He cut his teeth playing in the U.S Army and, after his discharge, with various R&B groups including Dick Hart & The Heartaches, Lin Holt and saxophonist Muhammad Abibala, whom John Coltrane (1926-1967) had also played with years earlier. Studying at The Granoff School of Music (Philadelphia) and standing on his porch listening to his then neighbor John Coltrane play (1958) provided further foundation, and in 1963 he was asked to tour Japan with Sonny Rollins. After the tour he naturally gravitated towards New York with its burgeoning Free Jazz scene. Here he played with chief architects of the avant-garde (Albert Ayler, 1936-1970; Don Cherry, 1936-1995; and Archie Shepp, 1937- ).

Rashied is perhaps best known to casual jazz fans as sharing, then taking over the drum chair in the post classic quartet incarnations of John Coltrane’s ensembles (1965-1967). This point in Rashied’s career would serve not merely as a linchpin moment but for all that would come after, inspired by his time with John Coltrane. When John Coltrane passed away, Rashied gigged through Europe, studying briefly with Philly Joe Jones in England before returning stateside for a series of dates with hard-hitting luminaries including Jackie McLean (1931-2006), Alice Coltrane (1937-2007) and Dewey Redman (1931-2006).

In 1973, when there seemed to be a marginalization of jazz in favor of rock flavored fusion, Rashied opened a club “Ali’s Alley” (1973-1979) as a way to nourish the free jazz scene and stand as a sort of active lab for those who had not emigrated to Europe or headed off into more commercial waters. Some of the downtown loft scene can trace its roots from this haven. While involved with the operations of his club, Rashied also helped to coordinate The New York Musicians Festival and formed his own label, Survival Records. The label is aptly titled as there was such a wide diversity of style and intent under what was labeled “Free Jazz” by this time that it needed what ever protection and nourishment it could get to sustain it.

Aside from artistic evolution, survival is also an apt motif for Rashied himself, an artist who has always followed his own muse, never worrying about the bottom line or trends, remaining a vital and questing artist regardless of trends.

Live in Europe

The latest release from Rashied is a live recording featuring his group, “The Rashied Ali Quintet,” which he formed in 2003. Upon listening you can tell it is a live performance, not due to any sonic deficiency but to the energy brought forth relentlessly by the entire group. As far as the album’s actual sonics, they are pristine throughout. The album is a little over an hour long, made up of three extended pieces.

The first track, “Theme for Captain Black,” is by James Blood Ulmer (1942- ) who was Rashied’s bandmate in their Phalanx ensemble, which also included George Adam (1942-1995) and Sirone (nee Norris Jones 1940- ). The start of the piece finds the front line of Lawrence Clark on tenor saxophone and Josh Evans on trumpet entering in unison amidst staggered explosions by Rashied’s drums. It is within this initial frenzy that you realize how good the sound and production is, especially for a live recording. The bass enters with all rumbling low ends and the piano offers up dream like cascades.

The song picks up a little in tempo but more so in density. All the instruments coming in at closer intervals until all voices are ever present, creating a complex sonic pattern that is one part discordance and one part the piece’s theme. Just as quickly everything drops out at once, leaving only Rashied’s drums. Rashied is credited as being one of the first percussionists to free up drums from merely time keeping. For his first solo he shows some of what John Coltrane termed “multi-directional rhythms,” which in its simplest definition is a sort of free jazz way of playing drums. As done by Rashied, it is less about showmanship and more about emotion. It is an ecstatic saxophone which first enters back after the drum break followed quickly by Joris Teepe’s bass now doing a rapid pattern over which Greg Murphy’s piano enters in a dream of a kinetic frenzy.

Halfway through the piece finds Lawrence Clark showing the fecundity of ideas, a sort of next generation of sonic prophet following in the ecstatic footsteps of some of the others Rashied had once played with. The drama of this is nicely framed by a mix of suspend chords and percussive notes of the piano. For most of this piece the bass finds itself doing the role traditionally held by drums of keeping time and allowing for a foundation off of which the others may build. After Lawrence’s solo comes that of the trumpet which also finds the bass switching gears to a more pensive series of patterns, the boom like the grating of clouds scraping against one another.

Throughout the album Greg Murphy’s piano possesses a cerebral element which allows for shimmering smoke and discordant percussive runs while never becoming overly fragile or sounding as if merely hitting the keys hard and fast. For his solo statement he is joined in a trio within the group by drums and bass whose contrasts from his ideas form a sort of counterpoint of coloration.

The song’s general structure is not that of a traditional one; it builds tension via the momentum built up as the musicians play off of each other and through their solos. There is a sense of catharsis brought on by the piece’s energy akin to that found in the best free jazz, which has managed to age well. The piece ends as it began, in perfect ellipsis with the horns restating the main melody.

Rashied does not rest on his laurels; this album does not seek to recreate any of his past moments with which he initially caught the jazz world’s attention. Aside from being free from merely mining the past, one of the album’s over all strengths is Rashied’s refusal to remain static in regards to genre/style and what components constitute each of these things. “Theme...” starts off with very much a free jazz feel but Rashied does not feel the need to adhere to limitations of being held down by rules of a genre.

“Lourana,” the second track, is an original penned by Lawrence Clark. After the indefatigable assault of the first number, the start of this one feels almost balladish, which is a misconception quickly rectified. It is a smoldering piece, similar in spirit to what Miles Davis’s (1926-1991) free-bop group had done (1965-1968). The cadence for the whole band here is no less energetic, merely changed. The ease with which they appear to straddle styles underlines the great interplay among them. Having done many duet performances (Sonny Fortune 1939-, John Coltrane, etc.) has allowed Rashied to maintain with his playing a sonic intimacy with the audience and bandmates, even from within an expanded ensemble. The drama in this piece is no less engaging than that of the preceding piece. Reached via a different route, it shows how the band is powered by different aspects of various genres from which they take components, mixing it with what they themselves bring without loss of intensity through such diversity.

The final piece on the album is another penned by James Blood Ulmer, “Thing for Joe,” which is dedicated to Joe Henderson (1937-2001). It is the longest piece on the album, coming in at a little under half an hour. Having the sound of the more forward thinking Blue Note albums of the late sixties, it manages to capture the spirit of its subject while remaining a stand-alone work of art in its own right. There are points within the piece where all the band save for drums and saxophone drop out; the dichotomy between all the voices being reduced to two and then intermittently down to the lone voice of the saxophone is dramatic but remains completely organic, never coming across as a soporific “look at me” moment. When piano and bass join back in after the sanctified declamations of the saxophone, it is now a trio of drums, piano and bass, the main voice being that of piano. Here the delicate layering of the band’s interplay shows that “free” need not be all discordance.

There is no weak link or vestigial member of this ensemble. Rashied’s oeuvre is not divided into clear-cut phases, and the advantage of this is that nothing sounds out of date. There is no specific order in which one should approach his art, as the energy of spirit is ever present.

By Maxwell Chandler - Jazz Police - Wednesday, 08 April 2009

Rashied Ali Quintet - Live in Europe (Survival, 2009)

Veteran drummer Ali leads a band that explores the hallowed ground between hard bop jazz and the avant-garde, where the boundaries of form fade and the promise of freedom tempts. He is joined on this journey by Josh Evans in trumpet, Lawrence Clark on tenor saxophone, Greg Murphy on piano and Joris Teepe on bass. The sound their best when they fly close to the sun, taking risks and reaping huge rewards on the two epic performances of compositions by guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer, "Theme for Captain Black" and "Thing for Joe." Both of these long improvised performances allow the band to stretch out, everyone soloing at length, with Clark taking the honors as he blows with great lust and vigor, at times channeling Ali's former boss, John Coltrane, and then taking particular inspiration from Joe Henderson, whom the latter piece was dedicated to. Murphy seems in thrall to another Coltrane band veteran, McCoy Tyner, as his strong lush playing bears his influence. But this isn't some repertory or tribute band, Ali keeps the pace moving briskly and his weaving of unpredictable patterns keeps everyone on their toes. The standard hard bop of Evans' original [sic] "Lourana" is pleasant, inspiring the composer to find his inner Lee Morgan, but doesn't quite provide the spark to lift the band as the open ended and exciting Ulmer compositions do. This is a solid slice of free-bop jazz with the concentration on solos rather than on collective improvisation. People who enjoyed the adventurous Blue Note mid 60's recordings by the likes of Sam Rivers or Jackie McLean would probably enjoy this, as well as people who remember the late 1970's Wildflowers loft jazz sessions.