Gary Crosby quartet, Living Room, London

From 2015. Later this month the landmark of 50 years will be reached that marks the only ever live performance of John Coltrane masterpiece A Love Supreme. The album itself passed the half century mark since its release earlier this year. It must be …

Published: 16 Nov 2019. Updated: 3 years.

From 2015. Later this month the landmark of 50 years will be reached that marks the only ever live performance of John Coltrane masterpiece A Love Supreme. The album itself passed the half century mark since its release earlier this year.

It must be a daunting prospect to take on a rendition of one of the most beloved jazz albums in history. Yet any trepidation didn’t show as the Gary Crosby quartet took to the stage of the Living Room of the Queen Elizabeth Hall after a short speech of introduction by Tomorrow's Warriors chief executive Janine Irons.

This wasn’t a case of reproducing a facsimile of the album nor was it about taking reckless liberties.

Not hugely long by modern standards, broken up into four parts: 'Acknowledgement' with its instantly recognisable refrain; 'Resolution'; 'Pursuance' and 'Psalm' altogether have operatic intensity and amount to life-changing message music in line with most of Coltrane’s best work. Somehow the journey to the inner urge never went deeper in all his time on the planet than on this suite.

This wasn’t a case either of each player assuming a role. While tenor saxophonist Denys Baptiste, providing most of the emotional heavy lifting, has a very spiritual sound he isn’t a Coltrane clone at all. And Gary Crosby too, with his warm, unfussy and highly mobile approach to rhythm and chordal interplay, particularly in tandem with piano, wasn't setting out to be Jimmy Garrison either.

Earlier in the year Gary wrote on his personal blog explaining his personal relationship to the piece. This is an extract: “What does A Love Supreme mean now? It’s been a part of my entire adult life, all the way through its many phases – whenever I am down, even feeling low, or looking for creativity, it’s one of those albums that lifts me. I carry it everywhere with me […] As musicians, we want to learn from the piece each time we undertake the work. It’s our absolute duty to play it as Coltrane intended, for example in the case of the bass solo in the movement, 'Resolution', it really does not need anything from me (or any musician) to be heard as a great piece of art. The work is awesome and awe-inspiring."

No one had stars in their eyes at this performance, more gripped by a sound in their heads. And certainly as the performance progressed and the solos organically moved into freer space and Youngs increased the rhythmic heat gradually it was the inspiration and motivation in the music that kept the attention of the sizeable audience basking in the Front Room surrounding the stage. It was a big occasion for newcomer Joe Armon-Jones, again his style removed from McCoy Tyner, actually he reminded me more of a young Andrew McCormack to a degree, and no better way to begin the weekend than with the sound of Coltrane in all our hearts and minds. SG

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Citizen, Duncan Eagles, Ropeadope

From January 2019. US fans via his new label Ropeadope will probably get to know Eagles for the first time and he is a talented player who first came to notice jamming in Streatham club Hideaway at the beginning of the 2010s. A sober studio affair …

Published: 16 Nov 2019. Updated: 4 years.

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From January 2019. US fans via his new label Ropeadope will probably get to know Eagles for the first time and he is a talented player who first came to notice jamming in Streatham club Hideaway at the beginning of the 2010s.

A sober studio affair on which Eagles is joined by guitarist David Preston, pianist Matt Robinson, Eagles’ erstwhile Partikel bandmate bassist Max Luthert, and drummer Dave Hamblett, the style falls in a no man’s land. Compositionally strong, although the writing is oblique, the title track that opens proceedings has good cohesion and interplay between the solo line passages and the rhythm section underneath, and its bustling momentum displays a lot of energy.

It is pretty earnest stuff and a little dry, though! On the plus side, however, the tracks that follow offer plenty to admire and the album is beautifully recorded, a soft texture to the listening sheen has somehow been fashioned by the engineers, a harsh abrasive listen this certainly is not.

Luthert leads off ‘Conquistador’ which again shows how well the bass has been recorded but there is an airy spaciousness here rather than a spiritual glow to the style which sucks the momentum out of the record and it is pretty short on really strong melody lines which is slightly frustrating given that the album is pretty melodic at least in inclination. ‘Shimmer’ with its accessible style comes closer and the airy ‘Folk Song’ is even more direct but Preston’s role is overcooked and the tune really didn’t grab me that much but I think it probably will work better live and turn into a bigger feature.

The track certainly has more drama to it than most of the other numbers. ‘Taxco’ is the sort of track you will hear Swiss trio Vein tackle and certainly there is a maturity here that can be a scarce commodity when you hear a lot of party-jazz bands out there just relying on groove and quirky effects to get the crowd going. Citizen is not that kind of record. There is a lot of improvising content and again live I am sure this will be even more evident. Certainly as a muso band Eagles has cracked it but to civilian listeners will his appeal be as strong?