JOHN COLTRANE — Meditations (review)

JOHN COLTRANE — Meditations album cover Album · 1966 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Sean Trane
What a difference it makes between the official Meditations and the pre-meditations (the posthumous release called First Meditations). The present album is probably the hinge between the two Coltrane quartet, as Elvin, Jimmy and McCoy are still there, but we’re also hearing from Pharoah Sanders and Rashied Ali, both kingpins of Trane’s second quartet. As a matter of fact, only Alice is missing. With Elvin and Pharoah on the right channel, Rashied and Trane are busy on the left channel, Meditations is generally seen as the next major album after ALS, and the annunciator or precursory of the Ascension to come, even if maybe the latter might have come prior to the present, but both are sonically close enough, if it wasn’t for two shorter tracks that bring a sense of normalcy on the present.

Opening on the downright dissonant free-jazz of Father And Son, it slowly cools down to a more audible second part (the tracks segue into each other) of the vinyl side called Compassion (for our ears maybe, John??). Opening the flipside with sleepy and standardy Love but the aural respite is rather short (well 8-mins), since the ensuing (drastic) Consequences is merciless on your eardrums, with dissonance that could be taken from Ascension. At the 2/3 mark, Tyner manages to bring back some welcome normalcy, though. The album closes on the short Serenity, which is a sonic reference to ALS’s closing statements.

In some ways Meditations is not easier on your sanity than Ascension is, but in its softer moments, it’s definitely more accessible, so if you’re a little afraid to approach the awesome Ascension without some kind of aural preparation, then Meditations is the logical next step after ALS.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Moving On Eclectic Fusion
ETERNAL TRIANGLE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Gravity Fusion
ETERNAL TRIANGLE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Samuel Blaser / Marc Ducret / Peter Bruun : Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground Avant-Garde Jazz
SAMUEL BLASER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Strange Times Latin Jazz
YULIA MUSAYELYAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Peggy Lee & Cole Schmidt : Forever Stories of Moving Parties Nu Jazz
PEGGY LEE (CELLO)
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

1+1=3
FLORIAN WEISS
js· 2 days ago
Bright Diminishing
HENNING SIEVERTS
js· 2 days ago
Tension
MULATU ASTATKE
js· 2 days ago
NRG 2 -The Future's Ours -Chiminyo + James Mollison, Axel Kaner-Lidstrom, David Mrakpor, Wonky Logic
CHIMINYO
js· 2 days ago
Jonathan Scales Fourchestra - The Trap [Official Video]
JONATHAN SCALES
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed