Customer Reviews

Meditations (Reis) (Rstr) (Dig)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Something was in the air in 1965. Bob Dylan plugged in his guitar and alienated much of his folk-music base. And John Coltrane headed off into the stratosphere of sacred, free playing and left most of his base, which was most jazz fans, in the dust. Most of them had forgiven him for his 1961 adventures with Eric Dolphy, and had come to revere the early '60s Quartet with Jones, Garrison and Tyner. But following A LOVE SUPREME, Coltrane set off in pursuit of an ecstatic vision that could not be contained in traditional jazz structures. I'll never forget the first time I heard this record in 1976, along with OM. I loved Ornette Coleman, but I found these records to be impenetrable, loud and ugly. Keep this in mind if you haven't heard music like this before.

Today, I find it beautiful, even the long opening track, "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost," which is nearly 13 minutes long, and culminates in a section that sounds like the tocsin being sounded by an atonal spiritual army. But that track affected my reception of the rest of the recording (LP, in those days) at first, and I never realized that the rest of the album isn't nearly as harsh. Pharoah Sanders on tenor and Rashied Ali on percussion are added to the Quartet. The second track, "Compassion," is more like the 1961 Vanguard material, with a very funky rolling drum beat. "Love" and "Serenity" sound as serene as you would expect, more like "A Love Supreme," interrupted by the intense, dissonant "Consequences."

MEDITATIONS is the single greatest work of Coltrane's late (post-LOVE SUPREME, 1965-1967) period. I feel that ASCENSION, with a large ensemble, is not nearly as effective, nor is OM. The others I recommend are SUN SHIP, an overlooked recording from the fall of 1965, the last with the Quartet, INTERSTELLAR SPACE, duets with drummer Rashied Ali, and LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD AGAIN, with an unbelievable solo by Pharoah Sanders.

"Meditations" is John Coltrane's 1966 album which indeed has a divided opinion amongst devotees. The album can easily be dismissed as 40 minutes worth of random noise however, after several listens, "Meditations" can be quite extraordinary ranking high with works such as "Ascension", "Kula Se Mama" and "Interstellar Space".
For "Meditations", Coltrane is augmented by a sextet featuring himself and Pharoah Sanders on tenor sax, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and the dual drums of Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali. Like Coltrane's timeless classic "A Love Supreme", "Meditations" is an album-length suite with spiritual overtones. Unlike "A Love Supreme", the music is largely full of dense atonality and fiercely performed free-form improvisation. This music definitely cannot be categorized as 'easy listening'.
The opening track, "The Father and The Son and The Holy Ghost" is a nearly 13-minute excursion into dissonant realms with Coltrane and Sanders using their horns for a variety of sound effects. Sanders solo which enters nearly seven minutes into the track is especially effective with its use of tones that are beyond the highest notes of the instrument.
This track segues into "Compassion" in which the music becomes calmer and more listenable. McCoy Tyner's piano playing is a big highlight here as is Coltrane's lyrical sax lead towards the end.
After a brief pause, bassist Jimmy Garrison introduces the next track "Love" with a somber unaccompanied solo. Coltrane then joins Garrison two minutes into the track with an soaring lead line as the rest of the band joins in gradually crescendoing to an explosive climax which leads into the next piece "Consequences".
"Consequences" is a slight revist to the dense atonal runs which opened the album. Sanders and Coltrane introduce the track with a dual-sax conversation which Sanders winds up taking over. Once again, his playing is expressive, difficult to describe yet perfectly in context with the music. Coltrane rejoins Sanders briefly but Tyner's piano enters in as the rest of the band (except for Garrison) drops out. Here, Tyner's piano spotlight features some his best playing on a Coltrane album veering off into Classical realms.
Tyner's extended piano improvisation paves the way for the album's closing piece "Serenity", a meditative epilogue that features a beautifully executed sax lead line by Coltrane with a dynamic accompaniment from the other musicians - a calm finale to what is otherwise an intense album.
While it doesn't rank amongst Coltrane's best-loved works, "Meditations" is still undoubtedly a classic. Its explosive musical interplay along with its emotion-filled expression is unlike anything else Coltrane has done (except for maybe "Ascension"). It is a pure statement from one of Jazz music's legendary musicians.
Not for the faint of heart but still very recommended!!!

