Music Monday: Trane, Space, Revolution, et c.

It feels like most people know that it would have been John Coltrane’s 97th birthday on Saturday and people are starting to gear up for the explosion of music that’ll occur in 2026 when we celebrate his centennial.

Like most human beings, I love Coltrane, but I tend to listen to him sparingly. I like to think that this is because his music is sacred and no good comes from trying to make it mundane. This is a cop out, of course, because for every iconic album Coltrane made, he produced a handful of very good albums that do not necessarily take us to the angelic realm.

I’ve been listening to Coltrane’s Sound this weekend in an effort to explore some of his less well-known recordings. Sound was evidently recorded during the Favorite Things sessions and it sounds similar, but maybe a bit less frenetic and a bit more conversational. Maybe that description is inadequate, but I found myself agreeing with various critics who noted the humanity of Coltrane’s early 1960s output, perhaps distinguishing it from the more celestial output of later 1960s.

Along similar lines, I’ve been enjoying Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids Afro Futuristic Dreams (2023). The Pyramids were one of those amazingly creative early 1970s outfits that burned brightly for a couple of years before fading from the scene. They were founded at Antioch College when Cecil Taylor taught there and Taylor influenced their sound early on. 

The most recent version of the Pyramids lack some of the percussive rawness of their 1970s iteration (exacerbated by some moderately dodgy recordings). That said, their 1973 recording, Lalibela, complete with funky (and perhaps slightly anachronistic) fonts shows Afrobeat, Free Jazz, and Free Funk influences. You can check it out here:

Afro Futurist Dreams, in contrast, owes more to the refined sounds of the London Jazz scene and modern blues revival than the raucous loft jazz of the 1970s. It’s still a great listen. 

Here’s the opening track:

Finally, just to remind people that I’m not always so serious, I’ve been enjoying Idris Muhammad’s Black Rhythm Revolution! from 1970. It’s Muhammad’s first solo date, I think, but the man was busy in the late 1960s and early 1970s playing with everyone from Nat Adderley to Pharoah Sanders.

I love that the sax player’s name is Clarence Thomas who I think also played Grant Green’s contemporary album Live at The Club Mozambique which also features Idris Muhammad on drums. This album moldered in Blue Notes vault for over three decades before being released in 2006. I don’t love it, but Thomas and Green are cooking on “Walk on By”:  

Oh, and, yes, I know that Sunday was Pharoah Sander’s memorial. I could cross the streams in many ways, but in keeping with my interest in his 1970s and 1980s Theresa and India Navigation output, here’s Journey To the One (Theresa 1980) with Idris Muhammad on drums. It’s opening track is, of course, “Greetings to Idris”: