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140 views30 pagesDawn of Indian Music in The West C14. The Birth of Indo-Jazz
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INDO-BLUE IMPRESSIONS | 267
14
—_——_____
Indo-Blue Impressions: John Coltrane
and the Birth of Indo-Jaz
AFTER DISCOVERING A LOVE SUPREME, one of those rare
people's lives, I realized I needed more Jolin Coltrane, and found Inpresions
compilation with two studio tracks from 1968 and two live pieces from 1961, Incl
ing “India,” recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York City on November 3,
196]. With two basses droning over a brisk cymbal pattern by Elvin Jones, Coltrane
spirited me eastward with his soprano saxophone, the cty of his biues bespeaking
the daily struggle of life in India, and the quest for eternal respite. This was not
“world music” pastiche, but a gutwrenching outburst that evoked vivid sensations
‘Through the plaintive wail of Coltrane's soprano, I could smell the fragrant incense
wafting through the Shiva temples, and fel the oppressive heat ofthe noonday sun
the wheat fields. “India” remains one of the most viscerally powerful musical
performances ever committed to tape, and though Coltrane wouldn't live long
enough to experience India on his own, he had already taken us there.
‘When viewing a portrait of an Indian or jazz musician in full light, the image is
often the same: with eyes closed, the musician listens intently for the call of the
Muse, the instrument virtually playing itself. Shunning distraction, the musician
puts him or herself in the center of the sound, guided by the moment, and (hope-
full) emptying the mind of thoughts or aspirations that impede the flow of pure
expression, The musician may be unable to attain this state, but makes a concerted
effort nonetheless. One can often sense this process unfolding in photographs of
Coltrane, Ravi Shankar, Charlie Parker, or Ali Akbar Khan, While a handful of West-
cer classical players discovered a kinship with the emphasis in Indian music on vi-
tuosity and discipline, and rock musicians empathized with its improvisational
freedom and alternative spirituality, the jazz wadition identified with Indian music
across the board. Not only could jazz musicians appreciate the importance of
improvisation and technical brilliance in Indian classical music, but they als ident-
fied with the spiritual values, the common bond between musicians of different
backgrounds, and a spirit of reverence toward the act of making music
‘jazz embraced the Indian tradition like no other Western music, and the relax
tionship has continued to flourish. Although there are obvious differences, such as
the harmonic sensibility of jazz, there are also telling similarities. Both traditions
are soloistic and improvisational in nature, emphasizing the individual talents of
the performer(s), and demanding ffuency on one’s instrument as a vehicle for sel
expression; both musics strive to emulate the sound of the human voice with instru-
ments, through ornamentation and the systematic use of microtonal inflection; and
both traditions have benefited from mutual interaction, Many jazz players have
drawn upon the rhythmic and melodic language of Indian music, while Indian
musicians working in jazz have liberated themselves from a fixed repertoire of ragas
‘and talus, Musicians in both camps would discover colors and textures that opened
new avenues of expression.
‘Jjzzis rooted in African music, which in turn shares some common qualities with
Indian music. In the plantations of the American South, the work songs and field
recordings that transforms 268 | THe DAWN OF INDIAN MUSIC IN THE WEST
hollers of Aftican slaves utilized distinet microtonal CE eaeaae spe-
cific calland-response patterns. Polyrhythinic acs pa ee rallouata q
ticed by slaves at Congo Square in New ee Be iat eae
Ahreechord progression and also emploned oe eden
oped independently of jazz, althoug! became
bedrock of jazz, and the early jazz musicians most often cut their teeth accompany.
ing blues singers. Indeed, the a ee od ‘were those who
could imitate the human voice, as = s
‘When these African vocalisic and rhythmie traditions meshed with European,
harmony and instrumentation, jazz emerged. Ragtime, with its multitiered struc:
‘i the first African
ture and syncopated left hand/right hand piano thythins, was the
American assimilation of European music. (Itis an interesting coincidence that as
“rag.” on raga fe structure is also referred to as a
with “rag,” or “raga” in Indian music, a ragtime ‘
“rag.") New Orleans brass bands, often made up of Greole musicians, used Euro-
pean instruments to play dance music often based on the marches of John Philip
Sousa i
‘New Orleans, a multicultural melting pot where racial intermingling was wide-
spread and unstoppable, proved to be the ideal nexus for this amalgamation in the
late 19th century. The Creole sector, centered downtown in the French Quarter,
strove to emulate European music, while the African-American community uptown
retained the African elements of drumming, dancing, and microtonal inflection.
The syntheses of these cultures would eventually coalesce into what became known
as jazz, spreading to urban America in the early 20th century.
