here...