Offering: Live at Temple University cover

Offering: Live at Temple University

Recorded
Released

The music John Coltrane made between the beginning of 1965 and his death in July 1967 is some of the most unremitting jazz ever committed to tape. He might play a single piece for an hour, engaging in screaming duels with fellow tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, leaving his band — usually pianist Alice Coltrane, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali, plus guests — to offer support that it didn’t even seem he needed. This concert, from November 1966, features an expanded lineup. Garrison had left the group, and the relatively unknown Sonny Johnson is on bass, but the ensemble is augmented by four percussionists, including a Batá drummer, and two young alto saxophonists, who take one solo each. The endless rumble of the drums gives the music a ritualistic, primal quality that’s only strengthened when, during a 21-minute performance of “Leo,” Coltrane takes the horn out of his mouth and begins pounding his chest and roar-singing into the microphone. The quality is a little rough (it’s a mono recording made with a single microphone, so everyone but Coltrane is a blur in the background), but this is an explosive album, well worth hearing if you think you’re up for it.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
He(a)r cover

He(a)r

Nordic Affect
Weird Nightmare (Meditations On Mingus) cover

Weird Nightmare (Meditations On Mingus)

Various Artists, Hal Willner
Sound cover

Sound

Roscoe Mitchell Sextet
Depths cover

Depths

Windy & Carl
John Surman: Free and Equal cover

John Surman: Free and Equal

London Brass, Jack DeJohnette, John Surman
Warsaw Concert cover

Warsaw Concert

Alexander von Schlippenbach, Paul Lovens
Blackdance cover

Blackdance

Klaus Schulze
(No Pussyfooting) cover

(No Pussyfooting)

Robert Fripp, Brian Eno
Live at Birdland 1949 cover

Live at Birdland 1949

Billy Bauer, Lennie Tristano, Warne Marsh
Copia cover

Copia

Eluvium