'As jazz evolved, musicians of color sought to fudge the distinctions between jazz
and European music, in an attempt to elevate what was considered a rakish music
toa higher plateau of respectability. Certainly, no composer excelled in this regard
more than Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974), with his sophisticated
harmonic ingenuity, idiosyncratic timbres and voicings for jazz orchestra, and
abundance of extended masterworks such as his Sacred Concerts and the three-
movement “tone poem,” Black, Brown and Beige. But Ellington was a composer of
rare scope and originality who absorbed elements of many cultures, and would
equally assimilate African, Latin American, and Asian musics into his own singular
sound-world.
Bebop avatars Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie mined Stravinsky for inspira-
tion, John Lewis studied classical piano, developing a particular affinity for the
music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and applying Baroque principles of fugue, coun-
terpoint, and melodic variation to his compositions for the Modern Jazz Quartet, as
well as his Birth of the Cool arrangements for Miles Davis in 1949. (Lewis eventually
recorded his own cycle of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in 1984,) Pianist-bandleader
Dave Brubeck came from a similar background, studying twelve-tone serial music
with Arnold Schoenberg, and employing polytonality and unorthodox time signa-
tures in his own music, as evidenced in his most popular recording, Time Out. Brie
beck would also become the first jazz musician to perform in India, as we shall see.
But as the 1950s progressed, a growing number of jazz artists abjured the Euro-
pean influence in favor of non-Western music and spitituality, with renewed con-
cern for their African heritage, and a growing fascination for Middle Eastern and
Indian music. Although African Americans have traditionally been among the most
devout Christians, many had grown frustrated with Western Christianity, and began
{0 look elsewhere for spiritual sustenance. Islam offered a path more accommodat-
ing to African Americans, yet still steeped in the Abrahamic tradition, and several
prominent jazz musicians chose to aclopt its edicts. Some took Muslim names, such INDO.BLUE IMPRESSIONS | 269
as Ahmad Jamal, Sahib Shihab, and multi-reedman Yusef L
“eciman Yusef Lateef. Bebop /hard bo
drummer Art Blakey converted to Islam after avst to Afi, taking ie cama
ullah Tbn Buhaina (when among fellow Muslims)
Alongside their attraction to non-Western religions, many blacks identified with
the anticolonialist struggles of Indis i
ia, Africa, and the Middle East, with Mahatma
Gandhi often compared to Jesus Christ asa nonviolent revolutionary. Certainly, D1
Martin Luther King Jr. drew inspiration from Gandhi's peaceful yet proactive civil
disobedience. This African American empathy with the Indian revolution con
joined with an increased awareness of Indian classical music among jazz musicians,
with particular interest in modal improvisation, which jazz musicians like George
Russell and Miles Davis had already begun to explore, and which John Coltrane
would continue to pursue. The use of fewer chords offered greater leeway to the
improvising musician, while presenting new challenges, and modal jazz came to
represent freedom and spiritual transcendence, giving musicians like Coltrane the
opportunity to not only make a musical statement, but a political one as well.
we
Less than two years after the 1955 release of Ali Akbar Khan's Music of India: Morn-
ing and Evening Ragas, and simultaneous with Ravi Shankar's 1957 recording of The
Sounds of India (with jazz producer George Avakian at Columbia Records), Yusef
Lateef became the first musician to introduce non-Western instruments into a jazz
context. Born October 9, 1920, as William Evans in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Lateef
grew up in Detroit, which had developed a significant Muslim population among
rican Americans after Elijah Muhammad founded the Nation of Islam there.
Evans adopted the Muslim name of Yusef Lateef in 1949, and became one of the
‘most versatile reedmen in jazz, most notably on tenor saxophone, flute, and oboc—
which few others in jazz have played as convincingly.
In April 1957, Lateef recorded an album for Verve Records entitled Before Dawn,
the tide track of which features Lateef on the doublereed Egyptian argiul, which
sounds somewhat similar to the North Indian shehnai, with one key difference: the
arghul has two separate tubes, one with seven holes to provide melody, and the
other providing a sustained drone, making it sound as though two instruments are
playing at once. Bassist Ernie Farrow plays a bowed ralab as an accompaniment to
Latecf’s arghul in the introduction of “Before Dawn,” after which a percussion
section introduces an Afro-Latin beat as Lateef switches to tenor saxophone. The
arghul-rabab opening segment of the track is brief but arresting. Nothing like this
had ever been heard on a jazz recording before.
Nineteen fifty-seven was Lateef’s first year as a solo artist, and it remains his most
prolific. In the same month that Before Dawn was recorded for Verve, Lateef
recorded Jazz Moods for Savoy Records. The opening track, “Metaphor,” contains a
similar introduction on arghul, while the bassist strums the tonic and perfect fifth
to provide a tambouravlike drone. Yusef Lateef actually recorded several pieces with
arghul introductions in 1957, clearly an instrument for which he had developed an.
affinity. Prayer to the East, recorded for Savoy in October of that year, features an
especially appropriate arghul opening on Dizzy Gillespie's “A Night in Tunisia.”
