What are some good Halloween jazz selections?
With a few days away before the scariest day of the year, it may be good fun to choose some tunes that conjure images of the macabre, two selections really bring to mind the spirit of the season. One a bit lighthearted with Philly Joe Jones’ classic “Blues For Dracula”, and John Coltrane‘s landmark 1965 Om (Impulse!), which stands as one of the darkest, most controversial pieces he recorded.
In 1958, “Philly” Joe Jones was riding the wave of being one of hard bop’s top drummers. From 1955 to mid 1958, he was the drummer in the Miles Davis Quintet, and appeared on countless sessions for Blue Note, and as house drummer for Riverside. Following his exit from the trumpeter’s group after Milestones (Columbia, 1958) he assembled a band including Nat Adderley on trumpet, Johnny Griffin on tenor, and bassist Jimmy Garrison (appearing twice in this article) for his debut album for Riverside Blues For Dracula. The title track, is a humorous monologue with Jones doing his finest Bela Lugosi impression, and the musical backdrop is a coolly popping blues. A fun addition for a Halloween evening.
In 1965, John Coltrane took his music farther away from the modal direction crystallized on A Love Supreme (Impulse!) the previous year. New directions began in June 1965 with the full out assault of Ascension (Impulse!), and the fall found Coltrane visiting Seattle. Along with an extended group featuring Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone and Coltrane’s old friend Joe Brazil on flute, they went into the studio and recorded the half an hour long “Om”, supposedly high from LSD. The piece, beginning with a resuscitation from the Bhagavad Vita is one of the spookiest pieces in Coltrane’s catalog. The collective improvisations are searing, and reach far past conventional tonality, at one juncture Sanders nearly sounds like a wailing, distorted guitar. The chants of “om” carried over into the following evening on Live in Seattle recorded live at the Penthouse club, on the tune “Evolution”. At present, all the music from the Seattle date remains unissued. Om remains a cornerstone of late Trane.
I have been the staff writer for the New York Jazz Workshop School of Music blog in midtown Manhattan since 2014, and that has broadened my freelance writing skills considerably. In addition to writing artist bios, and articles of interest that pertain to the mission of the school, I have interviewed (in print on the site) legendary guitarist and NEA Jazz Master Pat Metheny, trumpeter Cuong Vu, and in 2015 embarked on producing a podcast for the school where I have achieved my dream and interviewed jazz giants such as Dave Liebman, Lenny White, rising talents like Thana Alexa, Logan Richardson, guitarist and bassist Brian Kastan, among others. I also work on SEO optimization for the blog. In 2015 I started my blog Jazz Views with CJ Shearn, and have written liner notes for 5 time Grammy winner and Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, Antonio Sanchez (for his latest recording “Channels of Energy”) and guitarist Gene Ess for his latest recording, scheduled to be released in November 2018.
My passion for jazz music is what drives me, which is an interest I’ve had since I can remember. I initially began writing about jazz at the age of 13 for my high school newspaper, and in my late teens contributed occasionally to jazzreview.com. In college I was member of the Harpur Jazz Project which brought jazz acts to campus. I’ve also contributed in the past to AllAboutJazz where I was mentored by John Kelman. I decided to focus on my passion for jazz music journalism after a job in the social services field as a caseworker went south, and as a person with a physical disability I work on going against the odds, living independently and having accomplished things people had said I’d never do.