« John Coltrane’s Africa/Brass Revisited »

Revisiting Coltrane, it may seem ambitious. A little less for Christophe Dal Sasso, familiar with the master, in whose work he sees a perpetual melting pot of inspirations. Thus in 2014, he proposed a complete re-reading of “A Love Supreme”, Coltrane’s mythical album recorded in 1964.

Today it is to another Coltrane summit that Christophe Dal Sasso, trumpet player, flutist, composer and arranger, tackles: “Africa/Brass” by the same Coltrane, a monumental album in the history of jazz.  Dal Sasso then dives back into the maestro’s repertoire, deciding to include three other compositions by Coltrane. True to the spirit of the saxophonist, who, by expanding his band, aimed to convince the most reluctant that his approach was for everyone, Dal Sasso assembled a Big Band, in which he invited a gwo ka, the drum of Guadeloupe.

And then the confinement passes by, thus putting on standby the project of live recording. The lull in September 2020 finally gave him the opportunity to share his revisited Africa/Brass with an audience. The double album was recorded at the Grande Halle de la Villette, as part of the Jazz à la Villette festival. It is a sanitary in-between, the musicians gathered around Christophe Dal Sasso know it and take full advantage of this breath of air which is offered to them, by restoring to the music, the spiritual and humanist power of Coltrane. Sumptuous.

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