It is inarguable that the 1967 duo sessions between saxophonist
John Coltrane and drummer
Rashied Ali that produced the posthumously released
Interstellar Space were influential to succeeding generations of jazz musicians. It places both players on the high wire of improvisation without a net and besides, it's a cheap way to record. What is surprising, as evidenced by this album and subsequent dates in
Ali's discography, is how prominent the format would become in his career and musical thought process. Released in 1972 on
Survival Records, the independent label founded by
Ali and saxophonist
Frank Lowe,
Duo Exchange appeared nearly two years before
Interstellar Space. The label was subsequently operated by
Ali until his death in 2009; it has been revived by his family for the purpose of reissuing its catalog and vault material.
Duo Exchange (the first leader date by either man) is among the most intense, canny articulations of the drums/saxophone duo ever recorded.
Ali and
Lowe had been leading and playing with various groups after
Coltrane's death. These projects included both men playing in
Alice Coltrane's evolving group from 1969-1971 and
Frank Wright's quartet in 1972.
The original
Duo Exchange recording sessions were cut at
Marzette Watts's New York studio; it was the maiden voyage for their partnership. Originally issued as a single LP, it contained a little more than half the music from the original sessions. Subsequent reissues (and the most pirated), were pared down even more. Produced by
Patricia Ali (the drummer's widow),
George Schuller, and
Ben Young, this double-LP version is historic and contains all the music recorded that day. The original album is on disc one, while the second disc contains soundchecks, alternate takes, rehearsals, studio chatter, and completed takes of various movements. The master take of "Movement I" commences with a furious repetitive theme that quickly begins to spiral off, while
Ali engages the full-on depth and breadth of the crisscrossing polyrhythm technique that drew
Coltrane to him in the first place, while
Lowe, an extremely capable improviser whose sense of melody is much more attentive and intuitive than many of his peers, follows him onto the ledge, yet keeps the music grounded in offering themes, statements, and variations in the swirling, projective maelstrom.
Ali's solos in "Movement I" and "Movement III," as intensely physical and commanding as they are, never feel excessive; they are filled with intense focus and feeling.
Lowe's tenor playing with his fat, razor-sharp grainy tone, prefers brief percussive statements to long drawn-out speculations. He is interested in the bone and marrow of the music, not its minutiae. He goes at
Ali, not around or through him and, as the drummer proceeds similarly, they find bliss and terror in the eye of the sonic hurricane. At one point,
Ali cues "Movement III" with the statement: "â?¦we're gonna stretch on this one man. Don't worry about no time limit and shit. Just play your saxophone." That statement is a manifesto for the entire recording. The second disc's discussions and warm-ups fill out the portrait of the original album by grounding it in the immediacy of the blowing, but also but in the translation of what
Ali called in interview, "complex musical emotions." The sound on this set is breathtaking thanks to
Joe Lizzi mixing and mastering. It's ferocious, aggressive, and spiritual free jazz. ~ Thom Jurek
![Pharoah [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0680899800815_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Pharoah [Expanded Edition]")
