Show Review

Portlanders like to claim their city is a big jazz town. It very well may be, though not to the scale of a New York or a New Orleans, and maybe not even to the scale of neighboring major West Coast cities San Francisco and Seattle. That being said, we Portlanders do seem to consistently support live jazz with eager ears. Two sold-out shows at Portland’s Blue Monk to see the legendary drummer, Rashied Ali and his excellent Quintet may not prove Portland’s enthusiasm for jazz, but it certainly manages to support the self-appointed image. The Rashied Ali Quintet packed the house on this Thursday performance before heading to Seattle to play two more shows for our northerly neighbors.

The Blue Monk is a relatively new establishment but is already gaining some serious momentum and quickly becoming one of the premiere rooms to hear jazz in the city. The club has the ability to feel just like a smoky New York nightclub (minus the smoke, thank you); dark with low ceilings, hidden away in the basement. You get the feeling that that’s where you’re supposed to hear jazz.

Of course no jazz club becomes renowned until electrifying jazz is played between its walls. Last night a few legends stopped in to contribute some electricity. Rashied Ali, who replaced Elvin Jones as John Coltrane’s main drummer in the early 1960s, fronted a formidable quintet playing their first show together. In fact, they only managed to practice for a few hours before the lights went down and the show began. This was raw jazz. On the upright bass was the great Reggie Workman who has been all over the scene throughout the years working with Coltrane, Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter and Thelonious Monk among many others. Both Ali and Workman were born in the mid 1930’s in Philadelphia. The other three members are all at least one generation younger than the rhythm section, but are not surprisingly all established artists in their own right. John Coltrane’s son, Ravi Coltrane graced us on saxophone and although it seems impossible to not compare the two, the similarities are thick. The young and ultra-talented Jumaane Smith was on trumpet. Jumaane has roots in the Pacific Northwest but has recently been living in New York playing with Rashied Ali. Finally, on guitar was Seattle native Andy Coe, who handled his duties with precision and fierce emotion.

The band started hot from the get-go, ripping through a couple from John Coltrane’s catalogue, the second of which, "Saturn," featured Rashied Ali on the original recording from an album called Interstellar Space. The first set came and went in just over an hour, but it felt like fifteen minutes, as I must have been caught in the trance produced by these five monsters.

I discovered about five measures into the first song of the second set, an up-tempo number written by Smith entitled "Yesterday’s Tomorrow," that things were going to get even hotter in that dungeon-like basement room. Ravi took the first solo which propelled the song deep into the night’s sky. Clearly the band was beginning to get a feel for one another. This is the first time I had seen Ali live (or any of the other men on stage, for that matter), but I imagine he’s every ounce as good now as he was when he was holding the beat four decades ago. His drum solos can sound like thunder and on this tune in particular he may have also been creating lightning. The second set cooked along for about an hour and a half and included a beautiful Ravi Coltrane composition by the name of "For Zoe" and a scorching set closer of John Coltrane’s "Leo," another one from Interstellar Space, which featured strong solos from all of the men, most notably Andy Coe’s fuzz-distorted solo which might have woken up the ghosts of at least a few guitar Gods.

Rashied Ali is known to many jazz enthusiasts as one of the more "out-there" drummers. His imagination seems to carry him through a song more so than steady structure. I was blown away though by Ali’s sense of time and his sheer power. Those of us lucky enough to have been there can confidently and safely proclaim at least this: For the three hours that the Rashied Ali Quintet was playing, Portland was "the place to be" for jazz fans in this world. It would be next to impossible to convince me otherwise. I can only assume that those who will be catching the following night’s sequel by this awe-inspiring quintet will be able to say the same.

Setlist –

Leo - John Coltrane