Alice Coltrane Transliner Quartet in Ann Arbor Sept. 23;

[Lazaro Vega]

Saturday, September 23rd at 8 p.m.  Alice Coltrane will give a rare public performance with her quartet Translinear Light in a celebration of John Coltrane’s 80th Birthday at Hill Auditorium, 825 N. Univerisity Avenue,  Ann Arbor. Pianist Alice Coltrane, widow of the famous saxophonist John Coltrane, will be joined by their son Ravi on saxophones, plus bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Roy Haynes.  Additionally, the quartet will participate in a free public interview conducted by WDET host Liz Copland on Friday, September 22 at 3 p.m. in the Rackham Amphitheatre, 915 East Washington Street, Ann Arbor. Tickets for Saturday’s opening concert of the University Musical Society’s 2006/2007 season are $10 to $50 and available from (734) 764-2538 or online at www.ums.org.

[Jim Alfredson]

Wish I could be there. Oh, how I wish I could be there.

[Lazaro Vega]

I want to see Roy Haynes.

Chuck, did Roy play the Chicago Jazz Festival?

[Jim Alfredson]

I want to see Roy Haynes.

Chuck, did Roy play the Chicago Jazz Festival?

I want to see Roy Haynes, too. Unfortunately I'm playing that weekend.

[Lazaro Vega]

Nice work if you can get it

[GregK]

I am going to try to go to this one.

[Hot Ptah]

It is good to see that Hill Auditorium is still hosting jazz. I lived in Ann Arbor from 1978--1981 and saw some very memorable Sun Ra concerts at Hill Auditorium.

A group of us came to call Hill Auditorium by our private nickname for it---"The House of Ra."

[Lazaro Vega]

That's the University Musical Society. Glad they have a jazz division -- Ornette, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck have all had big concerts there in the last two years. (They're primarily a classical organization. UMS is putting on a big Shostakovich weekend in October).

[Robert J]

That would be awesome to see. I caught her group in 1984 at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Verve only shows 3 dates

9/23/2006

Hill Auditorium

ANN ARBOR, Michigan

------------------------------

10/22/2006

NJ PAC

NEWARK, New Jersey

---------------------------------

11/4/2006

San Francisco Jazz Fest

SAN FRANCISCO, California

[7/4]

------------------------------

10/22/2006

NJ PAC

NEWARK, New Jersey

---------------------------------

I should catch this concert, it's not too far away.

[Robert J]

I was thinking that!

[GregK]

That's the University Musical Society. Glad they have a jazz division -- Ornette, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck have all had big concerts there in the last two years. (They're primarily a classical organization. UMS is putting on a big Shostakovich weekend in October).

also Keith Jarrett trio, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock (duo) and then a year later with their quartets, in the period 2000-2002

[Lazaro Vega]

Up for the weekend!

[Guest youmustbe]

I'm sure it will be interesting, to say the least, other than Ravi who can't play, sad case he is, but...

Hey, I got my Coltrane Revisited again at NYC ...4 years now...this week it's Joe Lovano, Steve Kuhn, Lonnie Plaxico, Henry Grimes, Andrew Cyrille.

Taped a set and interviews for Current TV along with interviews with McCoy, Pharaoh, and the dreadful Lincoln Center Jazz Coltrane thing...sad shit!!!

If you can't make it to Birdland this time...Coltrane Revisited in 2007 same time in September will be Lovano and Archie Shepp. along with Kuhn, Cyrille, Plaxico and Grimes.

[AllenLowe]

strange thing is, last time I saw Alice Coltrane was - in Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, probably in the spring of 1972, when I was at U of M. Sorry to say that I fell asleep - honestly I did. The solos went on just a LITTLE too long...

[GregK]

I've never heard Ravi and I haven't heard Alice's latest CD, so I don't know what to expect, but I'll be there.

[GregK]

Good show last night. I will be getting the Translinear Light CD now after hearing some of it live. Alice sounds like she just floats across the keyboard. She seems like a very nice, gracious lady; when she got a standing ovation as she walked out on stage she seemed surprised and shocked. Nice too when she smiled at her son when he played the opening notes to Impressions.

As far as the sound, I could barely hear Haden, and Ravi was hard to hear at times too (I was on the main floor, row H in the middle). Roy Haynes is amazing! He makes me feel old! He was the star of the show, even more so with his velvet pants!

I didn't know Coltrane had a daughter, too. Does she play any instrument? (She presented the scholarships to the two U of M students).

