{"id":32750,"date":"2020-11-13T14:27:40","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T19:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/interviews-panm360\/a-love-supreme-electric-henry-kaiser-et-ses-electrisants-collegues\/"},"modified":"2020-11-13T15:59:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T20:59:48","slug":"a-love-supreme-electric-henry-kaiser-et-ses-electrisants-collegues","status":"publish","type":"interviews","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/interviews-panm360\/a-love-supreme-electric-henry-kaiser-et-ses-electrisants-collegues\/","title":{"rendered":"A Love Supreme Electric: Henry Kaiser and his electrifying colleagues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A suite in four parts \u2013 \u201cAcknowledgement\u201d, \u201cResolution\u201d, \u201cPursuance\u201d, \u201cPsalm\u201d \u2013 the music of A Love Supreme<\/em> is considered the most outstanding work by John Coltrane and his famous quartet of drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner, and bassist Jimmy Garrrison. Recorded in 1964 and released in 1965 on the Impulse! label, the album is without a doubt a great classic of contemporary jazz. The program includes melodic-harmonic and rhythmic explorations, incantatory and paroxysmal phrases, conducive to individual and collective expression. The saxophonist\u2019s inspiration was the result of an intense quest, as different forms of mysticism and the discovery of new sound dimensions had led him to create this extraordinary work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guitarists John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana had tackled the first movement together in the context of the album Love Devotion Surrender<\/em>, released in 1973. Since then, many musicians have given it a shot, and it\u2019s a must for any self-respecting jazzophile. In recent years, guitarist Henry Kaiser and drummer John Hanrahan have been bringing together different groups and casting a new, electrified light on A Love Supreme<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An album finally bears witness to this ongoing experiment: the guitarist and drummer are joined here by saxophonist Vinny Golia (tenor, soprano, baritone), keyboardist Wayne Peet (Hammond B3, Yamaha YC-450) and bassist Mike Watt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reached in California, Henry Kaiser explained the process to PAN M 360.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: For the past few years, you and John Hanrahan have been performing electric versions of John Coltrane\u2019s Meditations<\/em> and A Love Supreme<\/em> suites, with different musicians. I watched a few concerts by those bands on YouTube, with your explanations. Can you explain your relationship with this masterpiece?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry Kaiser<\/strong>: Actually, I never have listened to Coltrane a lot! The albums I enjoyed most and did listen to are Meditations<\/em>, Ascension<\/em>, Live at the Village Vanguard Again<\/em> and the two Live In Japan<\/em> albums. So the more free-jazz-type Coltrane, with Pharaoh Sanders also on sax, is what I relate to. I spend a lot more of my \u201cfree jazz time\u201d listening to Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, and Albert Ayler.  I see Coltrane as being an immensely important feature in the whole landscape of \u201960s free jazz. I am not so much of a Coltrane fetishist myself. I\u2019ve probably spent fifty times as many hours listening to Cecil Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: The Love Supreme<\/em> recording on Impulse! is one of the rare modern jazz albums that had an impact on a very large audience, beyond jazz. Hippies and psychedelic-rock fans in the \u201960s loved it, and the following generations loved it too. Up to today, it remains one of the rituals any music lover must undertake. How do you explain this huge impact over the years and decades?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HK<\/strong>: I think it is an amazing landmark in free jazz that appealed to a mainstream audience. A magic album in magic times! Now\u2026 I wonder why that\u2019s so, in the spiritual sense? Of course, when he made his spiritual invocation on A Love Supreme<\/em>, he was likely thinking of the God of Baptist Christians. However, a Korean traditional musician recently asked me why and how Coltrane could be playing gugak<\/em> (Korean traditional music) phrasing on A Love Supreme<\/em>. I took a look at discographies of Korean traditional music releases in the USA at the time of A Love Supreme<\/em> and before \u2014 and there was nothing that Coltrane could have heard to get that from. My theory is that he unknowingly invoked the spirits that animate Korean shamanic music. Very powerful spirits, which I have experienced when playing shamanic music with Korean musicians. And that they led Coltrane down paths of musical expression that made the music so successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>:  All your life, you\u2019ve never been a straight-ahead jazz musician. You\u2019ve mostly been dedicated to improvisation in a general way, and a lot of experimentation. What motivated you to do this cycle of reinterpretation of Coltrane\u2019s mid-\u201960s music?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HK<\/strong>: It seemed like both a fun thing to do and an interesting challenge. Also, the things I learned studying Miles Davis music in the 1973-1975 period, in my Yo Miles! band with Wadada Leo Smith, provided an intriguing key for decoding Meditations<\/em>. I think Agharta<\/em>  and Pangaea<\/em> have a lot more in common with Meditations<\/em> than anyone who was not in the Yo Miles! band would realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: What are the music qualities of the music of A Love Supreme<\/em> \u2013 harmonic structures, rhythm, interaction, solo or collective improv, etc. \u2013 that led you to make something different with this music that\u2019s more or less considered classic today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HK<\/strong>: It\u2019s not the Western concepts of melody, harmony, and rhythm. It\u2019s things like narrative, storytelling, timbre, timing, space, proportional rhythms vs. divisional rhythms, shamanism, the teleology of music, and the psychedelic qualities of music without drugs. Those kinds of considerations are what I was thinking about and acting on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PAN M 360<\/strong>: This music is based on open structures, where the improvisational vocabulary and individual expressions are quite important. What did you want to add? Also, how did electric instruments change the music? About an electronic approach for the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HK<\/strong>: Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin pointed the way to an electric interpretation of A Love Supreme<\/em> on their Love Devotion Surrender<\/em> album. I saw that band twice, before I played guitar professionally on their promo tour. And that stuck with me. Meeting the drummer John Hanrahan led me to performing and recording the entire suite, and once I studied things more closely, I felt that A Love Supreme<\/em> and Meditations<\/em> were two parts of the same story. And that is something that\u2019s essential for the listeners to understand in this release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: When we listen to your personal versions, we feel a deep respect for the initial forms. So what is the tension between the original recording on Impulse! and your different versions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HK<\/strong>: We don\u2019t even think about it. There is no planning. The music just plays us. We don\u2019t play it. I\u2019m sure that was true for Coltrane with ALS<\/em> and Meditations<\/em> \u2013 the alternate takes support that. There is no road map or flight plan; it\u2019s a different exploration into new territory every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: You\u2019ve played with different musicians since you started the project. Can you describe the main ensembles, and explain briefly what you have achieved with each of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HK<\/strong>: Mainly, it\u2019s me and drummer John Hanrahan. It\u2019s different players most every time.  You can see another band here by going to the Cuneiform Records YouTube page and looking through my Weekly Solo series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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