Joe Henderson featuring Alice Coltrane - The Elements [1974/2017/FLAC]

 

The Elements is a Joe Henderson classic, part of a decade of spirituality and psych-jazz experimentation that saw the eminent saxophone player break free from post-bop instrumentation and repertoire. Playing through Fire, Air, Water and Earth, Henderson leads his all-star ensemble—which included Alice Coltrane, Charlie Haden and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler—in an open-ended setting of heat and mercurial invention.

This is one of the odder Joe Henderson recordings. The four lengthy selections not only feature the great tenor-saxophonist but the piano and harp of Alice Coltrane (during one of her rare appearances as a sideman), violinist Michael White, bassist Charlie Haden, percussionist Kenneth Nash and Baba Duru Oshun on tablas. The somewhat spiritual nature of the music (Henderson's compositions are titled "Fire," "Air," "Water" and "Earth") and the presence of Alice Coltrane makes these Eastern-flavored performances rather unique if not all that essential: an early example of world music in jazz.

• Joe Henderson - tenor saxophone, flute, alto flute, piano
• Alice Coltrane - harp, piano, harmonium, tamboura
• Michael White - violin
• Charlie Haden - bass
• Leon "Ndugu" Chancler - drums (1, 4)
• Baba Daru Oshun - tabla, percussion
• Kenneth Nash - narrator (4), flute (3), congas, sakara drum, bells, gongs, percussion

Rec.: at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, CA, October 15-17, 1973.

01. Fire (11:08)

02. Air (9:58)

03. Water (7:33)

04. Earth (13:14)

Charlie Haden - The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint and Soul Note (5 CD, 2010/FLAC)

 

THE COMPLETE REMASTERED RECORDINGS ON BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE is a monographic box-set collection aimed at recounting the most beautiful chapters that revolutionised the history of jazz.

This new series was launched in March 2010 with the simultaneous release of four box-sets, including albums by some of the artists who participated in the success of the outstanding labels. A philological work, beginning with the original recordings on multi-track master tapes, patiently integrally remastered paying strict attention to the sound quality.

The two albums by the ex-Ornette Coleman alumni-group Old and New Dreams are justly celebrated, but they're entirely outshone in this superb five-disc box-set by three relative obscurities: Silence, a fabulous 1989 quartet with Chet Baker (one of his many last recordings); First Song, a trio of the following year with Billy Higgins and Enrico Pieranunzi; and another trio, Etudes, with Geri Allen and Paul Motian, from 1988. Baker's playing on Haden's famous tune "Silence" represents total jazz heaven.

During the 1970s, left-field American jazz recording was at an ebb, and European companies like ECM and these two Italian labels stepped into the breach. This remastered 5-CD set, which flags up an extensive re-issue programme, captures the sonorous bassist in his full-bodied prime. Two albums present him with the sympathetic ex-Ornette Coleman sidemen of the New and Old Dreams Quintet spiky trumpeter Don Cherry a puckish lead and three are impressionist piano trios with Chet Baker adding wistful trumpet on one, Silences.

Don Cherry / Dewey Redman / Charlie Haden / Ed Blackwell - Old and New Dreams (1979/FLAC)

 Formed two-and-a-half years before for a one off record date for Italy´s Black Saint Label, Old And New Dreams, a quartet comprised of former associates of Ornette Coleman was re-launched in 1979. As bassist Charlie Haden explained: „We feel that everything we experienced together playing with Ornette shouldn´t stop. That improvised acoustic music doesn´t happen now, not that way. We´re not duplicating 20-year old songs, but playing from Ornette´s harmelodic concept which each of us grew up in, playing on the feeling rather than the chord structure or melody.“

– Don Cherry - trumpet, piano

– Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone, musette (suona)

– Charlie Haden - bass

– Ed Blackwell - drums

Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda [1970/FLAC]

Journey in Satchidananda is the fourth solo album by Alice Coltrane. Its title (and title track) reflects Coltrane's inspiration by Swami Satchidananda, to whom she had become close, and whose disciple she was.

"Shiva-Loka", or "realm of Shiva" — the realm of the third member of the Hindu trinity, the "dissolver of creation". "Stopover Bombay" refers to a five week stay in India and Sri Lanka on which Coltrane was due to go in December 1970. "Something About John Coltrane" is based on themes by her late husband, John Coltrane. "Isis and Osiris", on which Charlie Haden replaces Cecil McBee on bass, and Vishnu Wood plays oud, indicates Coltrane's interest in Middle Eastern and North African music and culture. The presence of the tamboura, played by Tulsi, reflects Coltrane's interest in Indian music and religion.

• Alice Coltrane — harp, piano
• Pharoah Sanders — soprano saxophone, percussion
• Vishnu Wood — oud (on track 5)
• Charlie Haden — bass (on track 5)
• Cecil McBee — bass
• Tulsi — tambura
• Rashied Ali — drums
• Majid Shabazz — bells, tambourine