Music Monday: Alice Coltrane, Joe Henderson, and James Brandon Lewis

Some good new, old recordings were released and re-released over the past couple weeks and a new, new recording as well.

First, if you didn’t listen to Alice Coltrane’s The Carnegie Hall Concert released on Friday, but originally recorded in 1971, go and listen to it now. I’ll wait. You might also want to check out some programs and other memorabilia from not only the 1971 concert, but also concerts in 1968 and 1984.

It’s brilliant. Dear lord, is it good. 

Here’s “Africa”:

And here’s “Journey In Satchidananda”:

The other album that dropped over the past couple of weeks is James Brandon Lewis and the Messthetics. The Messthetics are the rhythm section from Fugazi (Joe Lally on bass and Brendan Canty on drums) joined by Anthony Pirog on guitar and James Brandon Lewis on sax.

It’s good. It has a fusion feel to it without being full on fusion and a jazz-rock vibe to it without devolving into “horns playing instead of rockers singing” kind of melodic lyricism. Lewis’s playing remains some of my favorite in contemporary jazz and improvised music. He seems deeply committed to doing something new which means acknowledging both traditions of hard bop, modal jazz and fusions as well as free forms of post-Coltrane ecstatic improvisation. He charts his own path and I admire that. Maybe you’ll find it enjoyable as well:

Finally, something older that was re-released this year. Joe Henderson’s Power to the People recorded in 1969 and released the same year with Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Ron Carter on electric bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums on Milestone. It’s a very nice album with just enough electric to anticipate the sound that comes to exert such a significant influence over jazz (as well as R&B) in the mid-1970s. 

As a bonus, we should all take a moment to celebrate George Benson’s birthday, if for no other reason than it gives us an excuse to listen to this CTI gem from 1971, Beyond the Blue Horizon with Carter and DeJohnette along with the otherwise obscure Clarence Palmer on keyboards. Benson’s version of “So What” is really pretty great: