Jazz?

As some probably know, Coltrane and his wife Alice were god freaks.
Alice has done some oriental spiritual music (I’ll post another day) while John’s Magnus Opus, Love Supreme is essentially about god.
Below a poem written by John Coltrane. Read it first and the story will follow right after:

I will do all I can to be worthy of Thee O Lord.
It all has to do with it.
Thank you God.
Peace.
There is none other.
God is. It is so beautiful.
Thank you God. God is all.
Help us to resolve our fears and weaknesses.
Thank you God.
In You all things are possible.
We know. God made us so.
Keep your eye on God.
God is. He always was. He always will be.
No matter what…it is God.
He is gracious and merciful.
It is most important that I know Thee.
Words, sounds, speech, men, memory, thoughts,
fears and emotions – time – all related …
all made from one … all made in one.
Blessed be His name.
Thought waves – heat waves-all vibrations –
all paths lead to God. Thank you God.
His way … it is so lovely … it is gracious.
It is merciful – thank you God.
One thought can produce millions of vibrations
and they all go back to God … everything does.
Thank you God.
Have no fear … believe … thank you God.
The universe has many wonders. God is all. His way … it is so wonderful.
Thoughts – deeds – vibrations, etc.
They all go back to God and He cleanses all.
He is gracious and merciful…thank you God.
Glory to God … God is so alive.
God is.
God loves.
May I be acceptable in Thy sight.
We are all one in His grace.
The fact that we do exist is acknowledgement of Thee O Lord.
Thank you God.
God will wash away all our tears …
He always has …
He always will.
Seek Him everyday. In all ways seek God everyday.
Let us sing all songs to God
To whom all praise is due … praise God.
No road is an easy one, but they all
go back to God.
With all we share God.
It is all with God.
It is all with Thee.
Obey the Lord.
Blessed is He.
We are from one thing … the will of God … thank you God.
I have seen God – I have seen ungodly –
none can be greater – none can compare to God.
Thank you God.
He will remake us … He always has and He always will.
It is true – blessed be His name – thank you God.
God breathes through us so completely …
so gently we hardly feel it … yet,
it is our everything.
Thank you God.
ELATION-ELEGANCE-EXALTATION

All from God.
Thank you God. Amen.

JOHN COLTRANE – December, 1964


…
Now go and put the song Psalm on your stereo from Love Supreme and while listening, read the poem again.

What you hear is Coltrane to literally playing the poem, that is reading with his saxophone.
Love Supreme is his love for god, god’s love for us.

Here and here you can read more about this interesting story.
Extracted from above link, a video showcasing word by word the poem as the song plays.


Finally is worth mentioning that Coltrane is regarded as a Saint by the African Orthodox Church.

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Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane's wife was pianist & harpist. Her music is not for everyone, sometimes too Avant-garde, other too religious. She appeared in discography a year after her husband's death. Her first album A Monastic Trio, released in 1968 is dedicated to him.
She wrote: This music is dedicated to the mystic, Ohnedaruth, known as John Coltrane during the period from September 23, 1926 to July 17, 1967.

Samples of three of her albums that I like:

Turiya & Ramakrishna, from Ptah The El Daoud, 1970, quite conventional jazz


Galaxy in Satchidananda, from World Galaxy, 1972, with strings, a good listen and showcase of her harp skills.


Satya Sai Isha from Translinear Light, 2004, her last album. A religious album.

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James Booker. His style goes between Rhythm & Blues and Jazz but the guy was a genius on the piano.


He only put out 3 studio albums but there are a fair few live albums of his out there. There's also a documentary on him called Bayou Maharajah which I highly recommend.

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Many thanks, great stuff, I'll check him further.
Something more upbeat, but still in the same area between jazz and r'n'b, Oscar Peterson -C Jam Blues.

 
Rick Beato recently released his interview with Pat Metheny, an interview "5 years in the making".


PAT METHENY was born in Kansas City on August 12, 1954 into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility - a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar" sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument. METHENY'S versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock (with Pat Metheny, 1990) to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie. Metheny's body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.

42-string guitar sound
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____no5 said:
Rick Beato recently released his interview with Pat Metheny, an interview "5 years in the making".


PAT METHENY was born in Kansas City on August 12, 1954 into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility - a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar" sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument. METHENY'S versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock (with Pat Metheny, 1990) to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie. Metheny's body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.

