Getting On Board

The late summer of 1965 was a rather busy one for John Coltrane & his Classic Quartet bandmates; at the same time, it would also prove to be the beginning of the end for a group who performed as a unit for a good four years (& FYI: one of jazz's most important working bands ever!!). Change, an ever-constant trademark which defines Trane's entire musical career, accelerated exponentially during that period & his bandmates naturally felt a bit leery at the directions which he wanted to take the music.

But that didn't stop Trane & company from checking into the RCA Studios in New York City to pull off the next-to-last recording as an actual Quartet, Sun Ship. By this point, the passion, fire, intensity & aggression which defined many a Coltrane performance were already becoming synthesized into something more akin to a heavy trip in sound. And on August 26, 1965, John Coltrane pushed ahead into his late period, still the restless, searching soul when it came to using his tenor saxophone as a means of heartfelt expression. And the changes which brought about the dissolution of his quartet would not have been possible without his bandmates adapting their roles as they do so outstandingly on this particular session.

The title track immediately reveals those changes with full force; Trane's solo, in particular, just destroys. In fact, he sounds like he's delivering a beatdown with his tenor saxophone. Elvin Jones, one of jazz's greatest drummers, & best known for powerhouse swinging, sounds like a god with drumsticks, a man possessed. "Dearly Beloved" is one of the group's more intense, more passionate ballads but with a freer vibe; "Amen" keeps things swinging & Trane again brings the pain during his solo stint (which like the title track flat out is pure unadulterated aggression at its finest). "Attaining" is an equally stellar track in its own right. Then we have the final track, "Ascent." Jimmy Garrison starts things off with an unaccompanied bass solo which like any of his all-by-his-lonesome solo moments with the group, is just plain awesome; it eventually sets things up for Coltrane's entrance & does the man ever make good on his ascent (if I must say so) into the highest reaches of the tenor saxophone's stratosphere & beyond.

Sun Ship, even after all this time, is a document of the John Coltrane Classic Quartet in the autumn of their existence but still delivering powerful music like none other. Chip Stern, in an Amazon review, remarked that on this album, "...the quartet comes on like the Book of Revelations --completely absorbed in the spirit of sonic exploration." And did Trane & company ever sound so immersed in these five musical excursions; leaving the listener awash in forceful waves of sound, they also created one heavy trip which all too few have been able to surpass. For the record, Sun Ship is John Coltrane writing another chapter in the art of intense sonic exploration, another milemarker in a long spiritual journey of which he was the captain & fearless leader.