Cosmic Jazz
It's been another really busy week for me, but on Monday I did manage to grab a few CDs to play in the car on the way home from the day-job. This occurs around 1.30pm, and lasts an hour, unfortunately – but it does give me listening time, which is welcome in my otherwise packed life.
The theme this week has been music with world influences. Call To Prayer by Ghalia Benali and Romina Lischka is a marvellous fusion of Arabic music, Indian compositional traditions and the baroque viol, an instrument not unlike the cello. The former is Tunisian and the latter a specialist in early European music, and with Vincent Noiret playing double bass and the chitarra battente (a form of guitar) the trio have created a fantastic, spacious, varied album of music. Medieval viol sounds merge with Arabic vocals to create a fusion that never feels tired or cliched. A fantastic listen. The songs where the two singers follow the Indian (raga) tradition and combine their vocals are amazing. Considering I picked this up randomly, it was a terrific find.
African Skies by Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy I bought following stumbling across a review of it online, which described it as a lost recording of cosmic African jazz. That sparked my interest. The recording dates from 1993 and was made for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago; this CD has been prepared from the original DAT recording. A pair of harps combine with traditional jazz brass instruments and vocals to make a highly unusual, but eminently listenable cosmic jazz journey. The opening song has lyrics – “Welcome,” in essence – but the rest of the vocals are wordless. Some of the music is less structured, soloing over repeated riffs, and it’s all great stuff, very enjoyable. None of the soloists overstays their welcome. The harps inevitably make me think of Alice Coltrane, speaking of which…
Journey In Satchidananda is one of Alice Coltrane’s increasingly recognised recordings. A fusion of Indian tanpura, harps, bass and drums, plus the legendary Pharaoh Sanders on saxophone, the music is spacey, some of it recorded in the studio, some live at The Village Gate in New York. The original album dates from 1970 – pretty mind-blowing! Cosmic African jazz has had a bit of a renaissance recently, and this and the Kelan Phil Cohran albums are both excellent examples.
And… if you haven’t already checked out the wonderful collaboration between Floating Points, the London Symphony Orchestra and Pharaoh Sanders – the last album he would make before his death – then you really should. A masterpiece.
Enjoy your cosmic journeys!