I'll just start by saying that if you think Coltrane's music peaked with GIANT STEPS or with his work in the Miles Davis band then you probably don't want to purhcase this cd. Straight-ahead, in-the-pocket jazz this is not.

This cd is The Anti-Giant Steps. Whereas Giant Steps is mainly just a display-piece for Coltrane's technical virtuosity, MEDITATIONS is nothing but ensemble improvisational exploration and emotional outpouring. Quite simply, this cd is Coltrane at his very best, and yet it is certainly not for everyone.

For me, the first 15 minutes or so of this cd may very well be the most engaging and emotionally fulfilling music that Coltrane ever made, and that is due in no small part to the "added" musicians, Pharoah Sanders and Rashied Ali. Pharoah's playing seems to either be loved or hated. One thing is for sure though, his soulful improvisations are not for the faint of heart. Though his detractors will just say "He can't play, he just squeaks". This is due to some listeners having a hard time understanding and accepting alternate visions of personal expression. It takes more than just a shallow, superficial listen to understand Pharoah's playing. Pharoah is as deep and emotional a tenor player as has ever existed, and he and Coltrane connect wonderfully on this cd. I also think that McCoy Tyner (pianist) is better on this cd than on any other late-period Coltrane recordings.

There are no words I can use that would give you a feeling of the music contained on this cd, I'll just say that everything Coltrane had learned about himself, music, and the deep importance of nurturing the Human Spirit comes out in this music.

AMAZING!!!! I cannot give this album enough praise. I heard Coltranes early stuff and bought this album after hearing brief clips of it. What can I say!!!. Pharoah sanders and coltrane are amazing together and the sound from sanders is mind blowing!!! As other people have already said if you don't want to broaden your mind or get into free jazz it sounds like a lot of random noise, and well Pharoah sanders defintely has a unique sound. The first track is true free jazz, but the highlight for me are the third and forth; the emotion and the love that coltrane shows for the world and its contents is clearly shown in 'love'. This song is true perfection for me and then 'consequences' brings you back slowly into the real world and its chaotic nature. This is a very simplistic explanation and I can't put my true fealings into words, but lets just say its religon and life combined into one true masterpiece. listen over and over again, and when the meanings become apparent and the true spirit shows itself, your perspective on life will totally be changed!!!!!!

Rashid Ali. Elvin Jones. Playing together. Here's where all tonality starts to break down. Coltrane and Sanders finally get into the studio to record the new sounds they'd had on the road and took it all to another level that was never really matched in the studio. And Coltrane goes totally into the sprit in music, never looking back. This was the band he wanted, and sadly couldn't keep, Tyner and Jones took off after this, with different stories as to why depending on who you ask. This music is rarely gentle but can be, The Father The Son and The Holy Ghost becomes Sacred music of another culture, it at times reminds one of the master musicians of Jajouka, this is pagan ritual music, the rites of pan, the terror of man who was at the mercy of storm and horn gods, and the spirits of the ancestors, . This is the music of Ancient Africa, rediscovered. For a time I was losing sleep over the extincition of so much sacred music in our world, Cante Jondo for instance, Jajouka for another, Kurdish and Armenian folk musics,etc. But the great sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan (may god be pleased with him) pointed out in his excellent book "the music of life" that all music had to be originally discovered by intuition, or was given to man by gods (which really amount to the same thing if you look at it from a certain perspective). So nothing is lost, it can always be rediscovered. And that is what happens here, a sacred music lost for centuries, maybe millenia (it sounds as primal as jajouka, which is pre monotheism, maybe 4000 years old!) is found again by the master musicians and mystics John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, may god be pleased with them. This is some of the truly Sacred music of the twentieth century, I have found non jazz afficianados to be more receptive to this atonal revolutionary music, they don't have the prejudices of what Coltrane should or should not be. Deep music, as deep as it gets. It is the shamanic experience, the listener can be violently torn apart and then put back together with a new sense, this music is an initiation, once through it you will hear music in a different way for the rest of your life, and you will be thankful for Meditations for this. But it is by no means for the weak of heart, some find it violent, which is absurd, Coltrane was the most gentle man who lived since Percy Bysshe Shelley. I cannot recommend it enough, if it scares you then chances are you need to be scared. If you think it's just noise, slow down, read "silence" by John Cage, open your mind and your ears. You are missing more then I can ever tell you if you don't let this music take you away. Compassion. Love. Serenity. It's all here, this is the music of life, and if it seems violent, so would the sight of our hearts pumping blood, of our mothers giving birth to us, but this is life, and it is beautiful and essential, so is this music.

