Customer Reviews

Transition

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the John Coltrane Quartet, 1965 marked a period of intensely accelerated change. It was at this time that Coltrane began his final creative ascent, uncoupling the characteristic ingredients of his style - modal transmogrification, anguished overtones, incantatory skips and repetition - from the moorings of the popular song form. His later works, seemingly shorn of any kinship to prevailing jazz idioms, became explicitly primal, mystical and redemptive. The music of the Coltrane ensembles from late 1965 until his death two years later remains challenging and enigmatic even now, a quarter century later.

The recordings that comprise 'Transition' show the JCQ at its most ecstatically unanimous. Still organized around recognizable structures, the first three sections of 'Transition' are vehicles for what was surely the hardest swinging small group of all time. Tyner, Garrison, and Jones churn behind Trane as never before, spinning complex webs of polyrhythmicity into stunning cadences. For his part, Coltrane soars above, around, and through them with some of the most abundantly inventive, panoramic solos he ever managed to capture on record.

Like most great works of art, 'Transition' cannot be completely assimilated on first encounter. Completely organic and self-contained, it continues to reveal its glories over years of repeated listening. I've been companioned by it for 30 years, and it moves me more, and differently, now than ever before.

'Transition' is beyond jazz, beyond category - it is a music of awakening, a glorious window on the soul. Don't live your life without it!

For me "Transition" is less a stage than a culmination of the rhapsodic and frequently rapturous spiritual quest of modern music's most Apollonian visionary. After this leg of the journey, I'm inclined to jump ship. More power to those who are able to join him for the ventures of the final two years, which to my ears (especially during the times I caught him live) became increasingly chaotic, repetitious, and paradoxically predictable. "Transition," on the other hand, has more energy than "A Love Supreme" yet retains sufficient form to produce some of the most engaging tensions in Trane's recorded ouevre. Listen, especially, for the emergence of a subtextual, low-register "counter-voice" during the development of Coltrane's solo on the opening title piece. It's as though the soloist splinters into two personae, creating a remarkable call-response exchange with his own inner voices. The lower register of the horn expresses a snarling and insistent, "Dionysian" claim which is immediately answered by the sublimely ecstatic incantations of the instrument's altissimo harmonics. Whether due to the victory of the transcendent voice or the exorcism of the more threatening, earthly one, the effect is both revelatory and cathartic.

Even a Coltrane album such as this, I've discovered, is "controversial" (at best) among many followers of jazz. All I can say, especially to those who won't go there because they "know what they like," is give it a few more chances. We also tend to like things we know, and "Transition" is a recording worth knowing.

This one seems to get lost in the middle of the famous _A Love Supreme_, and the more audacious sound-explorations of late Coltrane. It's kinda easy to see why: _ALS_ is about as far as the casual jazz listener will want to go into the Coltrane experience, and the dedicated avant-garde enthusiast will likely spend more time with more-challenging work such as _Ascension_ and _Stellar Regions_. This one, very appropriately titled, is the transition, the album made immediately after _ALS_, into terra incognita and probing adventure.

You can tell right away by the song titles that _Transition_ is thematically structured quite similarly to _A Love Supreme_: the songs seem to be invocational, spiritual. One hits the ground running with the title tune, whose pentatonic, Tynerian theme makes the perfect opening statement: the ship of exploration has come ashore, and we are setting foot in a new land, boldly going where no one has gone before. But that idea is taken way beyond cliche by the truly unique, adventuresome spirit of the music. The classic quartet jams on this tune for 15 minutes, and Coltrane in his second solo gets into some frenzied, twisting altissimo squealing. Not easy listening, but it's invigorating in context.

"Welcome" has Coltrane massaging a lovely melody that feels like sitting down to watch the sunset after a hard day's physical labor. A welcome rest, with reflection. McCoy Tyner sparkles all over it with gorgeous piano runs. I can't help but think that whatever Alice Coltrane would have played on this tune, were it done later, would not have fit nearly as well as what Tyner does with it.

Following that is a "Suite" with several movements; again, not unlike what was done on the third track of _A Love Supreme_, except more fully explored. Varying moods are run through, and a distinctive Jimmy Garrison extended bass solo is included. At one point Coltrane plays with a modification of his earlier "Mr. P.C." theme, which is kind of interesting.

"Vigil" is a Coltrane/Jones sax/drums duet, presaging the late work _Interstellar Space_, an entirely-sax/drums LP with Rashied Ali. This one actually seems surprisingly restrained considering the freedom inherent in the spare format. I guess it wasn't until later that Coltrane really went to town with "free" playing. It works, though, and it's neat to hear him stretching out like this. For this period of Coltrane, it was pretty adventurous.

This is an excellent LP that maintains a high level of quality throughout. It should not be overlooked!

This album requires a little patience. It seems to unfold after several listens: releasing layer after beautiful layer. If you can't get enough of A Love Supreme - don't hesitate to try Transition. It is a fantastic album!

