When a musician becomes a larger than life figure over his respected genre, such as John Coltrane is, there are bound to be tribute albums dedicated to them. Some tribute albums take the approach of writting all new songs in homage of the man. Some tribute albums take the man's compositions (usually staying away from the classics) and apply their trademark to them.
David Murray was a bit more adventurous on this one, and a result was not an average "tribute album". David Murray and his Octet took Coltrane's music and made it their own. Re-arranging, re-interpreting, and ultimate re-creating some Coltrane classics. No one who listens to this will confuse this man's creation with Coltrane's original madness.
Giant Steps - Chaos in an intelligent, logical, and well planned out manner. Eight musicians doing their thang, playing their ideas behind Coltrane's "Giant Steps" in a manner that would make the composer proud. An adventurous free piece that never strays too far from the motif at hand (the head). Oh, there is no foreground, there is no background, there is only one unit meshing together. It really sets the tone of the whole album.
Naima - Another Coltrane tune. Where as Giant Steps followed the motif, Naima doesn't really. Picking up the middle of this song, the listener would be clueless as to what the tune was. However, everything progresses in a seemingly logical pace (odd for something so "free"). It's very lush for such a mass amounts of noise that can be singled out. D.D. Jackson (the pianist) does a wonderful job on this.
The Crossing - Surprise, surprise, this isn't a Trane tune at all. In fact, it's almost a free-funk, dixieland, big-band swing-set that would sound more at home in a Bela Fleck concert than a tribute to Trane. First thing you notice is Jaribu Shahid absolutely swings his ass off on this one. Not your average walking by any means, he plays much more melodically than harmonically giving the rest of the octet a good foundation to play over. Murray playing his bass clarinet is really something towards the end of this.
India - Not sure why, but I've never really knew this tune, even after hearing Trane play it 8 trillion times. When this kicks off and you hear a haunting flute melody, backed by the tablas, which is then interrupted by a muted trumpet, you know you are in store for something special. It's almost as if they (all of them) were envoking the stylings of Albert Ayler on here and were playing for the sole purpose of scaring you. Murray on the bass clarinet, again, is quite harrowing. Truly one of the most unique jazz pieces I have heard.
Lazy Bird - While the David Murray Octet had taken a rather large challenge in playing Trane's better known, more popular tunes, spinning them around and trying to make them their own, they seemingly take a step back on one of his lesser known tunes. In much of the same light as "Giant Steps" was, the ideas behind this piece are more straight ahead bop/hard-bop than the adventurous nature of free-jazz. And while different members of the band put in some good solos, none of them really tie into the motif like they do on Giant Steps. I feel this one is overshadowed by the other tracks.
A Love Supreme: Part I - Acknowledgement - The David Murray Octet approaches this epic piece in much of the same way Pharoah Sanders approached Karma. Once the amass of noise calms down and THE bass-line comes in, you know good things are to come. After the piano interlocks with the bass for about a minute, the saxophone comes in. A peaceful, relaxed, and light saxophone that reminisces the sound of Coltrane's softer side. The way Jaribu Shahid messes with the rhythm of the legendary bass line is annoying at times, but almost necessary to separate this piece from the classic recording. The first 10 minutes feels much of the same as Coltrane's version, but soon takes a whole direction in it's own. It turns into a more upbeat, swinging, New Orleans style jazz with drums making the bassline feel a bit groovier. A powerful punctuation on this album.
This album really hit me on a personal level that most jazz albums simply miss. While many jazz players have some rather memorable songs, seldom have held me note for note as much as this one did. Even less common is jazz with a free/avant-garde approach that has felt so approachable all the way through. The album does a great job of capturing Coltrane's spirit and applying it to their individual style. It's a very spiritual album with the musicians all on the same page.
