Initiated by West Coast drummer John Hanrahan, A Love Supreme Electric examines John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Meditations album, asking to merge the two as one spiritual ecstatic piece of music, as performed on this 2 CD set with Vinny Golia on sax, Bob Moses on percussion, Henry Kaiser on guitar, Mike Watt on bass and Wayne Peet on organ; profound and powerful!
Out of Stock
Quantity in Basket: None
Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 5.00 units
Sample The Album:
Vinny Golia-tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone
John Hanrahan-drums
Henry Kaiser-guitar
Wayne Peet-organ
Mike Watt-bass
Bob Moses-percussion
Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.
UPC: 045775047027
Label: Cuneiform
Catalog ID: Rune 470/471
Squidco Product Code: 29811
Format: 2 CDs
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded at Newzone Studio, in Los Angeles, California, on February 10th 2019, by Wayne Peet.
"In fact, A Love Supreme Electric asks "What if?" over and over again, joyously interrogating the twin templates of Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Meditations from a kaleidoscopic array of angles. All five performers weigh in with their solo perspective, but the magic is that the listener is invited to contribute, too. After hearing this music, you may never hear Coltrane in the same way again.
Kaiser, the project's de facto theorist, chose to start with "What if A Love Supreme and Meditations are two parts of one single expression of an ecstatic spiritual state?"
"I had known that Coltrane intended his Meditations suite to be a spiritual sequel to his A Love Supreme suite," Kaiser writes in his liner notes for A Love Supreme Electric, notes that are as provocative as the music itself. "Thus it was natural to suggest that with our A Love Supreme Electric gigs, we often play Meditations as the second set. After having done this more than a few times, I would note that....the two suites really do fit together to actually be one 2-part suite, where all the individual sections inform, deepen, cross-reference, and expand on one another, in both the musical and spiritual domains.
"The 2-CD set that we present to you here," he continues, "is this current crew's fiery salvo of our testimony to this."
The band's recognition of the essential unity of Coltrane's two masterpieces is profound, as is the ease with which saxophonist Golia, percussionist Hanrahan, guitarist Kaiser, keyboardist Peet, and bassist Watt answer another big "what if?": "What if Coltrane had survived cancer-which took him at the untimely age of 40, in 1967-and joined his occasional colleague Miles Davis in pioneering electric jazz?"
There's no way of knowing whether this is where the saxophonist would have gone, although his string of 1961 gigs with Wes Montgomery suggest that he was not immune to the sonic possibilities of the electric guitar. Viewed with an open mind, however, Coltrane would seem a likely candidate to go electric. His late-career interstellar explorations have, conceptually if not sonically, more to do with the psychedelic ethos than any of Davis's acoustic recordings, and while there are persistent rumours of Davis and Jimi Hendrix wanting to record together, the saxophonist's loquacious voice would have been as apt for that project than Davis's terse trumpet.
In his notes, Kaiser speaks about discovering a surprising sonic kinship between Coltrane and Davis, a realization sparked by his earlier investigation of the latter's late '60s and early '70s music in his band with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, Yo Miles!. "I was surprised to note that there were many below-the-surface features that were common with Coltrane's meditations suite and the way that Miles' electric music functioned," he writes. "Independent systems happening simultaneously, tiny seeds growing into giant beanstalks of music growing beyond the sky, and a vision beyond where jazz had been before."
The A Love Supreme Electric quintet references those qualities to create a sound that is simultaneously of the present, of the past, and of the might-have-been. While sounding exactly like himself-that is, a highly individualistic musician whose stylistic touchstones include Eric Dolphy and Roscoe Mitchell as well as Coltrane-Golia's big tenor sound provides a link to acoustic jazz even in the midst of the band's most futuristic interplay. And, speaking of melding the past and the future, check out Kaiser's squealing slide invocation of Sonny Sharrock early on in Meditations; that the pioneering noise guitarist and Coltrane never got to perform together is one of the many tragedies of the saxophonist's untimely death-and another "what if?" to contemplate.
