Today, Wynton Marsalis is only three years older than the legendary John Coltrane was when he died of liver cancer. Coltrane left behind some of the most influential music in the history of jazz including his most notable work, "A Love Supreme."
The album resonates with a surrender to a higher power throughout the four-part suite titled "Acknowledgement," "Resolution," "Pursuance" and "Psalm." Although the piece is deemed elementary in structure, it is arguably the most honest and seemingly unaffected jazz recording in the genre's history.
The last movement Coltrane intended to serve as a musical articulation of the written passage enclosed in the album's liner notes. Most every jazz listener who has or hasn't heard the album can usually recognize the four simple notes - "A Love Su-preme" -- that make up the opening bass line and continue throughout the piece.
Coltrane's spirit reverberated off the walls at Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA this past Saturday evening when Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, all donning Brooks Brothers suits, played "Psalm," along with a dazzling array of charming standards.
Coltrane, who died at the age of 40, experienced a religious awakening of sorts by exploring aspects of Judaism, Christianity, and some elements of African and Eastern mysticism.
"During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life," wrote Coltrane in the liner notes of "A Love Supreme," an album that was recorded and released seven years after this epiphany. "At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. All praise to God."
It was this experience in which Coltrane locked himself in his bedroom for nearly a week and only drank water in an attempt to kill his addictions to alcohol, heroin, sugar and cigarettes. He overcame his habits with the exception of smoking tobacco from time to time.
From 1957 to 1964, Coltrane immersed himself in non-Western music and philosophy by exploring music from West Africa and India and also began to read books on Hinduism, Islam, astrology and yoga.
Coltrane said he remembered dreams in which he thought God was communicating musical concepts to him and on one such occasion, the composition of "A Love Supreme" came to him in its entirety. Coltrane and his group - drummer Elvin Jones, bassist Jimmy Garrison and pianist McCoy Tyner - recorded the piece in December 1964 in the exact order the movements are listed on the album.
It would be daunting for any musician or group to perform a selection from "A Love Supreme," but for Marsalis, who is the director of the LCJO, it only expanded his virtuoso technique and penchant for the arrangement of songs within the context of a large ensemble. In fact, the band recently recorded its version of the classic Coltrane album, which is now out on Palmetto Records.
Playing a movement from a piece first performed by a quartet was no easy feat for the orchestra's drummer Herlin Riley and bassist Carlos Henriquez who probably over the years have adapted to the nuances of a big band environment - 16 pieces. Marsalis dedicated the performance to Coltrane's drummer Jones.
New Orleans native Marsalis, who attended Juilliard at the age of 17 and later joined Art Blakey's group The Jazz Messengers, has always surrounded himself with incredible talent. Over the years, he has earned nine Grammys and in 1997 became the first jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work "Blood on the Fields."
Marsalis opened the evening with Benny Carter's piece "Kansas City Suite: The Wiggle Walk" as if to declare, "Wake up folks, we are here to play you some music." Marsalis then led the band into Mary Lou Williams' "Big Jim Blues" with a few minutes of greasy soloing as he walked from the back of the bandstand to the front of the stage.
Alto saxophonist and personal favorite Ted Nash welcomed his father and trombonist, Dick, on stage for their duet on the standard, "All the Things you Are."
The orchestra played in true form Saturday when it came to rhythm - stopping on a dime at one point and nailing down intricate time signatures.
Marsalis and company played one more song each from Carter and Williams' repertoire, and ended the first set with a few movements from Duke Ellington's "Black, Brown and Beige" but not before reminiscing about his experiences playing with some of Ellington's oldest band members. At one point, Marsalis and the rest of his trumpet section began clapping the melody to one of the pieces and looked at the audience as if we should all join in, as if it were that easy.
The most notable solos came, of course, from Marsalis. But Nash, tenor sax man Victor Goines, trumpeter Ryan Kisor, saxophonist Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson, trombonist Ron Westray, Riley and pianist Aaron Goldberg, who apparently filled in for regular pianist Eric Lewis (a disappointment since he is such a delight to watch and would have been especially intriguing on "Psalm"), also shared moments in the spotlight.
In true Los Angeles fashion, the concert began a bit behind schedule with empty seats to a sold-out show popping up here and there. The audience, although giving a somewhat wholehearted standing ovation at the end of the second set, emptied out of the hall the moment the players walked off the stage without the chance of an encore in sight - a stark contrast to that of my experiences with Marsalis in San Francisco.
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