Touchin' on Trane
Live album by
Charles Gayle
Released1993
RecordedOctober 31 and November 1, 1991
VenueHaus der Jungen Talente in Berlin, Germany
GenreFree jazz
Length66:46
LabelFMP
ProducerJost Gebers
Charles Gayle chronology
Spirits Before
(1988)		 Touchin' on Trane
(1993)		 Repent
(1992)
By Any Means chronology
Touchin' on Trane
(1993)		 Live at Crescendo
(2008)

Touchin' on Trane is a live album by American jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle, bassist William Parker, and percussionist Rashied Ali, featuring performances inspired by John Coltrane which were recorded in Germany in 1991 for the FMP label.[1]

When on tour, the trio was billed under the name By Any Means; however, the album was released using the musicians' individual names for contractual reasons.[2] The group would not release another recording until Live at Crescendo, issued by Ayler Records in 2008.[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Penguin Guide to Jazz👑[5]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[6]
All About Jazz[7]

The AllMusic review by Brian Flota awarded the album five stars out of five, stating "This is Charles Gayle's most accessible work. Gayle's mastery of free jazz is blended with a more traditional compositional style of jazz on this disc... Gayle, bassist William Parker, and Ali don't copy Coltrane, but rather expand on his accomplishments. Without covering any songs, Touchin' on Trane is the greatest John Coltrane tribute album".[4]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz called the album an "outright masterpiece" that "seems likely to be a central document in the free music of the decade," and identified it as part of their suggested "Core Collection" of essential jazz albums, awarding it a "Crown", signifying a recording that the authors "feel a special admiration or affection for".[5][8]

Francis Lo Kee of All About Jazz called the album "one of the strongest of the '90s," and noted that Gayle "plays with the conviction and strength of a Coltrane or Rollins in their twenties and thirties."[7]

Writing for Burning Ambulance, Phil Freeman commented: "What separates Touchin' On Trane from the pack is the mastery of the three players involved, and their ability to be taken out of themselves by the opportunity to work with the others... each man plays at the highest possible level, driving the others forward even as he reaches deep within himself to bring out something ineffable and awesome."[9]

The authors of Jazz: The Rough Guide described the album as "Gayle at his best," and wrote: "the feel is more relaxed, less constantly aggressive than Gayle can be. He has too often recorded with musicians of far lower calibre than he, but Gayle is in good company with this rhythm team."[10]

Author Ajay Heble remarked: "This is, to my mind, communal music making of the highest possible order... [Gayle's] widely varying timbres and non-tempered sounds... are a perfect match for... the formidable textural inventiveness and extended techniques" of Parker and "the liberating rhythmic drive" of Ali.[11]

Track listing

All compositions by Charles Gayle. William Parker & Rashied Ali

  1. "Part A" – 14:41
  2. "Part B" – 7:05
  3. "Part C" – 12:28
  4. "Part D" – 27:42
  5. "Part E" – 4:48

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ FMP Records discography Archived 2014-03-04 at the Wayback Machine accessed February 26, 2014
  2. ↑ Greenlee, Steve (August 7, 2009). "The free-jazz group By Any Means brings its chemistry and history to the Newport festival". Boston.com. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  3. ↑ "By Any Means: Live at Crescendo". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Flota, B. Allmusic Review accessed February 26, 2014
  5. 1 2 Cook, Richard; Morton, Bria (2008) [1992]. "Charles Gayle". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 538. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. ↑ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford University Press. p. 424.
  7. 1 2 Kee, Francis Lo (December 16, 2008). "Charles Gayle: Touchin' On Trane". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  8. ↑ Penguin Guide to Jazz: Crown Albums List, accessed February 26, 2014
  9. ↑ Freeman, Phil (August 31, 2011). "Touchin' On Trane: 20 Years Later". Burning Ambulance. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  10. ↑ Carr, Ian; Fairweather, Digby; Priestley, Brian; Parker, Chris (1995). Jazz: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. p. 230.
  11. ↑ Heble, Ajay (2013). Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz, Dissonance, and Critical Practice. Taylor & Francis. p. 224 – via Google Books.
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