by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
John Coltrane died in 1967, but his music lived on at an Albuquerque festival held over the weekend.
The Creative Soundspace Fall Festival at the Outpost Performance Space celebrated Coltrane's mark on the U.S. and abroad.
It focused on Coltrane as a composer and saxophonist who still impacts jazz today, Outpost Executive Director Tom Guralnick said.
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"He's one of the most important people in the history of jazz," Guralnick said. "He has a legacy of pushing the music forward to unexplored territories. That was 40 years ago, and his music still stands out as something that remains unmatched, fresh and innovative to this day."
The festival kicked off Thursday with a performance by the Rashied Ali Quintet. Ali was one of Coltrane's drummers during the two years preceding his death.
Ali and his group played two sets to a full house, featuring originals, extended improvisations and avant-garde jazz compositions.
While only a few of the songs were written by Coltrane, Ali said his influence permeated the group's performance.
"John Coltrane was my guru, man," Ali said. "He was the father of this whole movement that we were playing, you know. He's always been that inspiration that kind of drives you to do things."
In his later years, Coltrane was known for playing frenetic, freewheeling improvisations that some critics found busy and inaccessible.
During his Outpost set, Ali sometimes played so fast that his drumsticks resembled hummingbirds hovering above his kit.
Ali's polyrhythmic playing was a multidimensional sonic onslaught, incorporating beats that were simultaneously calm and thunderous, staccato and prolonged.
But the music balanced structured composition and free improvisation, Ali said.
"I really feel like I can play any song and make it compatible with what I'm doing, like, the song is the vehicle, more or less, just to get me into the groove," he said. "Sometimes I'm just trying to play all the music at the same time and just move it around. One minute, it sounds like it's swinging. One minute, it sounds like it's open. One minute, it sounds like it's neither here nor there."
Ali was accompanied by Lawrence Clark on saxophone, Josh Evans on trumpet, Greg Murphy on piano and Joris Teepi on bass.
During an interpretation of Coltrane's "Liberia," Murphy's piano stylings stood out during a 10-minute duet with Ali.
At times, Murphy struck the keys with his whole arm. At other times, he used a single finger on each hand to tap out rapid-fire notes.
Ali said playing with his quintet's younger musicians keeps him at the forefront of avant-garde improvisation.
"They're the cats who have the momentum," Ali said. "They try to play what they feel, not what someone else told them to play. And I like that kind of freedom."
Guralnick said the festival, held in fall and spring, doesn't always focus on jazz. Its purpose is to highlight innovative music of all forms.
Coltrane continues to inspire innovative music and the evolution of avant-garde jazz, Ali said.
"Things change. Right in the music, in midstream, they change," Ali said. "You keep going and you never know what you can find. We are just trying to make a difference in the music, man. That's it."