Butaall of these examples of arghul are only fragments used as an opening device
to evoke an atmosphere, and although critics have often mistaken the arghul for
the North Indian shehnai, Lateef would not play the latter until the early “60s, per-
haps due to the influence of John Coltrane's shehnai-flavored sound on soprano
saxophone, The first example of Lateef actually playing shehnai is on his debut
release for Impulse (Coltrane's label at the time), jazx ‘Round the World, which con- 970 | THE DAWN OF INDIAN MUSIC IN THE
fed December 19, 1963
at the Village Vai
a," record ‘0 years after
tains Lateef’s composition “Indi caer alg
Coltrane recorded his own piece entitled “India
the bass and drums establishing a slow and sensuous tribal rhythm, as Lateef alien
nates between bassoon and oboe.
Lateef would interpolate shehnai throughout his music, most pet
June 1ek concer ccordig rom Philadelphia ented Live a Pop. The open
ing track, “Sister Mamie,” features a bewitching modal excursion on the instru:
tment, as the rhythm section holds a steady bossa nova. With Luteef producing all
of the elaborate swoops, glides, and futerings normal ee Bion
Khan, “Sister Mamie” remains the definitive statement on shehnai in a jazz con.
text. Unfortunately, Lateef suffered the fate of Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Sun Ra,
marginalized by conservative thetoricians as a “‘novelty act,””and_ostracized from
the established pantheon of jazz. And as with Rahsaan and Ra, this is an egregious
injustice, as Lateef was a trailblazer and consummate artist, always playing with
verve and distinction on any of his chosen instruments. It is also important to
remember that Yusef Lateef and John Coltrane were good friends and respected
each other as peers. Lateef introduced Coltrane to the teachings of Islam, which
Coltrane duly investigated alongside other spiritual concerns. Certainly, Lateef
acquainted the entire jazz community with the Middle Eastern sonority of arghul,
as well as the use of bass and rabab as drone instruments, all of which inspired
Coltrane in the late 1950s before his discovery of Ravi Shankar.
But while Lateef's forays into non-Western music were mainly centered on
Africa and the Middle East, Coltrane eventually plunged headlong into an investi-
gation of Indian music, which informed his approach to the soprano sax and modal
improvisation. Although Latcef’s experiments with arghul in the 1950s had been
mostly fugitive passages in the opening moments of longer pieces, Coltrane
extended his Indian-influenced soprano work to unprecedented lengths. Once he
encountered Shankar, Coltrane began searching for ways to import the lexicon of
raga; and with Trane’s endorsement, jazz embraced India
sively on a
‘John Coltrane was born September 28, 1926, in Hamlet, North Carolina, to Alice
‘and John Robert Coltrane. With one sibling who died in infancy, Coltrane grew up
an only child, but with a close cousin named Mary Lyerly (later Mary Alexander),
who became a sister to John for the remainder of his life. Significantly, both of
Coltrane's grandfathers were preachers, and Coltrane grew up in a devout Method
ist family where spirituality was a part of daily life. The family would soon move
from Hamlet to the larger town of High Point, where Coltrane's maternal grand
father had become the leader of the A.M.E. Zion Church. Coltrane’s formative
years in High Point are described in great detail in Lewis Porter's John Coltrane: His
Life and Music, which remains the definitive Coltrane biography.
One of the most traumatic experiences of Coltrane's life was losing his father to
stomach cancer in 1939, when John was twelve years old. The tragedy occurred
when John had just begun playing in the school band, beginning with the alto horn,
a smaller counterpart to the tuba. Coltrane would switch almost immediately to
clarinet, beginning his lifelong commitment to a steady practice regimen. Even at
the age of thirteen, his practice time became an obsession, perhaps in an effort 0
redirect his grief over the loss of his father. From this point forward, Coltrane's
music became his refuge in life.
a INDO-BLUE IMPRESSIONS | 271
In 1942, during his senior year in
2 ior high school, Col
Duke Ellington orchestra featuring Johnny Nie ee oaes
fs on alto saxophone. The me
{ifluous majesty of Hodges’ tone immediatclvg 7
nett alto x in the hopes of one aca inspite Coltrane o switch from cl
fe weal eventaly wor), Colgan ag fist mus ero lor whom
to the saxophone, and began winning music cece aBaing Practice schedule
ing his senior year. He aso discovered tenor sinat this tine ser hevinn Lene
Weing, whose melodie ingcnsigy et at 8 aE his time ater heaving Leste
entire generation of players. igent phrasings would influence an
‘After his graduation from high school i
his mother having found ajob ib Alani Giga had
New Jersey. Colt iad been e: ?
ne ie oe acme
