Concert Review: Alice Coltrane Tribute At UCLA

Sunday Night at Royce Hall promised to be a brilliant night of improvisational music as a tribute to the late great Alice Coltrane. Pianist, Harpist, and wife of John Coltrane, Alice did much to further Indian spiritual and musical influences in the world of avant-garde jazz. However, Sunday's show was truly a mixed bag, as much of the tribute failed to live up to the high bar of Coltrane's legacy . At best, as during Nels Cline's flowing and masterful set and McCoy Tyner's the freely improvised Jazz explorations were beautiful and inspiring, yet at worst, the indulgent noodling of some of the players seemed amateurish and lacked any sort of focus.
“When it rains, it promises an auspicious event,” announced Rhada Botofasina before launching the concert with a a prayer of the Hare Krishna religion that Coltrane was so devoted to. Performed by Botofasina on harp and vocals, accompanied by a pianist and the great Miguel Atwood-Fegueson on viola, the combination of jazz influences and gospel stylings with Indian sacred music was appealing, yet the pentatonic harp arpeggios and block piano chords lacked the spark that made them unique in the hands of Alice Coltrane. Botofasina was followed by free-jazz violin luminary Michael White, whose fiery improvisation was excellent; his performance, however, was marred by the extraneous presence of Leisei Chen, a vocalist who can best be described as a jazz hybrid of Bjork and Yoko Ono. Free-jazz saxophonist Daniel Carter improvised on a theme for solo saxophone that showed off his excellent, almost Paul Desmond-like, cool and breathy tone.
Carter was followed by Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio and jazz guitarist Nels Cline of Wilco fame, who played a remarkable Jazz rendition of a Hare Krishna prayer, accompanied by a bassist and a drummer. Cline is a remarkable player, taking risks and playing out yet firmly grounded in the jazz tradition of chord melody. Malone, on the other hand, sounded frightfully amateurish, frequently hitting what sounded like wrong notes; it made me wonder if this was indeed the same gentleman who was responsible for TV On the Radio's brilliant 'Dear Science'. After some spacey incidental music, Coltrane's nephew Stephen Ellison- aka Flying Lotus- walked on stage to warm applause. Presenting a monologue of Coltrane's on various religious and spiritual topics accompanied by a video montage taken on a trip to India with his Aunt, Flying Lotus was highly underwhelming; his ambient knob twiddling behind the video was barely noticeable and added no valuable texture, and the electric harpist played the same pentatonic arpeggios that failed to inspire when first played by Rhada Botofasina; Miguel Atwood Fergueson's viola was this piece's only saving grace. 
At this point the Nels Cline group, featuring Alex Cline on drums, harpist Zeena Parkins, bassist Todd Sickafoose, violinist Jeff Gauthier, a tamboura, and a cello in addition to Cline's guitar, provided a magnificent rendition of Charlie Haden's 'For Turiya ' that reached the sublime cosmic sound that Coltrane pursued throughout her career. The swirling blend of strings, percussion and guitar engaged in a group improvisation that eventually coalesced into a swinging groove, anchored around the bass. Great Stuff.
After intermission, Dutch free jazz dummer Hans Bennick provided the comic relief with a slapstick performance that involved a snare drum, his shoe, the stage, his cheek, and a whole bunch of drum sticks. He was followed by Kyp Malone and company, who preformed a god-awful rendition of 'Govinda Je Je' that lacked all sense of structure, time, and musicality and would have been more at home on the Venice Beach boardwalk than at the esteemed Royce Hall. Ouch.
Following that disaster, Jazz deity McCoy Tyner graced us with fifteen minutes of the most sublime music that I have ever heard. Commanding an orchestra of sounds from the Steinway grand, Tyner's coaxed a wash of pure sound in block chords, fast runs, and sensitive and sophisticated chords and melodies. It seemed that Tyner was acknowledging the subpar quality of the performance when he failed to show up on stage when Michelle Coltrane beckoned for the closing rendition of 'A Love Supreme' that featured incredible viola from Miguel Atwood Fergueson, but was utterly ruined by Michelle Coltrane's miserable tambourine playing of. 
Overall, the Alice Coltrane tribute paired the transcendent with the lousy and resulted in the most mixed-bag evening of music I have ever attended.

