Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
A Love Supreme at 60: Thoughts on Coltrane’s Masterwork
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
Damon Smith (left) and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses
(Photo: Craig Marshall)Why did you decide on Native Pulse as a recording location?
The studio is in Moses’ home, and he has an amazing expanded kit there. The primary reason was to work with the sounds he’s developed on that kit. It meant playing in very close quarters, but that’s something Henry has always loved anyway, and it actually gives good results in the interactions. Engineer David Sullivan runs Native Pulse, and got an incredible sound.
What’s the manifesto of your label, Balance Point Acoustics?
It started in 2001 with a duo bass recording I made with the great Peter Kowald. The focus is free improvisation and free jazz. The artwork for each album is very important to me, and I like having a place where I can make a release look and sound exactly how I want, which helps when I work with other labels. I can just go with the concepts they are working with, knowing I have an outlet for making releases exactly how I want. I have good luck getting labels to release my music, but BPA is really for releases I want to keep control of, and release when I want to.
One of the reasons this was able to come out so soon after recording is that we’d chosen the cover art before we even played. I saw an article on the pastel drawings of the important abstract filmmaker Jordan Belson. Henry knows the family and was able to get permission to use them; the CD release of Astral Plane Crash has a 12-page booklet with 10 of the drawings, instead of liner notes. DB
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…