Africa/Brass cover

Africa/Brass

Released

A magical outlier in Coltrane’s discography, this 1961 date features ensembles of as many as 17 players, and arrangements (two basses! four French horns!) that are written to create mood and menace rather than big band slickness. The opening “Africa” is like the moment right before the tiger leaps out of the jungle at you, sustained for a quarter hour, and there’s nothing pastoral about what they do to the English folk tune “Greensleeves”; the album’s final track, “Blues Minor,” deploys the titular brass in a forceful but judicious manner. Mostly it’s a platform for Coltrane to wail, and he does.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Blythe Spirit cover

Blythe Spirit

Arthur Blythe
Under the Hat cover

Under the Hat

Ada Rovatti
Historicity cover

Historicity

Vijay Iyer Trio
Trombone Tribe cover

Trombone Tribe

Roswell Rudd
Super-Sonic Jazz cover

Super-Sonic Jazz

The Sun Ra Arkestra
Kawaida cover

Kawaida

Kuumba-Toudie Heath
Expectation cover

Expectation

Los Angeles Jazz Ensemble
The Fifties: A Prism (feat. Christopher Crenshaw) cover

The Fifties: A Prism (feat. Christopher Crenshaw)

Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
East Meets West cover

East Meets West

Ahmed Abdul-Malik