Stellar Regions shows the beauty and sincerity of John Coltrane’s last period. It was released 25 years ago.
John Coltrane – Stellar Regions (Impulse, 1995)
As loved as John Coltrane’s quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones is, as neglected has his work with the following band been. The beautiful tracks on Stellar Regions had to wait 28 years after his death before they were released.
The live recordings of Coltrane’s last quintet with saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, pianist Alice Coltrane, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Rashied Ali can sound wild and unstructured.
As Coltrane began to play more experimental with his classic quartet, McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones often provided firm harmonic and rhythmic centers which still made the music accessible. When they left it was Coltrane’s own playing which provided most of the structure of the performances while Alice Coltrane and Rashied Ali played more floating harmonically and rhythmic. I think that is why Coltrane’s last phase has been less successful commercially than his middle phase.
Offering
At least there have been a lot less music issued from this period, especially of the studio work. Stellar Regions is almost an exception to the rule. It was recorded on February 15, 1967 with a quartet with Alice Coltrane, Garrison and Ali.
They recorded eight songs with some alternate tracks, only the track “Offering” made it to release on Expression (1967), the final album Coltrane himself was involved with before his premature death of liver cancer 40 years of age.
“Offering” is included on Stellar Regions as well, to give the whole picture of the session, and it is very representative of the lyrical and exploratory music played this day. The theme is among Coltrane’s most beautiful, but even before it ends, he starts to incorporate more turbulent playing perhaps showing some of the ideas he found in the playing of Albert Ayler.
A quartet version of a duo piece
Another familiar song to Coltrane’s fans is the title song which had been previously issued as the duo piece “Venus” with Rashied Ali on the posthumous album Interstellar Space (1974). The two versions on Stellar Regions are shorter and more lyrical, especially the master take, while the alternate shows more of the experimentation of the duo recording.
Coltrane is very much in the center of these recordings. Alice Coltrane and Rashied Ali only gets a few brief solos, and “Jimmy’s Mode” is a feature for Garrison who plays a long solo sandwiched between a short theme.
This album was released together with a batch of remasters of Coltrane’s most well-known albums like Ballads and A Love Supreme. Those albums still get reissued from time to time, and the last couple of years there have seen more studio recordings found and released by the classic quartet, while there are still recordings from Coltrane’s last phase waiting to be released. If they have the same qualities as Stellar Regions, they are worth waiting for.
Jazz Desk 