By “ : Do you like John Coltrane?” asks Gilad Atzmon with an ironic smile after he and his band The Orient House Ensemble have opened tonight with a beautiful cover of Duke Ellington’s In A Sentimental Mood, Atzmon’s clarinet soaring deliciously above the melody, like Coltrane’s in the original.
Describing tonight as ‘Coltrane light’ this constantly touring sax supremo – who the Guardian once described as ‘the hardest-gigging man in British jazz’ – and his excellent band pay homage to one of the greatest jazzmen of all time with The Spirit of Trane.
John Coltrane, who died 50 years ago, was the most influential tenor saxophonist in jazz history, and while the sonic power of his music can never be overlooked his experimentalism confused some jazz audiences back in the day. As Atzmon says, he once emptied a gig in London in just seven minutes. No chance of that tonight though, as this is over ten minutes into tonight’s set and the warmth and feel that this amusing, supremely gifted and controversial figure gives to Coltrane’s sound is infectious.
Atzmon is an exiled Israeli and political activist who has courted controversy with articles and books about the injustices in the Middle East, but his philosophy and music has always sought to surmount boundaries and barriers and encompass different cultures. His band are named after the former East Jerusalem HQ of the PLO, Orient House.
Describing tonight as ‘Coltrane light’ this constantly touring sax supremo – who the Guardian once described as ‘the hardest-gigging man in British jazz’ – and his excellent band pay homage to one of the greatest jazzmen of all time with The Spirit of Trane.
John Coltrane, who died 50 years ago, was the most influential tenor saxophonist in jazz history, and while the sonic power of his music can never be overlooked his experimentalism confused some jazz audiences back in the day. As Atzmon says, he once emptied a gig in London in just seven minutes. No chance of that tonight though, as this is over ten minutes into tonight’s set and the warmth and feel that this amusing, supremely gifted and controversial figure gives to Coltrane’s sound is infectious.
Atzmon is an exiled Israeli and political activist who has courted controversy with articles and books about the injustices in the Middle East, but his philosophy and music has always sought to surmount boundaries and barriers and encompass different cultures. His band are named after the former East Jerusalem HQ of the PLO, Orient House.