I have two questions (probably obvious to everybody else, but not me): does Ravi have any of his father's stage mannerisms (i.e., did John move around on stage a lot, bending and twisting, etc, like Ravi?)? And was that John's tenor? Anyone know?

[wigwise]

I too was at the show, sitting in the Mezzanine. I also enjoyed it and agree that Roy Haynes (without a doubt) was the star of the show. The man is incredible. They played a very nice 20-minute (or so) film at the beginning of the second set, which briefly talked about John's musical and personal life. All in all, a perfect evening.

If I recall correctly, Michelle is John's stepdaughter, I think Alice had a child or two before John.

[ep1str0phy]

As much as I love Alice's work--including the more out of her more out excursions (World Galaxy comes to mind)--she can be a hit and miss these days. I saw her at UCLA a while back--Ravi on sax, Reggie Workman (who seems to get these unfortunate gigs here and there), and a drummer whose name I don't recall (a relative little-known, if not unknown--subbing for Jeff Tain Watts). Say what you will about Ravi, but he kept the show as interesting as he could (well-versed in a lot of the late-Coltrane gestures, if not the complete technique or feel). The band didn't lock up for a second, and I had/have a feeling that it has something to do with Mrs. Coltrane's lack of dynamic range--she's taking it even slower now than before, and the ensemble wanted to go places that she couldn't or refused to. The whole effect was terrifically inorganic and forced--like a bunch of balloons tied to a table, grasping for the air. I respect her to no end, but I certainly hope that my night was an exception to the rule (looks like Haynes was killin, which is good news).

[Lazaro Vega]

One the way down I’d heard all of a Louis Armstrong Jubilee broadcast with his orchestra, Rochester, special guest Jack Benny, M.C. Ernie Bubbles Whitman, some good tunes for Armstrong, and a feature for Joe Garland, is it?, tenor; as well as the companion concert on the cd by Red Allen with J.C. Higginbotham, alto Don Stovall, Bigard....had just switched to the first Coltrane live at the Village Vanguard when the storm hit.

Unrelenting heavy rain gusting winds all the way from this side of Grand Rapids to Lansing. Washers high speed and just white to silver to gray searching for red. There were tornado warnings in Kent County my wife says on the celli as outside somewhere are farms. Zero visibility for stretches first in single lane construction then amid football traffic. I voted to myself to not turn around three times as that danger was past, why turn around and drive into it again because it had to be better on down the road.The luck of the Irish screwed Michigan State but it kept my ass behind some Ted Nugent white Rancher and followed his taillights, a freak angel amid the weather fury of John Coltrane’s 80th birthday.

After Lansing cruise control again and, after Brighton, a switch from the Vanguard set to WEMU, and they took me right to the ramp on Thayer across from Hill Auditorium with an incredible 80t Birthday tribute. Spontaneously literate radio. Came in on what might have been “Equinox.” Listened to “Mr. Sims” before leaving.

Alice Coltrane’s Translinear Light Quartet began the concert with a number -- I wrote nothing down -- which recalled the meditative tempo and three bass drum beats that Coltrane blew so much over. Haynes just pulsed the concert to life with his foot pedal and ever elaborating poly rhythms.

Haden was not heard well in the first set -- there was no punch to his sound, and the large vibrational low end was in Haynes bass drum and Mrs. Coltrane’s left hand on her Wurlitzer organ, which also brought out the Eastern aspect in sound and, under her hands, an improvisational concept exploring incrementally different intervals, widening and contracting them in insistent flutters but driven by an energy which reminded me of John Coltrane’s. Her ability to leap registers with both hands playing harmonic counterpoint against each other sounded like an elaboration on Coltrane’s band.

There was a lovely piano/bass duet with Haden in the first set, though, and then Haden was well featured. His deliberate, simple variation on three notes gave the concert Ornette’s improvisational approach, a nice layer to the evening as a reminder of Ornette’s influence on Trane.

Haden and Haynes hooked up, though, as Haden creates his own drones without a bow and Roy dances with it. She leaves little by the way of breathing points, especially on Wurlitzer. Roy elbowed his way in and took it up during “Impressions,” bringing pithy, fast tom-tom and cymbal riffs which grew in intensity and length as the number built. Brought the house down. It wasn’t while with Ravi -- could anything top John Coltrane and Roy Haynes at Newport 1963? -- but as Alice continued to lengthen her modal verging on free method solo Haynes led the band to an early high point in the concert.

The show had its moments.

