Been waiting for some sustained critical engagement with this album, and I appreciate yours, Vinnie! To answer your one Q: no, the sequence on the album does not precisely reflect the set list. I don't know precisely what the original order was, but I can attest that Jack was an active producer of this reissue, and had some say as to how the album flows.
Thanks for the support Nate! And thanks for the tip about Jack’s involvement…doesn’t change the quality of the music but it’s good to know that it was presented to us. Thanks again Nate!
DeJohnette was hired by Coltrane to play in his band in March of that year in Chicago.
Coltrane & Co.
at The Plugged Nickel
John Coltrane – tenor & soprano
Pharoah Sanders – tenor & flute
Alice Coltrane – piano
Jimmy Garrison – bass
Jack DeJohnette – drums
Rashid Ali – drums
March 2-6, 1966
Coltrane’s week here confirmed ASCENSION, made it clear that John intends to extend himself into a spasm of “mystic” experience. Which explains the music, and why he is digging into soul and pock to enlist the young lions, aligning their powers with his.
Wednesday night sounded as though giant hands were breaking open the earth, great sounds and chunks of things coming loose. John was blowing against a wall which tottered but wouldn’t fall, then backing off into the stomach-lurching rollercoaster of his more familiar style. Two drummers are pertinent to the music, functioning in a way comparable to a guitar team; while DeJohnette played “rhythm”, Rashid wove “melody”, a steady pattern of rhythmic filigree similar to the flying carpet Ed Blackwell spreads. But the most urgent voice of the night was Pharoah Sanders, toes plugged into some personal wall-socket, screaming squealing honking, exploding echoes of encouragement among the audience. Pharoah was a mad wind screeching through the root-cellars of Hell.
Friday night. How do you review a cataclysm? evaluate an earthquake? An apocalyptic juggernaut that rolled across an allusion to My Favorite Things into a soundtrack from an old Sabu movie – jungle-fire, animals rampaging in panic, trumpeting of bull elephants? You can only describe with impressions saved from the storm. DeJohnette walking away blanched and shaken from the demands of the music. Mrs. Coltrane sitting sedately by, occasionally edging in with comment. Garrison plugging away, helping hold things together. Pharoah a mongoose shaking a snake. Roscoe Mitchell, sitting in on alto for the night, breaking loose with lashes of short-range lightning, some of the most exciting playing to come out of the mass. Saxophonists reaching for tambourine, claves, beaters, etc. whenever resting the horn. Rashid coming through undaunted near the end with a fresh new drum-dance. A locomotive of horns, Pharoah-Trane-Roscoe in a row blowing at once, spinning wheels, throwing cinders. Roscoe becoming “possessed” with revival-frenzy. And the big punch of Coltrane, somehow keeping his head in the melee, breaking through time after time with groaning lyricism. Like a convulsion they had induced but no longer seemed able to control, it ground on and on, beyond expected limits of endurance, past two hours, past closing time, until the management intervened and closed it down.
The audience filed out into the morning, stunned and bludgeoned. The comfortable had been disturbed. The merely hip had been driven back to protests of cacophony, anarchy, disorder. And even the most open ears had become numbed by the continual barrage – one of the problems of the music. What do you carry away from an avalanche besides awe? Another problem – the piano solos and Garrison’s long masterful bass solos remain interludes, adjuncts unaccepted by the bulk of the music. But there were elements of order at work even if we were eventually deadened to them. A peripheral order that contained the inner disorder (pigs fighting in a gunny-sack, the sack enclosing their thrashings). Order from the momentum of the rhythm which pulled things along with it. Maybe a second bassist, say Donald Garrett, would have added that much more. And order from the herding sweep of John’s tenor.
Even at its best, the music never achieved the free flow of Ornette (the comings together and conversation of Free Jazz), or the arranged blossoms of sound-clusters of Sun Ra, or the paradox of complete control/freedom clarity of Albert Ayler (those open ringing bronze Bells, vibrating to their own self-shaping song and logic), but it does have excitement and immense raw power – an experience in itself. What they did prove was just how hard they could try. That they could beat themselves bloody pounding at the farthest reaches of experience and come back with only their effort as an answer. Perhaps that alone is their answer.
Great point about the Haynes/DeJohnette connection; Jack wrote, recorded, and featured Haynes on “Papa Daddy” on (I believe his first) date as a leader, the DeJohnette Complex, on Milestone. Onward Lazaro!
"Forces of Nature" is the perfect title for the fiery quartet and album and you do your usual excellent job walking the reader. I'm hoping someone also gives the generous time to "Live at the Captain's Cabin", a 1973 concert recording by Charles Tolliver Music Inc. Granted, Tolliver's Quartet––John Hicks on piano, Clint Houston on bass, and Cliff Barbaro on drums––was a regular working entity so one hears an ensemble in sync. "Forces of Nature" has more of a raw quality, four musicians discovering new ways of expression as they literally play for the moment and for the future. Great albums both (my opinion)! Thank you for what you do, Vinny––play on!
Yes, I like this new Tolliver release a lot! Among my first thoughts was: I want Vinnie to do a deep dive on Clint Houston. He is great on this date. I went back through my collection and found a wonderful pair of Louis Hayes albums, "Una Max" and "Light and Lively" on SteepleChase that feature Houston and his compositions.
Jack DeJohnette is a personal friend, meeting so many great artists the way I did in Chicago when I was young in the music business, but remaining friends with Jack has been a journey of incredible music! He is so multidimensional, so intense, and so real. Thank you for bringing the new look to the world, of our beloved “old“ jazz, the original American music! You are a wonderful writer and you tie in other adventures like the interview. Thanks again!
Nice piece. Thanks for the in-depth approach and overall historical and musical context . I have the album here, waiting with a bunch of others to be listened to. Now I'm more excited about it and will listen today. Cheers man.
Thank You so much. Really enjoyed the reading. On the sidenote, Mozoun recorded some extremely “white” music after the interview. Even compared to Miles and Weather report.
Great to hear your thoughts on this! I was pretty shocked the first couple listens, and I'm still taking it in. Pretty incredible stuff - I'm very grateful that we get to listen in.
hey vinnie... that is a pretty deep dive! why don't you reach out to dejohnette and see if he is receptive to an interview from you?? would be fun to read here on your substack! either way - thanks for sharing.. i enjoyed your write up and related tangents..
Jack DeJohnette (ldr), Joe Henderson (ts), McCoy Tyner (p), Henry Grimes (b), Jack DeJohnette (d)
a. [unknown titles]
VV: 14 April 1966, p.32; Coda June 1966, p.22.
Just listened to this set, or rather more like levitated in the maelstrom of this music. These guys are playing with such intensity unmatched to the studio dates that it leaves me dumbfounded. Thank the Creator (and especially Jack!) for bringing us this music when we need it more than ever.
Been waiting for some sustained critical engagement with this album, and I appreciate yours, Vinnie! To answer your one Q: no, the sequence on the album does not precisely reflect the set list. I don't know precisely what the original order was, but I can attest that Jack was an active producer of this reissue, and had some say as to how the album flows.
Thanks for the support Nate! And thanks for the tip about Jack’s involvement…doesn’t change the quality of the music but it’s good to know that it was presented to us. Thanks again Nate!
Right on. And I misspoke of course when I typed “reissue”…
DeJohnette was hired by Coltrane to play in his band in March of that year in Chicago.
Coltrane & Co.
at The Plugged Nickel
John Coltrane – tenor & soprano
Pharoah Sanders – tenor & flute
Alice Coltrane – piano
Jimmy Garrison – bass
Jack DeJohnette – drums
Rashid Ali – drums
March 2-6, 1966
Coltrane’s week here confirmed ASCENSION, made it clear that John intends to extend himself into a spasm of “mystic” experience. Which explains the music, and why he is digging into soul and pock to enlist the young lions, aligning their powers with his.
Wednesday night sounded as though giant hands were breaking open the earth, great sounds and chunks of things coming loose. John was blowing against a wall which tottered but wouldn’t fall, then backing off into the stomach-lurching rollercoaster of his more familiar style. Two drummers are pertinent to the music, functioning in a way comparable to a guitar team; while DeJohnette played “rhythm”, Rashid wove “melody”, a steady pattern of rhythmic filigree similar to the flying carpet Ed Blackwell spreads. But the most urgent voice of the night was Pharoah Sanders, toes plugged into some personal wall-socket, screaming squealing honking, exploding echoes of encouragement among the audience. Pharoah was a mad wind screeching through the root-cellars of Hell.
Friday night. How do you review a cataclysm? evaluate an earthquake? An apocalyptic juggernaut that rolled across an allusion to My Favorite Things into a soundtrack from an old Sabu movie – jungle-fire, animals rampaging in panic, trumpeting of bull elephants? You can only describe with impressions saved from the storm. DeJohnette walking away blanched and shaken from the demands of the music. Mrs. Coltrane sitting sedately by, occasionally edging in with comment. Garrison plugging away, helping hold things together. Pharoah a mongoose shaking a snake. Roscoe Mitchell, sitting in on alto for the night, breaking loose with lashes of short-range lightning, some of the most exciting playing to come out of the mass. Saxophonists reaching for tambourine, claves, beaters, etc. whenever resting the horn. Rashid coming through undaunted near the end with a fresh new drum-dance. A locomotive of horns, Pharoah-Trane-Roscoe in a row blowing at once, spinning wheels, throwing cinders. Roscoe becoming “possessed” with revival-frenzy. And the big punch of Coltrane, somehow keeping his head in the melee, breaking through time after time with groaning lyricism. Like a convulsion they had induced but no longer seemed able to control, it ground on and on, beyond expected limits of endurance, past two hours, past closing time, until the management intervened and closed it down.
The audience filed out into the morning, stunned and bludgeoned. The comfortable had been disturbed. The merely hip had been driven back to protests of cacophony, anarchy, disorder. And even the most open ears had become numbed by the continual barrage – one of the problems of the music. What do you carry away from an avalanche besides awe? Another problem – the piano solos and Garrison’s long masterful bass solos remain interludes, adjuncts unaccepted by the bulk of the music. But there were elements of order at work even if we were eventually deadened to them. A peripheral order that contained the inner disorder (pigs fighting in a gunny-sack, the sack enclosing their thrashings). Order from the momentum of the rhythm which pulled things along with it. Maybe a second bassist, say Donald Garrett, would have added that much more. And order from the herding sweep of John’s tenor.
Even at its best, the music never achieved the free flow of Ornette (the comings together and conversation of Free Jazz), or the arranged blossoms of sound-clusters of Sun Ra, or the paradox of complete control/freedom clarity of Albert Ayler (those open ringing bronze Bells, vibrating to their own self-shaping song and logic), but it does have excitement and immense raw power – an experience in itself. What they did prove was just how hard they could try. That they could beat themselves bloody pounding at the farthest reaches of experience and come back with only their effort as an answer. Perhaps that alone is their answer.
-- J.B. Figi
Chicago
What an incredible thing to share, thank you Lazaro! I assume this is a Downbeat article? Much appreciated…
I believe Downbeat, yes.
The passing of Roy Haynes put in relief DeJohnette’s debt to him on this session, too?
Thanks for the column. Blue Lake will feature this recording on the radio Friday and we’ll quote from this with attribution. Spreading the word!
Great point about the Haynes/DeJohnette connection; Jack wrote, recorded, and featured Haynes on “Papa Daddy” on (I believe his first) date as a leader, the DeJohnette Complex, on Milestone. Onward Lazaro!
"Forces of Nature" is the perfect title for the fiery quartet and album and you do your usual excellent job walking the reader. I'm hoping someone also gives the generous time to "Live at the Captain's Cabin", a 1973 concert recording by Charles Tolliver Music Inc. Granted, Tolliver's Quartet––John Hicks on piano, Clint Houston on bass, and Cliff Barbaro on drums––was a regular working entity so one hears an ensemble in sync. "Forces of Nature" has more of a raw quality, four musicians discovering new ways of expression as they literally play for the moment and for the future. Great albums both (my opinion)! Thank you for what you do, Vinny––play on!
Yes, I like this new Tolliver release a lot! Among my first thoughts was: I want Vinnie to do a deep dive on Clint Houston. He is great on this date. I went back through my collection and found a wonderful pair of Louis Hayes albums, "Una Max" and "Light and Lively" on SteepleChase that feature Houston and his compositions.
Good idea Dan— A basic Clint Houston playlist/overview would be great for me to study. Thanks for the suggestion!
great and much-needed piece, vinnie. mccoy lives! (as does joe!)
Right on Lloyd!
Beautiful essay. As a side note, it evokes the creative spirit of the Lower East Side of that time really well.
Glad to hear that Richard— that was a powerful time and I wanted to honor it.
Jack DeJohnette is a personal friend, meeting so many great artists the way I did in Chicago when I was young in the music business, but remaining friends with Jack has been a journey of incredible music! He is so multidimensional, so intense, and so real. Thank you for bringing the new look to the world, of our beloved “old“ jazz, the original American music! You are a wonderful writer and you tie in other adventures like the interview. Thanks again!
Thanks for reading! Tell Mr. DeJohnette how much we appreciate him..
Nice piece. Thanks for the in-depth approach and overall historical and musical context . I have the album here, waiting with a bunch of others to be listened to. Now I'm more excited about it and will listen today. Cheers man.
That’s the idea! Thanks for the comment Ivan..
Thank You so much. Really enjoyed the reading. On the sidenote, Mozoun recorded some extremely “white” music after the interview. Even compared to Miles and Weather report.
Fantastic piece clearly inspired by the momentous release that is, Forces of Nature. Wow! Thank you.
Great to hear your thoughts on this! I was pretty shocked the first couple listens, and I'm still taking it in. Pretty incredible stuff - I'm very grateful that we get to listen in.
Hope you're well Vinnie!
Hi Michael— thanks for the comment, nice to hear from you!
Hey Vinnie, this is Luke from Willy p. Amazing article, it’s great to see some in depth discussion about this record!
Hi Luke, great to hear from you! Glad you appreciate the piece, thanks for reading....
hey vinnie... that is a pretty deep dive! why don't you reach out to dejohnette and see if he is receptive to an interview from you?? would be fun to read here on your substack! either way - thanks for sharing.. i enjoyed your write up and related tangents..
That would be a dream come true of course. I’ll keep working and hope to do right by Mr. DeJohnette and his community…🙏
hey! it is your community too and i am quite sure dejohnette would see it this way too...
Excellent review of this historic find. I did some digging and according to https://jazzdiscography.com/Artists/Henderson/JoeHenderson.php
Date: April 1966
Location: Slugs', New York City
Label: [no known recording]
Jack DeJohnette (ldr), Joe Henderson (ts), McCoy Tyner (p), Henry Grimes (b), Jack DeJohnette (d)
a. [unknown titles]
VV: 14 April 1966, p.32; Coda June 1966, p.22.
Just listened to this set, or rather more like levitated in the maelstrom of this music. These guys are playing with such intensity unmatched to the studio dates that it leaves me dumbfounded. Thank the Creator (and especially Jack!) for bringing us this music when we need it more than ever.