For many years, those of us who couldn't find the original album (which seemed to go out of print right after it was issued) had to content ourselves with a less than 5 minute excerpt from FS&HG on "The Best of John Coltrane, V.II." And as fine as the rest of Meditations is, this album's reason for existence is The Father, Son and Holy Ghost--one of the supreme mastepieces of modern music. There's certainly nothing in all of Energy Music that reaches a higher high, and the towering climax that Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali thrash out under Coltrane's frantic, rising solo immediately before Pharoah Sanders enters is, to the best of my knowledge, unique in all of music. People who liken listening this to a religious experience aren't being pretentious in my opinion--if any music is capable of punching a hole in heaven and bringing the listener to the next level, it's got to be this. It's still unbelievable to me that music could rise to this level of intensity without completely coming apart. I could wax poetic about the effect this piece had on a bunch of teenage jazz lovers in 1972, but what's the point. This is really the type of music that takes up where words leave off. A lot of avant-garde jazz is just noise, loud or quiet, but not this time. As we used to say, John Coltrane didn't die, he just got too heavy for the world and fell off. Before he did, however, he broke through to the Other Side, if only for a few seconds. Get this disc and listen to one of the most amazing performances in all of music. And the rest of it ain't bad either.

Many have said that the (originally suppressed) Quartet version of this album is better than the album itself. But I think this version of the Meditations suite is actually better; at least, it forms more of a unity that actually makes a statement. As with A Love Supreme, Meditations seems to tell a story, or at least follow a concept.

"Father Son and Holy Ghost" (a.k.a. "Leo") was one of Coltrane's standards through 1966 and 1967. It is a composition that is unique to this version of the album. Coltrane and Sanders play a grinding multiphonic motif that (as is stated in the liner notes) is oddly reminiscent of "speaking in tongues". Coltrane then plays a countertheme that is deceptively child-like, a playful hymn-like bit that is almost like something by Albert Ayler.

"Compassion" is, admittedly, much better on the First Meditations album. This version is almost unrecogniseable, except for the bassline. The haunting repetitious motif of the older version is clipped and stunted here; and the "heartbeat of God" motif of the original is also not very clear.

"Love" begins with a bass solo by Garrison, followed by a startlingly beautiful rubato statement by Coltrane. It is also more beautiful than the version on "First Meditations".

The music shifts without pause to Coltrane playing the almost unrecogniseable tune "Consequences", mostly to introduce a shockingly ugly solo by Sanders.

Finally "Serenity" begins with McCoy Tyner leading seamlessly off from "Consequences" into a piano solo. This is my favourite Tyner piano solo, at first accompanied by the others, and then going off unaccompanied. His usual block-chord style gives way to something that sounds remarkably like Keith Jarret - a themeless improvisation of great beauty.

Coltrane then plays another beautiful rubato solo, the theme of "Serenity", which lasts only three minutes.

This is an album that has an undeserved reputation for being impenetrable. It may not be totally accessible, but it is a powerful statement from a master musician, and a more coherent experience than "First Meditations".

First off, all you so-called jazz-listeners who think Dixieland is jazz, who think Swing was the point where jazz reached perfection or who think that jazz should be easy-listening cheap pop-music, skip this, go buy Dave Brubeck and enjoy the rest of your life. You will undoubtedly agree with those people who rate this one star because they think that music can only be good music if it's accessible and plain, and would thus fit in perfectly with 18th and 19th century classical music.

