John Coltrane's Africa Brass Revisited Dal Sasso Big Band

• 1 Tunji 12:04
• 2 Greensleeves 12:50
• 3 Blues Minor 10:55
• 4 Africa 15:07
• 5 Liberia 10:06
• 6 You Don't Know What Love Is 06:12
• 7 Song of the Underground Railroad 12:51
• 8 Naima 08:40
• Total Runtime 01:28:45

Info for John Coltrane's Africa Brass Revisited

In 1961, John Coltrane made his very first record for the Impulse label and signed, on this occasion, an album unique in his rich discography because it is the only one that the saxophonist has ever recorded with a big band: "Africa/Brass".

At the head of an orchestra largely dominated by brass, drawing its material from blues, folklore, spirituals and the memory of songs associated with slavery, Coltrane performed a series of compositions arranged by Eric Dolphy, which referred back to the original continent - Africa - and, beyond, echoed the African-American experience as a whole. Half a century later, on the strength of the success of his rereading of “A Love Supreme”, master arranger Christophe Dal Sasso and Big Band, elected “Group of the year” at the Victoires du Jazz in 2020, have revisited this underexplored repertoire which they performed for the first time on the stage of the Jazz à La Villette festival in Paris.

Crossing the inspired and fiery saxophones of Sophie Alour, Géraldine Laurent and David El-Malek, this true all-star of hexagonal jazz restores throughout this double live album all the spiritual power of the work, faithful to the universal scope of the humanist message that John Coltrane had written at the heart of his record.

“Tribute concerts are rarely as exceptional as the musician they mean to celebrate. Rarer still are recordings of concerts that live up to the homage, especially when it’s as towering a figure as John Coltrane. John Coltrane’s Africa/Brass Revisited is an exceptional exception to this rule, a refreshing, and updated surprise”, writes Ashley Kahn, author of A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album, from the liner notes of this release.

Christophe Dal Sasso, arrangements, flute, direction
Géraldine Laurent, alto saxophone
David El Malek, saxophone tenor
Sophie Alour, saxophone tenor, flute
Dominique Mandin, flute, alto saxophone
Thomas Savy, saxophone baritone, clarinet
Julien Alour, trumpet
Quentin Ghomari, trumpet
Jerry Edward, trombone
Daniel Zimmermann, trombone
Pierre de Bethmann, piano
Manu Marchès, double bass
Karl Jannuska, drum kit
Andy Bérald-Catelo, tambour Ka

Dal Sasso
before starting to study the trumpet at the age of twelve, an instrument on which he would make a career until the beginning of the 2000s. He studied at the music schools of La Londe-les-Maures and Solliès-Toucas under Yvan Belmondo, father of saxophonist Lionel Belmondo and his trumpet-playing brother Stéphane, who were to become long-time musical companions. He was also introduced to jazz by Tony Petrucciani, the pianist's older brother, from 1985 to 1989, and was part of various local bands. He moved to Paris in 1990 and studied with arranger Ivan Jullien at the CIM for four years, while continuing to play professionally as a trumpet player, notably with the group Mambomania. In 1992, he received the first prize for orchestra at the Heineken Jazz Competition at La Villette.

He gave up the trumpet, which made him suffer too much, for the flute, where he excelled. In 2019, he was awarded a Victoire de la musique for his work as a composer and conductor. (according to Vincent Bessières) It is in a small group that we will hear him on Friday evening, where he will play some compositions inspired by American songwriters of the 50s and 60s, standards and some compositions by saxophonist Yusef Lateef.

Booklet for John Coltrane's Africa Brass Revisited