(2020) Vinny Golia, John Hanrahan, Henry Kaiser, Wayne Peet, Mike Watt – A Love Supreme Electric: A Love Supreme and Meditiations


Review:
A Love Supreme is rightly considered the ultimate achievement of John Coltrane’s late work. It has been performed whole or in part by countless players, though usually just its first movement. Drummer John Hanrahan and guitarist Henry Kaiser have long histories with this music. Kaiser’s dates to 1965 when he heard A Love Supreme as a 16-year-old college freshman. Hanrahan’s dates to a lengthy 2003 interview with Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones and Ashley Khan’s book-length treatise on the original sessions. Though he’s performed it across the country with an acoustic quartet, Hanrahan approached Kaiser in 2017 about an electric version. The guitarist introduced him to Meditations as Coltrane’s intended sequel, and they assembled various bands to perform both suites live over several years. The other players — saxophonist Vinny Golia, organist Wayne Peet, and bassist Mike Watt — brought their own experiences as they worked live in studio, recording both suites in one day in February 2019. While this record is wildly exploratory, the source material is never eclipsed by excess or ego. This quintet approaches the work kaleidoscopically, investigating from a variety of musical angles. Kaiser’s approach is informed by his studies of Indian raga, and a decades-long decoding of Miles Davis’ electric music on five Yo Miles! albums with Wadada Leo Smith. Hanrahan’s and Peet’s inspirations are spiritual and psychological; each performance adds depth and dimension to their inner lives and musical vocations. Golia’s incantatory tenor introduces “Acknowledgement” as the band opens a frame around him. Later, Golia’s solos are free, though retain the modal melody as a central tenet. Kaiser, Peet, and Watt embellish, fill, and accent before engaging in lengthy solos atop a dynamic group dialogue driven by Hanrahan. Watt introduces “Resolution” solo, before Kaiser’s distorted squall opens a door for Peet, who, with Hanrahan and Golia, swings like mad through vanguard post-bop. Peet’s swirling organ acts as an engine for the collective modal improvisation in “Pursuance.” Meditations’ “The Father and The Son and The Holy Ghost” theme presents Golia’s testament of it at once as a grounding centerpiece and the lift-off point for focused group improv. “Consequences” offers abstract interplay as the hub for cohesive group conversation and aural mapmaking. A Love Supreme‘s “Acknowledgement” is reprised as a set closer with the entire band playing the vamp. It simmers and flows as Golia articulates its melody on tenor, then switches to soprano in his solo as Peet adorns and underscores his lines with shimmering chords. Hanrahan guides the flow largely by feel; his empathy and receptivity inspire Kaiser to usher in a gripping intensity that shape-shifts interactions dynamically and texturally over nearly 13 sublime minutes. A Love Supreme Electric is not an endgame for these players. It is the next evolutionary chapter in a developing investigation that expands on the already important musical primacy, spiritual depth, and cultural resonance in these works. — AMG





Track Listing:
01 - A Love Supreme: Acknowledgement
02 - A Love Supreme: Resolution
03 - A Love Supreme: Pursuance
04 - A Love Supreme: Pslam
05 - Meditations: The Father and The Son and The Holy Ghost
06 - Meditations: Compassion
07 - Meditations: Joy
08 - Meditations: Love
09 - Meditations: Consequences
10 - Meditations: Serenity
11 - Meditations: The Father and The Son and The Holy Ghost reprise
12 - Meditations: Acknowledgement reprise


Media Report:
Genre: jazz, tribute
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits