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Offering: Live at Temple University
The music John Coltrane made between the beginning of 1965 and his death in July 1967 is some of the most unremitting jazz ever committed to tape. He might play a single piece for an hour, engaging in screaming duels with fellow tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, leaving his band — usually pianist Alice Coltrane, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali, plus guests — to offer support that it didn’t even seem he needed. This concert, from November 1966, features an expanded lineup. Garrison had left the group, and the relatively unknown Sonny Johnson is on bass, but the ensemble is augmented by four percussionists, including a Batá drummer, and two young alto saxophonists, who take one solo each. The endless rumble of the drums gives the music a ritualistic, primal quality that’s only strengthened when, during a 21-minute performance of “Leo,” Coltrane takes the horn out of his mouth and begins pounding his chest and roar-singing into the microphone. The quality is a little rough (it’s a mono recording made with a single microphone, so everyone but Coltrane is a blur in the background), but this is an explosive album, well worth hearing if you think you’re up for it.