Notes from the Net: Trane tops charts, Tyner interviewed, WSQ reviewed, and more

The music of John Coltrane remains relevant and
engaging almost four decades after his passing

"In a surprising development, saxophone trailblazer John Coltrane accounted for two of the top three jazz albums last week, 38 years after his death," is how one of the lead stories on today's music wires begins.

"The two-disc Impulse! set "One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note" entered at No. 3 on Billboard's top jazz albums chart for the week ended October 16. Sitting at No. 2 was Blue Note's recently released album by the Thelonious Monk Quartet with Coltrane, "At Carnegie Hall."...

...However, considering that the fare at the top of the current jazz chart is conservative material - mainly by vocalists including Michael Buble, Madeleine Peyroux, Paul Anka, Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr.- the immediate success of Coltrane's uncompromising music is somewhat unexpected. The Half Note performance, which finds Trane wailing in full-bore, free-blowing fashion, might be especially challenging for some.

But album annotator Ashley Kahn, author of a book on "A Love Supreme" and a forthcoming history of the Impulse! label called "The House That Trane Built," maintains that listeners have caught up with Trane: "It's a very universal, accessible sound, even though he's one of those guys who was very intense and devoted to experimental, avant-garde sound."

The current spate of interest in Coltrane could go on, for the musician's family has uncovered even more unheard material. Kahn says: "There's a whole bunch of tapes that even the record label didn't know about. There is going to be a lot more stuff."

It's good to see that challenging and substantive instrumental jazz can still find an audience among CD buyers, and Trane's music is, of course, timeless. However, it would be even more heartening to see some adventurous living jazz artists achieve a similar feat.

Trane's piano player McCoy Tyner was recently in St. Louis for a performance at Finale. You can hear a recent radio interview with him and a brief in-studio performance recorded at a Seattle public radio station streamed in Real Audio here...A Bay Area blogger writes a short review of the World Saxophone Quartet's recent performance in San Francisco, noting that the WSQ used several additional musicians, including a full rhythm section, as part of the gig. No word yet if it will be this expanded edition of the band that will play at Jazz at the Bistro in February, but stay tuned for details...And turning to the local St. Louis scene for our final item, drummer Steven Tatum is profiled by a student journalist writing for the Webster University Journal. Tatum is a Webster alumnus who also works a day job at the University when he's not drumming with the bands of saxophonist Willie Akins and pianist Ptah Williams.