On 24 September, the evening after what was the incomparable musical master John Coltrane's 100th birthday, his son Ravi concluded a three-night stand at the Blue Note in Hollywood to mark the centennial. In addition to the saxophonist, there were David Virelles on piano, bassist Dezron Douglas and Jonathan Blake on drums and we sat on the side closer to Blake, whose playing was phenomenal, though Virelles and Douglas were excellent and Coltrane especially inspiring as the group played a range of his songs associated with his father from the mid-1950s to John's death at just age 40 in mid-July 1967.
One of the more surprising songs performed was "Expression," which was one of the last studio recorded pieces, dating from sometime in Spring 1967, and it appears that Ravi chose this beautiful piece for that reason. After the show, I thanked Ravi for playing that song, while having chatted with some women ahead of me who knew him about his mother Alice's amazing work as a pianist, I added something about her, as well.
Hearing "Expression" as well as well as Blake's complex, propulsive and invigorating drumming, led me to think about Interstellar Space, recorded at one session on 22 February 1967, a week after two of the tunes on Expression and just prior to other pieces that were on that record, or its CD version. I bought Interstellar Space, which was not released until September 1974, around 1991 when I was on a Coltrane binge, having just discovered his sublime music, and was captivated by this duet with drummer Rashied Ali, with the original LP release of four songs named for the planets Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Venus.
For many people, Coltrane's music is generally inseparable from the incredible Elvin Jones, whose polyrhythms, impeccable timing and immense power and creativity pushed Coltrane and the other Classic Quartet members, bassist Jimmy Garrison and McCoy Tyner on piano, to incredible levels of intensity. There's no doubting Elvin's genius, but Ali, unfortunately, didn't get the attention he should have for, first of all, replacing Jones and, secondly, for his vital role in the challenging music of the last couple of years of Coltrane's life and career.
"Challenging" ("difficult" for some) is an operative word for Interstellar Space, but so is "rewarding." Apparently, Ali showed up to the legendary Rudy Van Gelder's studio expecting a full band, only to be told by Coltrane that it was duet session. When the drummer asked what they were playing and what tempos, the reply was "whatever you want it to be" with Coltrane adding "I'm going to ring some bells. You can do an 8-bar intro." Ali complied and some 36 and 1/2 minutes of material yielded this bracing, explorative and astounding recording in one take.
Ali evidently felt uncertain about his playing, believing he could have played better with some preparation, but he later remarked that the album "really told you the direction he was headed in" and added that "it's really something that has to be listened to and something that has to be felt." This is definitely the case: Interstellar Space isn't, for this blogger, a record to understand, but to experience. Coltrane knew he was very ill, perhaps aware he was dying, and this bracing recording seems to reflect that and Ali deserves all the credit possible for making the most of a difficult situation and allowing Coltrane to explore the outer limits (pun definitely intended) of his music.
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