The Art of the Improvisers

On July 17, 2017 it was fifty years ago that saxophonist John Coltrane died. In Cafe Oto in London a memorial concert took place with the Sun Ship Quartet of the English saxophonist Paul Dunmall as its pivotal point. The night, the quartet (named after Sun Ship, Coltrane’s penultimate studio album) played all the songs on the album. They extended two of the songs with saxophonist Alan Skidmore. The evening ended with Coltrane’s Ascension by the quintet, joined by Danish flautist Julie Kjær, Norwegian percussionist Ståle Liavik Solberg and English percussionist Mark Wastell. Wastell released the concert on his Confront Recordings label.