Free Jazz Music

I'm a jazz musician and a certifiable jazz junkie. I've been listening to Trane since 1976. I've heard excerpts from Africa Brass but only just now heard the complete sessions from start to finish. Frankly, I'm embarrassed to have waited so long. Trane's work with Dolphy has always been my favorite period, Dolphy created all the charts for this session - a sort of Gil Evans but he's so much earthier. The alternate take of Africa with the trombone(s) playing sounds that sound like they are right out of the jungle... Any Coltrane fan MUST have this collection. An instant favorite in my Coltrane catalog.

There's a lot of mischief in the world of CD production. When content doesn't match available time, sometimes suppliers make up the difference with "filler" of questionable merit. While some alternate takes are interesting, others didn't make the first release because frankly they weren't as good as the one that did. The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions is a shining exception to this trend.

I was first drawn to it because I simply had to have Song Of The Underground Railroad, one of my absolute favorite John Coltrane selections. Not only is the melody incredibly infectious, it races with urgency and power until the title resonates in your heartbeat. Greensleeves, candidly, is not my cup of tea; it never lifted off the ground like Favorite Things for me. But Africa, now this is a different story. I consider Africa to be one of Coltrane's major compositions, very ambitious, very grand, and brilliantly realized. The scope of the piece is on a scale with its subject, and just look at the players. When you've got Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Trane, McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones on your team, (among others); with Dolphy writing the charts, you have what is known as "an embarrassment of riches".

This is why it's so great that three different takes are included. To have three very different interpretations of Africa offers new ways of appreciating this extraordinary accomplishment, adding richness and texture to what was already incredibly layered and complex. As is so often the case with Impulse!, lovely packaging and an excellent booklet. This is the horn of plenty, Dolphy paints the background and Coltrane simply soars above the landscape. Worth getting and listening to over and over.

john coltrane's discography is vast. and that's a wonderful thing. he is indisputably one the all-time jazz greats. you should definitely get lots and lots of his music to have a great life. this album is yet another of his splendid artistic achievements. the original vinyl record was a single release. here you get additional material that makes for more of a fine thing, and 2 cds. the whole affair kicks off with a mid-tempo take on the classic tune "greensleeves," with coltrane's sax and mccoy tyner's piano bending the familiar melody into lovely new shapes. "song of the underground railroad," is a great track with a strong rythmic drive provided by the drums of elvin jones and the bass of reggie workman. "the damned don't cry" is an elegant piece of jazz with orchestra and french horn adding textures on top of coltrane and tyner's playing. there are three takes of "africa" here, which if fine by me. i love listening to these musicians work this great piece upside-down and back & forth & sideways & into 5th & 6th dimensions. "africa" has coltrane's strongest sax playing on the album, and a wonderful mid-tempo rythmic section at work. "blues minor" also has powerful sax playing by the master, very precise and fine. can't get enough john coltrane. this is a jazz classic.

This is one of my favorites to add unto my list. 'cuz of the Big Band sound and everything he has on this CD. He does a real good job adding some vibe into it. This is not some kinda a easy-listening album it's more of jazz-big band sound-bluesy sound kinda album that get u in the mood when you're with John Coltrane. Yep John Coltrane is dead and gone now but his Spirit lives on between us. So enjoy the masterpiece of "The Complete Africa Brass Sections" by John Coltrane. A must-have.

Many Coltrane lovers claim A Love Supreme is his best. While I like that CD very much, this set tops it, IMHO. Very melodic, with none of the free-jazz wildness that characterized his post-ALS work.

"Greensleeves" is, while a bit of a cash-in on the success of his "Favorite Things" hit, an excellent piece of work. I prefer the alternate take offered on this 2CD set... it is slightly slower, more complex, and offers a beauty that the original doesn't.

"Song Of The Underground Railroad" may be my all-time top 'Trane tune. Such great improvisation, yet with a tune you'll find yourself humming all day.

"Africa" is dark and brooding, with simmering percussion and horns... a perfect musical representation of the continent. My only quibble is that 3 versions are included. Just a bit of overkill, but worth hearing all three nonetheless.

