Alice Coltrane albums POLLED (now fixed)

"because she's better that john" is world-class WTF in my book but hey, each to his own. peace.

i mean come on guys this is JOHN COLTRANE who made some of the best albums in jazz ever and is w/o doubt THE TENOR SAXOPHONIST!!!!!!!

1) I love John Coltrane but I listen to Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon more...John Coltrane is a phase you pass through and then someone you revisit from time to time throughout your life, but not someone whose music provides daily, easygoing listening pleasure.

2) As I said in one of the other AC threads, for me this is a tossup between Journey in Satchidananda and Transfiguration because I prefer her small group stuff to the strings.

3) However, Infinity (the infamous JC-with-posthumous-strings album) is awesome.

That's interesting. Save for "Prema", I care very little about Transfiguration.

Nah, the version of "Leo" is world-crushing.

this doesn't have to be a "take sides" pitting Alice vs. John, Jazz D-Bags! They both rule! In different ways! Also, some chatter over on the Jazz D-Bags rolling thread, but we should acknowledge the passing of Rashied Ali, who played with Alice & John ... RIP!

wow when did he die?

i was just thinking about elvin jones' death a few years back

also where did the term 'jazz d-bags' come from on ilx

lol, I think someone was complaining about their Jazz Douchebag roommate? Who was really into jazz? I can't really remember.

Just thought of one more album that I do love that she's on, which is McCoy Tyner's Extensions. Elvin Jones, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Gary Bartz - really good!

WHEN DID RASHIED ALI DIE? :( WTF. RIP.

oh yeah, EXTENSIONS is a beaut (esp. the opening track), and Joe Henderson's THE ELEMENTS also w/ Alice is pretty sweet too - shame she didn't record more as a sideperson

could easily listen to JC daily, and have done for many months at a time - the idea that he's somehow less 'pleasurable' or 'easygoing' than dexter gordon or sonny rollins is seriously wtf (and gd luck listening to anything rollins recorded after abt 65, or to any of those interminable live dex recs post the blue note stuff)

John Coltrane is a phase you pass through and then someone you revisit from time to time throughout your life, but not someone whose music provides daily, easygoing listening pleasure.

speak for "your"self

Sometimes, I wake up and all I do is sing "Om Supreme" throughout the day.

Listening to music for pleasure and only pleasure is something I value less and less as the years go on (if I ever did this).

Tough to really compare. Alice went to places that John might have gone had he lived another five years.

I love the group they had together (that late quintet/sextet as heard on 'Live in japan' and the like)

She claims to have been visited by the ghost of Stravinsky during the recording sessions of Lord of Lords.

Listening to music for pleasure and only pleasure is something I value less and less as the years go on (if I ever did this).

After reading your comments here over the years, I have no idea what you get out of music.

No matter how many polls you start, you can't make me choose.

It was an accident. :(

in fact, she earns demerit points for sanctioning the overdubs etc. on those posthumous JC albs.

i only know infinity, and didn't know she'd done this with any others, but don't get this - you make it sound like she commissioned fat possum drum remixes of them; she just made something new out of some old tapes, you know? infinity's great, the first half especially, and at the very least i'd rather not have it than have it.

also: eternity's probably my #2. i like voting for rogue options in the polls as much as the next guy but sachidananda wins

rogue options?

accepting that something's gonna win and is really the best but that the value and undervaluedness of another option deserves recognition. like saying tabu is the best murnau film or something. it's really sunrise. just tabu is kinda innaresting.

Not really. Her music with strings is still better, sorry. :D

Yeah we get it.

Fuck off.

world galaxy or ptah, journey is really good but its never felt as immersive for me as either of those two. i've heard more of these than i can keep straight tbh

"After reading your comments here over the years, I have no idea what you get out of music."

Can what your or I get out of music, especially after posting here thousands upon thousands of times over nearly a decade on a variety of topics that possible produce contradictory statements, be summarized by a word or two?

C'mon, where's the love for Ptah? Probably the best anthem she did.

And it was Huntington that made me bump the tambourine/sleighbells thread (though I didn't really get the answer I wanted, since I wanted to come out of it and into some sort of '60s r&b shake—even a revivalist '60s r&b shake—but every song I remember with that sound actually starts differently, and HAM has such a great fade… Maybe I'll go into Black Root by Kirk…)

Yeah I think I prefer Ptah to Journey, actually! How can anyone deny "Blue Nile"?

see i feel like blue nile fits more w/ the vibe on journey

Man, Ali Rashied's playing is so menacing and propulsive on UC; esp. on "Battle At Armageddon" where it's literally battling with the organ.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

:D

wow!

World Galaxy in the house

Had a journey in satchidananda and world galaxy double header today, doldrums successfully vanquished. Fair reult on this poll, both stunningly beautiful but world galaxy does shade it.

Really wanna get a copy of 'Divine Songs' on Vinyl...from what I've heard of It it sounds fantastic...

I want to shout out for Huntington Ashram, that's a good record.

I prefer Lord of Lords when it comes to those albums with strings; it is the most majestic. Although her own playing has been submerged completely into the dense sound world by this point in her career I still find it unbeatable. Ptah is the one overall, though. I love her piano playing so much more than her harp and the opening of the album is just so perfect and dramatic.

Huntington Ashram is amazing, probably my third choice. Ron Carter's bass ostinato in the first song, with the low thump and then the slide back up, is just about the tastiest thing ever!

I'd probably rank them Journey, Ptah, Huntington as my first 3. I've never had a copy of world galaxy and I think my MP3 is a not-great vinyl rip. I've always liked Trancendence as well.

besides Journey, what are her vamp-iest albums, if you know what i mean?

All the small group ones, but Ptah probably exceeds Journey in straight up vamping

I am not especially familiar with Monastic Trio though my memory says it is characteristically good stuff.

"I prefer Lord of Lords when it comes to those albums with strings; it is the most majestic."
It's incredible, and certainly delivers majestic. Sounds like a collision between eastern influences, old movie soundtracks and Zorn. It is something else.