Matana Roberts – COIN COIN Chapter Four: Memphis (2019)
With a group of top-shelf jazz cats in pursuit, altoist Zorn performs some incalculable and unpredictable free-jazz.Ībstract highlights come with re-imagined movie themes such as The James Bond Theme and Chinatown. This is a complex masterwork of free jazz that will reward the open-minded listener. The graphic cover photo which presents a man violently shot dead on a sidewalk closely mirrors the passion with which John Zorn approaches this set. Driven by the idea that melodies don’t need to be attached to fixed chords, Coleman crafts beautifully dejected themes on Lonely Woman and Congeniality.Įven after all these years, Coleman has built a road map for the future of jazz that we are still struggling to unpack. This is where Coleman first scrambled the rules of jazz into his forward-thinking revolutionary doctrine. Ornette Coleman is revered for pushing the bounds of jazz. Ornette Coleman – The Shape of Jazz To Come (1959) To paraphrase one of Ayler’s most famous quotes, the music is about feelings, not notes, and on Spiritual Unity that philosophy finds its most concise, concentrated expression. With catchy melodies, Ayler shook the foundations of traditional folk songs and standard scales with a shockingly visceral power. Spiritual Unity was the record that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz’s avant-garde, and the first-ever album released on Bernard Stollman’s seminal ESP label. Albert Ayler Trio – Spiritual Unity (1965) When the final note fades you cannot deny the vision of Pharoah Sanders and his genius approach to arrangement. Colors, on the other hand, is a shorter more structured piece featuring exquisite chops. Tracks like Creator waste not a single note, opening with a wall of sound before dropping to a brief riff from A Love Supreme. In 1969, a former sideman of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders stepped out from the shadows of his mentor’s demise and recorded Karma, carrying the torch for Coltrane musical and spiritual passion. Confidently one of the more beautiful free jazz albums out there. Plus the title track features an appearance from Pharoah Sanders. The crystalline waves of harp that pulse throughout the album are a reverent reminder of the beauty of artistic expression. The story goes that John Coltrane had ordered that harp, but died before it could arrive.