"The Damned Don't Cry" and "Blues Minor" round out this classic. The liner notes are copious and well-written.

I almost bought the single CD, but then took the plunge and got the Complete double set. I am so glad I did.

Bottom line: Get it, get it NOW... and get addicted to it. :)

I'm a jazz musician and a certifiable jazz junkie. I've been listening to Trane since 1976. I've heard excerpts from Africa Brass but only just now heard the complete sessions from start to finish. Frankly, I'm embarrassed to have waited so long. Trane's work with Dolphy has always been my favorite period, Dolphy created all the charts for this session - a sort of Gil Evans but he's so much earthier. The alternate take of Africa with the trombone(s) playing sounds that sound like they are right out of the jungle... Any Coltrane fan MUST have this collection. An instant favorite in my Coltrane catalog.

There's a lot of mischief in the world of CD production. When content doesn't match available time, sometimes suppliers make up the difference with "filler" of questionable merit. While some alternate takes are interesting, others didn't make the first release because frankly they weren't as good as the one that did. The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions is a shining exception to this trend.

I was first drawn to it because I simply had to have Song Of The Underground Railroad, one of my absolute favorite John Coltrane selections. Not only is the melody incredibly infectious, it races with urgency and power until the title resonates in your heartbeat. Greensleeves, candidly, is not my cup of tea; it never lifted off the ground like Favorite Things for me. But Africa, now this is a different story. I consider Africa to be one of Coltrane's major compositions, very ambitious, very grand, and brilliantly realized. The scope of the piece is on a scale with its subject, and just look at the players. When you've got Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Trane, McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones on your team, (among others); with Dolphy writing the charts, you have what is known as "an embarrassment of riches".

This is why it's so great that three different takes are included. To have three very different interpretations of Africa offers new ways of appreciating this extraordinary accomplishment, adding richness and texture to what was already incredibly layered and complex. As is so often the case with Impulse!, lovely packaging and an excellent booklet. This is the horn of plenty, Dolphy paints the background and Coltrane simply soars above the landscape. Worth getting and listening to over and over.

john coltrane's discography is vast. and that's a wonderful thing. he is indisputably one the all-time jazz greats. you should definitely get lots and lots of his music to have a great life. this album is yet another of his splendid artistic achievements. the original vinyl record was a single release. here you get additional material that makes for more of a fine thing, and 2 cds. the whole affair kicks off with a mid-tempo take on the classic tune "greensleeves," with coltrane's sax and mccoy tyner's piano bending the familiar melody into lovely new shapes. "song of the underground railroad," is a great track with a strong rythmic drive provided by the drums of elvin jones and the bass of reggie workman. "the damned don't cry" is an elegant piece of jazz with orchestra and french horn adding textures on top of coltrane and tyner's playing. there are three takes of "africa" here, which if fine by me. i love listening to these musicians work this great piece upside-down and back & forth & sideways & into 5th & 6th dimensions. "africa" has coltrane's strongest sax playing on the album, and a wonderful mid-tempo rythmic section at work. "blues minor" also has powerful sax playing by the master, very precise and fine. can't get enough john coltrane. this is a jazz classic.

This is one of my favorites to add unto my list. 'cuz of the Big Band sound and everything he has on this CD. He does a real good job adding some vibe into it. This is not some kinda a easy-listening album it's more of jazz-big band sound-bluesy sound kinda album that get u in the mood when you're with John Coltrane. Yep John Coltrane is dead and gone now but his Spirit lives on between us. So enjoy the masterpiece of "The Complete Africa Brass Sections" by John Coltrane. A must-have.

Many Coltrane lovers claim A Love Supreme is his best. While I like that CD very much, this set tops it, IMHO. Very melodic, with none of the free-jazz wildness that characterized his post-ALS work.

"Greensleeves" is, while a bit of a cash-in on the success of his "Favorite Things" hit, an excellent piece of work. I prefer the alternate take offered on this 2CD set... it is slightly slower, more complex, and offers a beauty that the original doesn't.

