Sun Ra – Friendly Galaxy (1965)

When you need to keep your brain and heart vibrating, just listen to Sun Ra and the smile will spread like wildfire. Friendly Galaxy is from the album Secrets of the Sun by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra, recorded at the Choreographers’ Workshop in 1962 in New York and released in 1965.

This is an interesting album for Ra fans because it’s such a small band and shows how new ideas were taking hold in the music, not to mention Gilmore’s use of bass clarinet, which he stopped playing completely sometime in the ’60s. [source]

Sun Ra – Harp, Piano, Gong / John Gilmore – Space Bird Sounds, Bass Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Drums, Percussion / Art Jenkins – Space Voice / Calvin Newborn – Guitar, Electric Guitar / Marshall Allen – Flute, Alto Saxophone, Percussion / Pat Patrick – Flute, Baritone Saxophone, Bongos / Eddie Gale – Trumpet / Al Evans – Flugelhorn / Ronnie Boykins – Bass / Tommy Hunter – Drums, Tape Effects / C. Scoby Stroman – Drums / Jimmy Johnson – Percussion

Albert Ayler – Angels (1966)

Angels is the second track on the side B on the album Spirits Rejoice by Albert Ayler, recorded and released in 1965.

Recorded live at New York’s Judson Hall in 1965, Spirits Rejoice is one of Albert Ayler´s wildest, noisiest albums, partly because it’s one of the very few that teams him with another saxophonist, altoist Charles Tyler. It’s also one of the earliest recordings to feature Ayler´s brother Don playing an amateurish but expressive trumpet, and the ensemble is further expanded by using bassists Henry Grimes and Bary Peacock together on three of the five tracks; plus, the rubato “Angels” finds Ayler interacting with Call Cobbs´ harpsichord in an odd, twinkling evocation of the spiritual spheres. Aside from that more spacious reflection, most of the album is given over to furious ensemble interaction and hard-blowing solos that always place in-the-moment passion above standard jazz technique. [read more]

Albert Ayler – Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
Donald Ayler – Trumpet
Call Cobbs – Harp, Harpichord
Henry Grimes – Bass
Sunny Muray – Drums, Percussion
Gary Peacock – Bass
Charles Tyler – Alto Saxophone, Unknown Contributor Role

Alice Coltrane – The Sun (1968)

The Sun is one of 2 bonus tracks on the 1998 reissue of the album A Monastic Trio by Alice Coltrane from 1968. The two bonus tracks were originally issued on John Coltrane’s “Cosmic Music” album.

A Monastic Trio is the first solo album by Alice Coltrane. Recorded in 1968 (the reissue includes one track from 1967), she intended it to be a tribute to her husband, John Coltrane, who had died the year before. [source]

Alice Coltrane- Harp, Piano

Pharoah Sanders – Tenor Saxophone

Jimmy Garrison – Bass

John Coltrane – Vocals

Ben Riley – Drums

Alice Coltrane – I Want to See You (1968)

A Monastic Trio is the first solo album by Alice Coltrane. Recorded in 1968, she intended it to be a tribute to her husband, John Coltrane who had died the year before.

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating “Musically, the works here move from the deep bluesy modal structures that Alice Coltrane so loved in John’s repertoire… All of these works, with their deep Eastern tinges in the intervals juxtaposed against Western blues phrasing, are wondrously droning and emotional exercises” [source]

A1: “Ohnedaruth” (7:49) / A2: “Gospel Trane” (6:44) / A3: “I Want to See You” (6:42)

B1: “Lovely Sky Boat” (6:51) / B2: “Oceanic Beloved” (4:18) / B3: “Atomic Peace” (5:53)

Jimmy Garrison – Bass

Ben Riley – Drums (tracks A1)

Rashied Ali – Drums ( A2 – B3)

Alice Coltrane – Piano, Harp

Joe Henderson – Earth (1973)

Joe Henderson was a true genius and a unique musical visionary. “Elements” is a testament to both of those attributes for it really is in a league all its own. Spritual jazz-fusion…….yes, absolutely…..but it’s more than that. It’s celestial, cosmic, and trance inducing for it takes the listener on a musical excursion…..dark and mysterious…..unlike any other. Alice Coltrane undoubtedly cotributed alot to this, for the sublime sound of her harp and piano playing is very much an integral component of this awesome work of art. Joe does things on this album that are unlike anything else he ever did as far as the sound and tone of his sax are concerned. One example of this is the effects he uses on the third cut “Water”. He was able to “treat” his sax to make it sound as if it were eminating from the far depths of the ocean, that’s how I perceive it anyway. It also includes eastern Indian percussion and citar atop a hypnotic groove that really has to be heard to be appreciated. The last track, “Earth” is 13 minutes of spacy aural stimulation that features amazing violin work from Michael White atop another tripped out hypnotic groove. The first two tracks, “Fire” and “Air” are also phenomenal and of course feature instrumentation of the loftiest order from all participants. The former includes one of my all time favourite sax riffs and the latter is a free-form meltdown. This is a gift of extraordinary magnitude. [Source]

Here’s the line up:

Personnel: Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone, flute, alto flute, piano); Alice Coltrane (harp, piano, harmonium, tamboura); Kenneth Nash (spoken vocals, wood flute, congas, sakara drum, bells, gongs, percussion); Michael White (violin); Charlie Haden (bass); Ndugu Chancler (drums); Baba Daru Oshun (tabla, percussion). Recorded at Village Recorders, Los Angeles, California from October 15-17, 1973. Originally released on Milestone (9053).