Alice Coltrane’s one trip to the synthesizer was a star gaze, and a relief from the sameness in dynamic range of the Wurlitzer.

The first number featured piano, and she played piano during the encore, taking the bass vamp from “A Love Supreme” to heart with her left hand. Her piano solos were beautiful, ornate terms of exploration, gentle in spirit. Ravi’s brightest moment was during “Leo.” After Ravi’s familiarity with Coltrane’s later approach, and Alice's long exploration, Haden zeroed in on that opening interval, the mere hint of a “head,” throughout his solo on “Leo” and it was mind blowing.

The film after intermission was a well written, tastefully done tribute, and it filled in Alice Coltrane’s years off the recording/touring scene (teaching and developing institution) and her activity since returning to playing in 1998. The film was comic, too, in it strung together clips of Hollywood film actors talking about John Coltrane via dialogue in popular movies.

Big love in the house last night for Alice Coltrane, who is from nearby Detroit. Having Coltrane's family in one spot for his 80th birthday -- history is ongoing. Ideas alive and evolving.

Of course nothing will top Coltrane's own band with Alice. Hearing Roy Haynes with her was interesting as he's very different than Rashied Ali, or even DeJohnette. Haden and Haynes held the show together, kept rhythmic textures changing enough in intensity and dynamic variety that Alice’s deep explorations of time extending into time like a Raga took more shape than a monochromatic line. Together everyone gave the now version of the sounds Coltrane’s band with Alice inspired, and included the surviving drummer from John’s own great quartet, and a fulcrum member of a quartet which deeply inspired Coltrane. No wonder people were standing and cheering for five minutes before the band played a note -- there's still something going on out there.

The writer and WEMU producer George Klein was sitting in the same aisle. He’s another great one. George, and all of WEMU, is concerned with drawing more young people to jazz. It was good to talk to him. His daughter is an editor at Metro Times in Detroit. Klein helped me with instructions out of there. Before hitting US 23 off Washtenaw my wife was on the phone giving me the play by play on the Michigan State disaster.

The rest of the way home, with one stop for gas in Okemos -- the football fans were spinning angry tires on the wet pavement there -- it was The Art Ensemble 1967/68 (Nessa) discs one and most of disc 2. Love “Theme Statements.” Was enlightened by the first take of “Tatas Matas” as it is so tentative compared to the “master.” Could listen to “Old” forever.

Though Bowie’s long solo on “Quartet No. 1” is an incredible thing to hear, as is Philip Wilson’s drumming as he follows some melodic events with the suggestion of an energy music ride cymbal only to trail off in diminuendo and slow down to silence, the over all performance eventually lost me with the long, long rests and elaborate events that came out of them. Thought the use of silence on “Quartet No. 2” was more “composed,” or more under control, and that the richer textures of the second piece more engaging.

“Trio (Oh, Suzannah)” was back to Trane, in the sense of elaborate variation of a simple theme using, for 1967, a new improvisational approach to duration and intensity. Though Roscoe’s intro is anything but rubato tension building in the same way as Trane’s quartet, and his overlay of irony in a post modern genre crossing is in another emotional dimension than “My Favorite Things.”

Two o’clock and good to be home having sandwich and a beer, looking at ESNP hype the comeback on Michigan State as Notre Dame’s season saving emotional shot in the arm after being pasted by U of M the week before.

John Coltrane’s 80th Birthday, September 23, 2006. What a jolt.

Edited September 25, 2006 by Lazaro Vega

[Lazaro Vega]

Bump for more elaborate review....

[GregK]

Nice review, Lazaro. That first number was Translinear Light. Where were you sitting?

By the way, I agree with you; WEMU is one of the best things about living in Ann Arbor. It's the only thing I listen to on radio other than the Tigers. Did you see Linda Yohn also?

[Lazaro Vega]

Thanks. WEUM is so literate. The announcer I heard maintained the level of character the station has always been known for. He imparted much knowledge, information, some opinion but did it with character.

Main floor Row N.

Missed Linda.

[Chuck Nessa]

Laz, (re:AE in the car) I do not think you should post impressions of the recordings with Phillip in your car unless you really know the stuff. Yes, the 2nd improv is better but..........................

[Lazaro Vega]

....more careful listening required.....

Or a better description of the long tones and their development in "Quartet No. 1" and how well that worked. Can see why you kept parts of it. I guess from this listening Saturday the clearest thing to emerge was how well the set documents the band's process as it evolves to an incredible level.

Edited September 26, 2006 by Lazaro Vega