"Song Of The Underground Railroad" may be my all-time top 'Trane tune. Such great improvisation, yet with a tune you'll find yourself humming all day.

"Africa" is dark and brooding, with simmering percussion and horns... a perfect musical representation of the continent. My only quibble is that 3 versions are included. Just a bit of overkill, but worth hearing all three nonetheless.

"The Damned Don't Cry" and "Blues Minor" round out this classic. The liner notes are copious and well-written.

I almost bought the single CD, but then took the plunge and got the Complete double set. I am so glad I did.

Bottom line: Get it, get it NOW... and get addicted to it. :)

I took my husband to see these guys for his birthday and we were blown away! Then we heard this recording and we were blown away all over again!!! A must have!!!

Sanders doesn't improvise at length on every track he plays on, and he lays out altogether on the long "Autumn Leaves." What you end up with is some very hip background music, plus, from time to time, the effortlessly authoritative sound of Sanders on tenor. It works for me!

The late Dewey Redman spent very little time with his son Joshua, who started his jazz development at Berkeley High School. It's interesting to consider the dynamics of this collaboration: the duet cuts are by far the most exciting, and Dewey seems to be stretching his improvisational energy to the maximum, either to compete with or to encourage his son. Tenor sax duets have produced outstanding jazz before. My favorite live-session recordings of all time are of Wardell Gray and Dexter Gordon (The Hunt, The Chase). Dewey and Joshua don't interpenetrate each other's improv like that; they just take turns answering each other's solos, but they have different things to say. The only track on the album that falls short is the first, the title track, on which Dewey plays a musette of some sort without much skill.

Part of Tzadik's "Composer Series" of recordings, this is Wadada Leo Smith's most expansive and fully realized large ensemble album to date. Less a typical jazz album than a suite of four interrelated modern classical compositions, "Lake Biwa" touches on everything from delicate neoclassical chamber music and atonal acoustic free jazz to full blown electric Miles Davis-esque era fusion, often in the same piece. All of Smith's multifarious talents are on display on this album.

Although the actual recording line-up consists of 15 musicians, rarely do they all play at once. The four long form compositions presented on this album are reduced into even smaller, sonically disparate movements, with each distinctive section tackled by smaller units demonstrating their respective instrumental strengths. Frequently these abridged groups will subjugate their playing to act as support for one or more soloists. Although Smith's writing style is typically less episodic than it is here, the pieces on "Lake Biwa" are more influenced by both traditional classical compositional theory as well as the post-modern jump cut aesthetic.

While the album opens on a more subdued note, it doesn't take long until one of Marc Ribot's raucous electric guitar meltdowns appears. Imagine Miles Davis' electric bands circa 1974 and you'll have a good idea of where this music derives some of its inspiration. On the flip side, there are plenty of moments where John Zorn's own acerbic alto squeals along fitfully accompanied by a barrage of percussion and on occasion, tense swelling strings. Smith even chimes in with his own clarion trumpet playing for a few solo spots, one of which utilizes Miles' own signature electric wah-wah to delicious effect. Bolstered by a batterie of keyboardists, a handful of percussionists, a few string players and a varied horn section, the resulting ensemble is capable of virtually any textural configuration.

But the key difference between "Lake Biwa" and the majority of Smith's music is in the rhythm section approach. "Lake Biwa" qualifies as classical music more than jazz by virtue of the fact that it rarely, if ever, swings. That is, if one still uses such antiquated notions to classify music. Otherwise, the majority of this sounds akin to Anthony Braxton's large ensemble writing or fellow composer Anthony Davis' music for orchestra. Trumpeter and composer Butch Morris' improvised conduction ensembles share similarities with this music as well. In the truest sense of the term, this is most definitely a "Third Stream" effort.

For those interested in hearing a crack ensemble of Downtown's finest tackle some truly rewarding composed and improvised music, one need look no further than "Lake Biwa." It might not swing in a traditional jazz sense, but it veers from the sublime to ecstatic so easily that you won't miss the beat.

Wonderful music, great rhythms...Amazing