This entire album is an ode to the wandering mind;
Majid Shabaaz's weary bass shuffles and endures, carrying on its back Tulsi's bow-tambura. Soon, one is buffeted by showers of Alice Coltrane's harp technique on Journey into the Satchidananda. It whetts the consciousness, and lulls one into a pseudo-hypnopompic state; priming the mind as the arab girds his feet. From beneath the brow of Majid's bass, the eyes of the piece, Pharoah Sanders' Sax runs over dusty cities in the cleft of bleached mountains...I am rambling. In truth, what I have written before is more of an interpretation of what I saw: A traveller bound in cloth and turban trudging through a pulsing dust storm in a purple dessert. Also, there was something to the effect of silver filings suspended perpetually ahead [Tulsi's tambura]. And this was without drugs.
The album contains stunning examples of Spiritual Jazz, many of the tracks seeming to facilitate looking into past lives and things. All of them (but particulary the tracks by Pharoah Sanders et al) have surpassed the mere transmission of mood, and cause one to see the outlines of structures. Pharoah Sanders' Work on the second track, The Creator has a Master Plan is superb, and it is so good that one finds oneself singing along when he begins to chant in his kind of oakwood-oboe voice at the end. Another track of note is Stolen Moments by Oliver Nelson.Though his style is far more orthodox than many of the others', he fits in well if only for his use of the double-bass and horns; Stolen Moments is more reminiscent of a finely cut marble sculpture (as opposed to the driftwood carvings of Alice Coltrane et al), but is not emotionally sterile, and his phrases are clever, at times, succinct. Upper and Lower Egypt starts off quite well but doesn't go too far, and unfortunately, as I have observed on many other tracks by Mr. Sanders and his mentor (even The Creator) , descends gradually into unaccountable chaos (In my humble opinion). I cannot say that I have a favourite song on this album, but A Love Supreme: Acknowledgement is of real note. It is the most eclectic of the tracks and a polarizing one at that. I would recommend reading A LOVE SUPREME (a review of which I, Mono will be doing shortly) by Kent Nussey(a man far more talented than I) to get the full meditation. Charles Mingus' Hora Decubritus is just as frightening and sparse as one would expect of a Mingus track on this collection. It gives one the image of a dance of the dead actually. I imagine I have left little to you, but, in truth, there is much, much more to be derived. This album is highly recommended by Juan and myself.
---Mono