For those of you who have some interest in art, who are not afraid of something new, innovative and different, and who are willing to give a record a second listen if they didn't like it the first time 'round: welcome to a new dimension to music!

'Meditations' is not an accessible record, not at all. However, if you listen carefully, you will find that it's more than just noise. Between the dissonant chords and the odd arpeggio saxophone-lines, you will find the holy grail of philosophy: order in chaos. This is a thing that cannot be explained, and that one shouldn't try to explain, but if you listen to the album, you will, after a few (but only a few) tough minutes find that you hear the calm serenity hidden deep down in the music, you will hear the chords hidden in a vortex of sound, and the doors to a new kind of music will open to you.

However, do not expect to like this the first time you hear it, and I suggest against this being your first encounter with free-jazz. If you are a bop-listener, get this record after the detour of Art Blakey, and find some early Coltrane first (try 'Olé Coltrane' or 'Coltrane'), then move to 'Impressions', THEN get 'Meditations'. If you've gone through this course, you can take any of the Coltrane someone might throw at you.

Art in it's purest, roughest form.

When i purchased this cd, i wasn't sure what to expect, the personnel was a bit different from my favorite Coltrane albums. I wasn't sure if i wanted to hear the "classic quartet" 's sound messed with by adding another drummer and i wasn't sure if i cared to hear a horn other than Coltrane's in the mix. But, i popped it in the ol' hifi with a hint of anticipation, waiting to hear the marvelous work of the quartet embellished with a few added extras, perhaps. Wow, what a shock. It was not what i was expecting at all, i really wanted to hear that certain sound i had heard on, say, "Africa/Brass", "John Coltrate Quartet Plays", or "Coltrane." All i can say, in the most reverent way possible, is THANK YOU GOD, FOR JOHN COLTRANE. This is defenitely not an album of music, i can only say that for those that truly understand what's really happening, what you hear simply transcends the art form people label "music." I guess what it boils down to is that people make the mistake of thinking that only quietly nurturing, soothing, and "beautiful" music is Godly and worshipful. Coltrane was a deeply religious man, and i believe he created this music with the knowledge that it is truly mimetic of the universe we live in and the power of its Creator. It is indeed a powerful metaphor. The drummers, both powerhouses in their own right, combine to create a bubbling primordeal turbulence beneath the tonal foundation founded by the piano and bass, while coltrane and Pharoah Sanders' horns occupy what could only be described as heights reached by those attaining heaven itself. And if the fear of God is wisdom, that fear of the most powerful being and the universe is amply embodied in the combined squeals of the two horns. Or do they simply hover above the constantly forming earth of the rhythm section, the hand of God, the power of the Most High streaming through your stereo speakers... This and other reviews paint a pretty far out picture of this album, but im guessing that's because the nature of this music, as the title would imply, inspires a certain degree of meditation, and meditation is what, through the ages, has led us mere mortals to percieve a state of hightened awareness and a greater understanding of existence. Anyway, umm, but this album! Not easy listening but potentially ultimately rewarding, not mind blowing, mind expanding!

The triumph of "A Love Supreme" is continued here, but there are a number of things to be aware of:

* Pharaoh Sanders is, depending on how you look at him, either one of jazz's most emotive and innovative players, or a damned nuisance. If you love Trane for his melodic sense, you may be stung and even angered by Sanders' contribution. On the other hand, the emotion in his playing is tremendous, and he does contribute to the wall of sound that is this (by turns) furious and beautiful album.

* This is one of the last stops on the classic quartet's journey -- augmented here by Sanders and drummer Rashied Ali, this music is quite different from the foursome's work. Even "First Mediations for Quartet", which is largely the same material, is a quite different conception than what is presented herein.

* Coltrane is still, and always would be, the high priest of saxophony. Within this lovely package is some of the most emotive playing in the Trane canon; but the bare emotions of this album require that you listen carefully and open your mind.

Having said that, the music doesn't speak to me as readily as "A Love Supreme" -- however, it is undoubtedly a classic.