If you're a fan of the immediately aesthetically pleasing type of jazz, this record is not for you, but if you're getting into the Avant-Garde or Coltrane, I would highly suggest purchasing this album. Since it was not published during Trane's life you can get it for a good price. Jones throughout is in transition (no pun intended) from his older rhythmic stylings to the wild frenzy that would characterize playing on pieces like "Ascension" and "Sun-Ship". Especially of interest is "Transition" itself, which is one of my favorite Coltrane recordings. The dichotomy between his uncontrolled blasts of forward momentum and his upper register existential shrieking is most illuminating here, moreso than on any other piece. Coltrane's entire second solo on "Transition" may take a dozen listenings to interpret, but it is worth it, a statement of existence so purified and abstract that it transcends thinking itself. What in later Coltrane recordings might sound like uncontrolled saxophonal babbling is clearly explained on this album.

If you're a fan of the immediately aesthetically pleasing type of jazz, this record is not for you, but if you're getting into the Avant-Garde or Coltrane, I would highly suggest purchasing this album. Since it was not published during Trane's life you can get it for a good price. Jones throughout is in transition (no pun intended) from his older rhythmic stylings to the wild frenzy that would characterize playing on pieces like "Ascension" and "Sun-Ship". Especially of interest is "Transition" itself, which is one of my favorite Coltrane recordings. The dichotomy between his uncontrolled blasts of forward momentum and his upper register existential shrieking is most illuminating here, moreso than on any other piece. Coltrane's entire second solo on "Transition" may take a dozen listenings to interpret, but it is worth it, a statement of existence so purified and abstract that it transcends thinking itself. What in later Coltrane recordings might sound like uncontrolled saxophonal babbling is clearly explained on this album.

There was tons and tons of music by Coltrane left in the Impulse vaults after Trane died in 1967. It was never that this stuff was sub-par, it was just that he was recording so much in 1965 and 66 that the label could not keep up with him. Don't forget that this was live in the studio and you didn't have to mix it. A few takes per number, in a day, and you had a new album.

Transition catches Coltrane in spring, 1965, when his music was growing by leaps and bounds and changing each month. Here, he was still using modes in a coventional way, but his solos were getting more and more out there.

The title track is a D minor jam, and features some of his, and Tyner's, most compeling playing. Dear Lord is a great ballad.

Track three is a suite that fetures different takes on advanced blues variations. At times, it swings like a Mingus blues creature. It is amazingly moving, going from hard riffing to softer, more contemplative sections, and the sum total is excellent.

In a few months, Trane would be much further out there, stretching modes, his music, and himself to the breaking point. It is hard to beleive that this little time passed and his music changed so drastically.

But if you ever tire of My Favorate Things, Love Supreme or Impressions but Ascention and Om are too potant for you, Transition is an album well worth checking out. It is probably the last time he recorded a full album before diving head long into the avant gaurde.

This CD version is better than the original LP because of its inclusion of Welcome. This is the best post-Love Supreme Coltrane, and one of the best avant garde jazz albums of all time. If you like Coltrane, you must own this. I would rank it as my second favorite Trane album right behind Love Supreme. Very beautiful and very moving.

John Coltrane recorded a great deal of music in 1965, and much of it was not released until after his death two years later. TRANSITION is one such album, the result of two recording sessions in June 1965 and finally issued by Impulse in 1970. Two tracks, "Welcome" and "Vigil" appear also on the album Kulu Se Mama (see my review there for details), but the remaining two tracks are enough to make this a special recording in Coltrane's extensively discography.

This is a performance by John Coltrane's quartet, consisting besides the saxophonist of McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums). In the main Coltrane is playing the white-hot hard bop of his celebrated A LOVE SUPREME album. In spite of the disc's title, Coltrane is not yet looking ahead to his later free jazz explorations.

The first track "Transition" certainly displays the spiritual rapture that Coltrane was known for in this era. His deft "sheets of sound" playing is contrasted with relatively long-held notes that soar high and are often overblown. He never lets up and the energy is consistent throughout. There's a solid band behind Coltrane, but the saxophonist is so enthralling that the contributions of Tyner, Garrison and Jones are not as memorable as on most quartet albums.

"Suite" is, as the title suggests, a varied track and rather more restrained. One recurring theme is quite similar to "Mr. P.C." on his relatively early album Giant Steps. "Suite" does a better job of representing the diverse talents in Coltrane's band, as the saxophonist sometimes steps back and Garrison gets a fine solo.

I'd recommend Coltrane fans hear KULU SE MAMA first, but the two exclusive tracks here are among Coltrane's best work. If you buy TRANSITIONS, I don't think you'll at all regret paying for a disc whose contents are partially duplicated elsewhere.

Because the music on this disc is so great I can't give any less than 5 stars. It should be pointed out however that the tracks Welcome and Vigil are from the album KULU SE MAMA. In my opinion these tracks integrate better into that album. Although they were recorded during the same sessions [June 1965], I don't know why they were placed on this release of TRANSITION. It is a bonus, but if you have both albums it creates a redundancy that borrows from the majesty of KULU SE MAMA.