There are more of those questions here. What if Coltrane, who was known for his close study of North Indian music, extended his reach to encompass the shamanistic sounds of Korea? (And, for that matter, what if he had allowed his spiritual curiosity to veer more completely from ecstatic Christianity towards shamanic thinking?) What if psychedelic rock music hadn't been dumbed down by corporate interests and self-indulgent performers, but had been allowed to flourish? What if, as Kaiser suggests, Meditations and A Love Supreme's cyclical structures function as a kind of sonic Ouija board, allowing inductive trance technologies to unite seemingly disparate performers?
Close the door, unplug the phone, and press "play". You've got an hour, 47 minutes, and 41 seconds to think.
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS
Vinny Golia The oldest member of the A Love Supreme Electric band at 74, Vinny Golia remains a progressive force in the worlds of jazz, contemporary composition, and improvisation. In addition to being a consistently inventive performer on all of the reed instruments, he's a pioneer of the artist-run-label movement, having started his influential Nine Winds Records in 1977.
John Hanrahan John Hanrahan, who initiated the A Love Supreme Electric project in conjunction with Henry Kaiser, was introduced to improvised music through the jam-band scene, specifically the open-ended explorations of the Grateful Dead and other like-minded outfits. He's gone on to become a powerful jazz drummer but also a deeply interactive performer, capable of both driving rhythms and subtle textural interplay.
Henry Kaiser A Love Supreme Electric is guitarist Henry Kaiser's 9th recording for Cuneiform Records; other outings include the solo album Lemon Fish Tweezer, two Yo Miles! sessions with trumpet master Wadada Leo Smith (Sky Garden and Upriver), and 2014's The Celestial Squid, with pioneering jazz-rock guitarist Ray Russell.
Wayne Peet A relatively unsung member of the Los Angeles improvising scene, and a long-time playing partner of both Henry Kaiser and Vinny Golia, Wayne Peet is responsible for much of the textural diversity found on A Love Supreme Electric-not only with his expressive solos on both piano and organ, but with ears well-trained by his parallel career as a recording engineer and studio owner.
Mike Watt A bona fide Rock God for his work with the Minutemen, Firehose, and more recently Iggy Pop and the Stooges, bassist Mike Watt is primarily known for his relentless rhythmic drive. As the title of his 1995 solo album Ball-Hog or Tugboat? suggests, he's more inclined to keep things moving than indulge in sonic grandstanding, and on A Love Supreme Electric he does just that while also displaying keen sensitivity to the needs of the music in the moment."-Cuneiform Records
The Squid's Ear!
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Vinny Golia "As a composer Vinny Golia (born March 1, 1946) fuses the rich heritage of Jazz, contemporary classical and world music into his own unique compositions. Also a bandleader, Golia has presented his music to concert audiences in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the United States in ensembles varying dramatically in size and instrumentation. Mr. Golia has won numerous awards as a composer, including grants from The National Endowment of the Arts, The Lila Wallace Commissioning Program, The California Arts Council, Meet the Composer,Clausen Foundation of the Arts, Funds for U.S. Artists and the American Composers Forum. In 1982 he created the on-going 50 piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble to perform his compositions for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles. A multi-woodwind performer, Vinny's recordings have been consistently picked by critics and readers of music journals for their yearly "ten best" lists. In 1990 he was the winner of the Jazz Times TDWR award for Bass Saxophone. In 1998 he ranked 1st in the Cadence Magazine Writers & Readers Poll and has continually placed in the Downbeat Critic's Poll for Baritone & Soprano Saxophone. In 1999 Vinny won the LA Weekly's Award for "Best Jazz Musician". Jazziz Magazine has also named him as one of the 100 people who have influenced the course of Jazz in our Century. In 2006 The Jazz Journalists Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Golia has also contributed original compositions and scores to Ballet and Modern Dance works, video, theatrical productions, and film. As an educator Vinny has lectured on music & painting composition, improvisation, Jazz