Live Review: John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension at UCLA

John McLaughlin is an interesting figure. On one hand a self professed Jazz snob who's life was forever altered by Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' in 1965 and a favorite of the aging Fillmore/Woodstock/paisley set, McLaughlin's technically impeccable and flashy guitar playing made him a household name in the fusion world with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the closest Jazz ever got to metal, and Shakti, the closest Jazz ever got to Raga. On Wednesday night, McLaughlin and his band were in fine form for a 2 hour extravaganza of chops, chops and more chops at UCLA. Flanked by Etienne M'bappe on bass, Mark Mondesir on drums, and Gary Husband on keyboards and drums, this well oiled fusion machine was loud and fast, yet firmly based their improvisations in the modal tradition of Coltrane and Miles (McLaughlin made his name on Miles Davis' groundbreaking 'In a Silent Way' and 'Bitches Brew' releases). McLaughlin's simple setup (one guitar and petal board, no amp- just PA) allowed for a great opportunity to see, in its purest form, the legendary finger work that made him a master in the first place. However, the lack of an amp also gave his guitar a slightly cold, digital and processed tone that left one wishing for the return of the warm amp driven distorted tone of old. This is not to say he wasn't loud and distorted though; some of the old-gaurd season ticket holders in the front rows seemed appropriately offended, and exited before the encore.
 McLaughlin played fast, of course, but with sensitivity, confidence, and a whammy bar, which added a Jeff Beck like touch to his playing. The odd time signatures seemed natural to the band, who can play 11/8 with just as much ease as 4/4. M'Bappe was featured on 'Recovery', which displayed him to be one of the best and more versatile bassists working today. Husband, whose keyboard washes and synth lines were prominent throughout the night, doubled on drums and engaged, during 'Mother Tongues', in by far the best drum battle I have ever heard, live or on record. Mondesir's and Husband's differing approaches to the instrument contrasted nicely, and both played highly musically and inventively throughout, with fills ranging from bossa nova to all out chaos.
The night of incredibly intense music ended with a peaceful and zen encore, 'Light at the End of the World', befitting McLaughlin's spiritual worldview.
Overall, an amazing night of loud, complex, spiritual and inspired music.

Setlist:
1. Raju
2. Dissident
3. Recovery
4. Fine Lines
5. New Blues
6. Senor
7. Sully
8. Hijacked
9. To The One
10. Mother Tongues

Encore:
11. Light at the End of the World


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RIP Marion Brown

Sad news, jazzers (and all you dance music-freak Pitchfork reading hipsters who should educate yourself in a little boplicity). According to magazine/blog/record-lable/all-around-source-of-funk WaxPoetics, "Alto saxophone great Marion Brown died in Hollywood, Florida, on October 18. He was seventy-nine." Sad news indeed folks. See, for those not in the know, Brown was a rare thing; a free jazz great who thrived on melody and lyricism in addition to creative free-for-all blowing sessions of mad anarchic chaos in sound (though he did his fare share of that shyzer too; check this puppy from 1967 out, called Porto Novo [if you can't make it through, just skip to the middle where it gets really intense]). He played on John Coltrane's monumental statement of jazz liberation, Ascension, as well as some great Archie Shepp records worth checking out, among others. But above all, this guy had pure soul. The beauty of a tune like 'Vista' here is just marvelous; reflecting the influence of 'Trane and Sanders yet with his own sensitive finesse, this group gets the afro-spiritual-Jazz thing going like no other. Man, this cat will be missed. Marion, Phat Fellas salutes you.

David Chevan's Afro Semetic Experience with Cantor Alberto Mizrahi- Yizkor

If you hip hebrews need some brooding and spiritual music in order to atone for your many sins this Yom Kippur, consider this extremely unique release from bassist David Chevan's Afro Semetic experience. Fusing traditional Jewish liturgical music with Coltrane-esque Afro-jazz workouts, the group produce subtle and sensitive music that is beautiful and moving. This was a grave omission on my first post about cool Jewish music, but I hope this rectifies things.

Similar to Herbie Hancock's "Hear O Israel", "Yizkor" takes the Jewish Yizkor memorial service and places it to music. Perhaps the most unique feature of this album is the cantorial vocals of Hazzan Alberto Mirahi, which adds an old-school European dimension to the proceedings. His vocals recall more the great jazz improvisers than Jewish singers. Particularly powerful is "Yizkor for the Martyrs", which resonates with the pain of thousands of years of Jewish suffering. From Mizrahi emotive vocals and Stacy Phillip's resonator guitar at the beginning, this Jewish blues marks itself as something different. By the end, when Warren Byrd conjures up the thunder of heaven with his McCoy Tyner like left hand heavy piano, and the whole band follow him into an impassioned rage that reflects the serious and grave nature of the Yizkor service. "Psalm 23" is really funky, in a Blue Note/ Coltrane kind of way. In fact, the whole record has a Pharoah Sanders style intesity which makes for a great and moving listen."El Maleh Rakhamim" has a great Latin groove, and "Psalm 16" features a great vamping intro (props to Baba David Coleman for his atmospheric percussion).

All in all, one of the most spiritual, funky, soulful and unique albums I've ever heard.