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
Blue Groove cover

Blue Groove

Richard "Groove" Holmes
Coming Home cover

Coming Home

Graham Breedlove
Identity cover

Identity

Jeremy Pelt
Sahara cover

Sahara

McCoy Tyner
Evolution cover

Evolution

Joe Henderson, Kitty Margolis
City Gates cover

City Gates

Don Pullen, George Adams
Jazz á la Bohemia cover

Jazz á la Bohemia

Randy Weston, Cecil Payne
The New York Contemporary Five cover

The New York Contemporary Five

New York Contemporary Five, Archie Shepp