meditations

Forty five years ago, John Coltrane continued his spiritual journey with the dense and dynamic experimentation of this free jazz opus. For the recording of 'Meditations' two new musicians were brought in, Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone and Rashied Ali on drums, to add to the classic quartet of Coltrane on tenor saxophone, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on double bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. His quartet had recorded four of the five songs already for what would eventually be released in 1977 as 'First Meditations (for quartet)'. 'Meditations' features Coltrane and Sanders dueling it out on separate channels each with their own drummer while Garrison and Tyner try and hold things together. Inspired by the avant garde approach of Albert Ayler, Coltrane sought to remove musical structure completely as a reflection on pure emotion and the search for spiritual meaning. Tyner and Jones quit the band after this challenging album.

The explosive din of 'The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost' sets the tone for the album. It was the only track on the album that had not been recorded before.

'Compassion'

Love

Consequences / Serenity