42-string guitar sound
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What's your favorite album by Metheny? For me, it's perhaps First Circle, The Way Up and the first one. I don't like everything though, for example there's a video of him with Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland, and those three are on fire, but Metheny's playing just seems out of place. But he seems to be great with Ornette Coleman.
 
If I had to pick only one it would be Bright Size Life. Pat Metheny Group, Offramp, Still Life Talking, Trio 99 → 00 are also favorites. Agreed with your comment for Coleman, this work is fine. One of the albums I don't like is The Falcon and the Snowman, but it doesn't belong to the canon anyway.
 
The Rick Beato interview is awesome. My favorite Metheny albums are Bright Size Life, Travels, Trio Live 00, and Question and Answer. Also the live album he did with Joni Mitchell and the Gary Burton album Quartet Live are both great.
 
Saw Metheny live once. It was good, I enjoyed him most as an improviser live, but I also really, really like some of his compositions, partly co-written with Lyle Mays. I have the score for The Way Up, pretty fragmented, but interesting. The Orchestrion album I like as well. Sometimes he can get a bit too cute, with too much chorus and happy tunes. I prefer him more intricate in composition and more raw in improv.
 

Oscar Peterson: The Greatest Solo of All Time​


I wanted to make a post praising the biggest pianist in jazz but I couldn't find the time to put everything together. The post would be around my favorite Peterson's album We Get Requests, 1964.

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Here's a jewel from that album, Days of Wine & Roses originally written a year earlier by a film composer.

A few days ago though I fell into an awesome YouTube video by Beato who is taking us into a 17 minutes journey explaining section by section what he things is the greatest solo of all time, all instruments included.
He's so knowledgeable and engaging, it would have taken me ages to create something even remotely close. So here it is. Enjoy!


The Greatest Solo of All Time​

The embedded option is not working... Link to watch it in Beato's Channel --> here

Also here is the original without Beato's comments, that's pure gold guys!



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Born: August 15, 1925
One of the most admired pianists in jazz, Oscar Peterson has rightfully claimed the same sort of status as earlier greats such as James P. Johnson, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Fats Waller, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Bill Evans. Possibly the most successful artist produced by Canada, he appeared on well over 200 albums spanning six decades and won numerous awards, including eight Grammys. During his career he performed and recorded with, among others, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker. He was beyond doubt an authentic jazz piano virtuoso, with a remarkable and prolific legacy of recordings and performances. Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, O.Ont was born on August 15, 1925 in Montreal, Quebec.He began learning trumpet and piano from his father at the age of five, but by the age of seven, after a bout of tuberculosis, he concentrated on the piano. Some of the artists who influenced Peterson during the early years were Teddy Wilson, Nat "King" Cole, James P. Johnson and the legendary Art Tatum, to whom many have tried to compare Peterson in later years. In fact, one of his first exposures to the musical talents of Tatum came early in his teen years when his father played a Tatum record to him and Peterson was so intimidated by what he heard that he did not touch the piano for over a week.

Here's a nice documentary about him:

 
Pat Martino, the guitarist that recovered from total amnesia by learning guitar while listening his own records, died on Monday.

Here is a post I made about Martino's inspiring story 11 years ago and below a documentary about same subject. Here's an article from All About Jazz.


Rick Beato's take, today.
 
____no5 said:
Pat Martino, the guitarist that recovered from total amnesia by learning guitar while listening his own records, died on Monday.

Here is a post I made about Martino's inspiring story 11 years ago and below a documentary about same subject. Here's an article from All About Jazz.


Rick Beato's take, today.
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Sad news RIP Pat
 
I found this great video where the guy lists the 10 greatest jazz albums. Great insights and knowledge. And hey, 4 albums with Coltrane in there, two as a sideman no. 10, no.1 & two as a leader no.7, no.2.

Also note how 4 of the albums were released in 1959

10. Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane 1957
9. Time Out The David Brubeck Qt 1959
8. Piano Starts Here Art Tatum 1968 (1933)
7. Giant Steps John Coltrane 1959
6. The Shape of Jazz to Come Garnett Coleman 1959
5. Ellington at Newport 1956
4. The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes Charlie Parker
3. The Best of Lou Armstrong
2. A Love Supreme John Coltrane 1964
1. Kind of Blue Miles Davis 1959


Video link fixed @The_7th_one @terrell39
 
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