This coming July 17 will mark 55 years since the death of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. The fact that his legacy remains significant to both those that perform jazz and those that listen to performances reminds me of those days before I was born when jazz lovers “in the know” would be identified by the motto “Bix lives,” honoring the memory of jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. Ironically, both of these jazz icons died young: Coltrane at the age of 40 and Beiderbecke at the age of 28. Between those two figures was another major saxophonist that also died young, Charlie Parker at the age of 34.
Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Mouthpiece Music)
At the risk of sounding too fussy, I have to confess that, over the course of my own listening experiences, I have rarely encountered “memorial” performances of the music of any of those three jazz icons that left me with a sense of satisfaction. As digital signal processing technology kept getting better, it seemed as if present-day tributes never quite caught the spirit of how that music had been made in the past. I make this observation as a caveat regarding my thoughts about the latest Coltrane tribute album, Stretching Supreme, performed by a quartet formed by saxophonist Dave Wilson to reflect the “Classic Quartet” period in the Coltrane biography.
Coltrane played both soprano and tenor saxophone in that quartet, performing with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. This marked a high point in the catalog of recordings produced by Impulse! Records, founded by Creed Taylor and drawing upon the engineering genius of Rudy Van Gelder. If the years of the Classic Quartet (1962–1965) marked some of Coltrane’s finest offerings, both originals and performances of standards, then the high point among those originals was the four-movement suite entitled A Love Supreme.
That composition inspired the title of Wilson’s new album, on which he also plays both soprano and tenor saxophone. Furthermore, he seems to have summoned three musicians willing to take Coltrane’s quartet as a point of departure for their own performances. Those musicians were Kirk Reese on piano, Tony Marino on bass, and Alex Ritz on drums. Ironically, however, the account of A Love Supreme seems to have more to do with compression, rather than stretching. Only the first two parts of the suite are performed, “Acknowledgement” and “Resolution,” along with a short introduction that precedes “Acknowledgement.” This truncation may have reflected the fact that the other three members of the original quartet make lengthier contributions to the remaining two parts; Wilson’s quartet players may not not been up to handling that level of inventiveness.
The fact is that, given that, in addition to the Impulse! studio recording, there are now two “live” recordings of Coltrane’s quartet playing A Love Supreme, the most recent having been released by Impulse! this past October, I fear that there is little to add or even reflect in an attempt to pay homage to this music. Nevertheless, readers may recall that, during the height of the pandemic, I was fortunate enough to encounter an album that radically rethought the music itself, rather than honoring its original creation. That rethinking was the product of guitarist Karl Evangelista, whose quartet included his Grex duo partner Rei Scampavia on keyboards along with Robert Lopez on drums and Dan Clucas on cornet. This struck me as a recording that found its own spirit in Coltrane’s conception, without worrying about, as I put it in writing about this album, “reproducing the ‘original flesh.’”
The good news is that Wilson’s album presents “live” performances of Coltrane’s music, recorded at Chris’ Jazz Café in Philadelphia. Those recordings include two other Coltrane selections, “Dear Lord” (another Classic Quartet offering) and “Naima” (from an earlier Atlantic session). They also include one of Wilson’s own compositions, “On the Prairie” and an account of Henry Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses,” neither of which is particularly compelling. Sadly, none of these offerings rise to the level of those past standards set by Impulse! Records.
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