History, The History of Music in Film, CD & record manufacturing and self-production throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and Canada. He currently teaches at California Institute of the Arts. In 1998 Golia was appointed Regent's Lecturer at the University of California at San Diego. In 2009 Vinny Golia was appointed the first holder of the Michel Colombier Performer Composer Chair at Cal Arts. Vinny has been a featured performer with Anthony Braxton, Henry Grimes, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Joelle Leandre, Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Bertram Turetzky, George Lewis, Barre Phillips, The Rova Saxophone Quartet, Patti Smith, Harry "the Hipster" Gibson, Eugene Chadburne, Kevin Ayers, Peter Kowald, John Bergamo, George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennick, Lydia Lunch, Harry Sparrney and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra amongst many others." ^ Hide Bio for Vinny Golia • Show Bio for John Hanrahan "A veteran of the Chicago music scene, Santa Cruz based drummer/singer John Hanrahan has made a strong and versatile impression in jam bands throughout the country as well as the project with his quartet performing and releasing in 2016, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. Currently the John Hanrahan Quartet has been performing a variety of tributes around the Bay Area to great jazz musicians of the 60's, including John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, and Miles Davis projects. The band was showcased at SFJAZZ in September, Yoshi's in January, Kuumbwa Jazz Center in July, and will be in Chicago performing at The Jazz Showcase in April. The John Hanrahan Quartet has been playing together in Chicago and around the globe for over 20 years. Central Coast jazz fans will also recognize the John Hanrahan Quartet from their breakout performance at the 2014 Monterey Jazz Festival, where they paid tribute to Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme', widely considered one of the greatest jazz recordings of all time. Hanrahan can also be found performing throughout the Bay Area with Freestone Peaches, Stu Allen & Mars Hotel, Matt Hartle, and Colorado's own Shakedown Street." ^ Hide Bio for John Hanrahan • Show Bio for Henry Kaiser "Henry Kaiser (born September 19, 1952) is an American guitarist and composer, known as an idiosyncratic soloist, a sideman, an ethnomusicologist, and a film score composer. Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "second generation" of American free improvisers. He is married to Canadian artist Brandy Gale. In 1977, Kaiser founded Metalanguage Records with Larry Ochs (Rova Saxophone Quartet) and Greg Goodman. In 1979 he recorded With Friends Like These with Fred Frith, a collaboration that lasted for over 20 years. In 1983 they recorded Who Needs Enemies, and in 1987 the compilation album With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends? They joined with fellow experimental musicians John French, and English folk-rocker Richard Thompson to form French Frith Kaiser Thompson for two eclectic albums, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf (1987) and Invisible Means (1990). In 1999 Frith and Kaiser released Friends and Enemies, a compilation of their two Metalanguage albums along with additional material from 1984 and 1999. In 1991, Kaiser went to Madagascar with guitarist David Lindley. They recorded roots music with Malagasy musicians and discovered music that, he says, "changed us radically and permanently". Three volumes of this music were released by Shanachie under the title A World Out of Time. In 1994 he made a similar trip to Norway, again with Lindley, recording music that was released as Sweet Sunny North (2 volumes, 1994 and 1996). Since 1998, Kaiser has been collaborating with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in the "Yo Miles!" project, releasing a series of tributes to Miles Davis's 1970s electric music. This shifting aggregation has included musicians from the worlds of rock (guitarists Nels Cline, Mike Keneally and Chris Muir, drummer Steve Smith), jazz (saxophonists Greg Osby and John Tchicai), avant-garde (keyboardist John Medeski, guitarist Elliott Sharp), and Indian classical music (tabla player Zakir Hussain). Kaiser has appeared on more than 250 albums and scored dozens of TV shows and films, including Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World (2007). He was given a Grammy Award for his work on the Beautiful Dreamer tribute to Stephen Foster. In 2001, Kaiser spent two and a half months in Antarctica on a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program grant. He has subsequently returned for nine more visits to work as a research diver. His underwater camera work was featured in two Herzog films, The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) and Encounters at the End of the World (2007), which he also produced, and for which he and Lindley composed the score. Kaiser served as music producer for Herzog's Grizzly Man (2005). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work as a producer on Encounters at the End of the World." ^ Hide Bio for Henry Kaiser • Show Bio for Wayne Peet :Wayne Peet: b. 6 December 1954, Dallas, Texas, USA. As a small child Peet took piano lessons, and while at college developed an interest in the more advanced forms of jazz then being played, including the music of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Anthony Braxton, only later backtracking to consolidate his understanding of the genre. He formed a duo with trombonist John Rapson, and sometimes both young men doubled on the other's instrument. The group developed a localized, largely on-campus reputation. Some years later, in 1994, Peet played on the Dances Orations session led by Rapson, which also featured Braxton. He worked in various formats with Vinny Golia from the mid-80s; a trio (Worldwide & Portable), quintet (Regards From Norma Desmond), and the Large Ensemble (Decennium Dans Axlan and The Other Bridge (Oakland 1999)). Closer to post-bop mainstream, in 1988 Peet recorded with Kim Richmond (Looking In Looking Out). By the late 90s, Peet was more often to be heard playing organ, sometimes the Hammond B3 but usually the Hammond-Suzuki XB2. He recorded a tribute to Larry Young and later recorded with former Shadowfax guitarist G.E. Stinson. An excellent player of piano and organ, by the new millennium Peet's skills were gradually making his name internationally known." ^ Hide Bio for Wayne Peet • Show Bio for Mike Watt "Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. He is best known for co-founding and playing bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen, Dos, and Firehose. He is also the frontman for the supergroup Big Walnuts Yonder, a member of the art rock group Banyan and involved with several other musical projects. From 2003 until 2013, he was the bass guitarist for The Stooges. Watt has been called "one of the greatest bassists on the planet." CMJ New Music called Watt a "seminal post-punk bass player." Readers of NME voted Mike Watt one of the "40 Greatest Bassists Of All Time" and LA Weekly awarded him the number six spot in "The 20 Best Bassists of All Time." In November 2008, Watt received the Bass Player Magazine lifetime achievement award, presented by Flea."-Wikipedia ^ Hide Bio for Mike Watt • Show Bio for Bob Moses "Bob Moses (born January 28, 1948) is an American jazz drummer. Moses played with Roland Kirk in 1964-65 while he was still a teenager. In 1966 he and Larry Coryell formed The Free Spirits, a jazz fusion ensemble, and from 1967 to 1969 he played in Gary Burton's quartet. He also recorded with Burton in the 1970s, in addition to work with Dave Liebman/Open Sky, Pat Metheny, Mike Gibbs, Hal Galper, Gil Goldstein, Steve Swallow, Steve Kuhn/Sheila Jordan (from 1979 to 1982), George Gruntz, and Emily Remler (from 1983 to 1984). In the early 1970s he was a member of Compost with Harold Vick, Jumma Santos, Jack Gregg (fr) and Jack DeJohnette. His first session as a leader was in 1968, released as the record Love Animal. His second session as a leader was in 1973 with the release of Bittersuite in the Ozone. his records for Gramavision in the 1980s were critically acclaimed. He is also the author of the drum method book Drum Wisdom. Moses currently performs alongside John Lockwood, Don Pate, and John Medeski with noted guitarist Tisziji Muñoz and teaches at New England Conservatory." ^ Hide Bio for Bob Moses
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/2/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
CD1
1. Acknowledgement 13:25
2. Resolution 7:53
3. Pursuance 14:48
4. Psalm 5:27
CD2
1. The Father And The Son And The Holy Ghost 6:59
2. Compassion 8:37
3. Joy 8:17
4. Love 5:18
5. Consequences 11:51
6. Serenity 5:50
7. The Father And The Son And The Holy Ghost Reprise 6:34
8. Acknowledgement Reprise 12:41
Cuneiform
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
West Coast/Pacific US Jazz
Sextet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Search for other titles on the label:
Cuneiform.