Africa/Brass cover

Africa/Brass

Released

A magical outlier in Coltrane’s discography, this 1961 date features ensembles of as many as 17 players, and arrangements (two basses! four French horns!) that are written to create mood and menace rather than big band slickness. The opening “Africa” is like the moment right before the tiger leaps out of the jungle at you, sustained for a quarter hour, and there’s nothing pastoral about what they do to the English folk tune “Greensleeves”; the album’s final track, “Blues Minor,” deploys the titular brass in a forceful but judicious manner. Mostly it’s a platform for Coltrane to wail, and he does.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Idle Moments cover

Idle Moments

Grant Green
Codebook cover

Codebook

Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer
Oscar Peterson & Harry Edison cover

Oscar Peterson & Harry Edison

Oscar Peterson, Harry Edison
History Gets Ahead of the Story cover

History Gets Ahead of the Story

Jeff Cosgrove, John Medeski, Jeff Lederer
East Meets West cover

East Meets West

Ahmed Abdul-Malik
Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow cover

Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow

John Ellis & Double-Wide
Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims cover

Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims

Zoot Sims, Jutta Hipp
In All Languages cover

In All Languages

Ornette Coleman