Hearing about an album of covers doesn’t normally send a chill through me. Hearing that there will be an album of covers/interpretations sets off internal alarm bells. Many have tried, and failed, to recreate what was groundbreaking, and special, about Coltrane’s work. Not only are the songs complex, in places, but they are milestones of what was possible in recording music too. However, when I realised that was the one tackling them, and , , , , , , and were coming along for the ride I started to feel more excited about the project. The songs picked span a period from 1959 – 1964. So, the golden years then.

The first thing you notice about ‘ANANTA: Spirit of Coltrane’ is the amount of respect Atwood-Ferguson, and co, are, and aren’t, showing the songs. ‘A Love Supreme (Part II)’, ‘My Favourite Things’ and ‘Central Park West’ resemble the originals fairly rigidly. This isn’t the musical equivalent of Gus Van Sant’s ‘Psycho’ remake, but the covers are fairly truthful to the originals. Elsewhere on the album Antwood-Ferguson takes more chances and pushes things in a different direction. The highlight of this playing is ‘Naima’ and ‘Giant Steps’. The bravery to tackle ‘Giant Steps’ deserves a nod of respect, but to deliver something as powerful, and fun, as the album version deserves something else. Songs like ‘Compassion’ and ‘After the Rain’ sit somewhere between the two.

‘Naima’ is full of shimmery bells, delicate piano and a feeling of melancholy that wasn’t on the original. Is it melancholy for Coltrane that has grown since is passing in 1967, or tapping into the original vibes of the piece? It’s hard to tell, but it’s a beautiful way to start the album. ‘Compassion’ features . This is a nice nod, as FlyLo is the great-nephew of Coltrane’s wife Alice, and it is connections like this that ground the music back to the family and prevent it from being another run of the mill covers collection. The song itself is one of the strongest on the album. There is some wonderful playing going on. Dual horns playing at once creates a wonderful sense of confusion. The drums and bass are underpinning everything and the keys are dreamlike. There is one original composition on the album ‘A Force’. Here delivers a powerful spoken word piece that uses a quote from Coltrane: “I want to be a force for real good. In other words. I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good” over some of the strongest playing on the album.

‘ANANTA: Spirit of Coltrane’ is a delightful album that imbues the spirit of the jazz legend for a new set of listeners. The songs do their best to convey the emotions Coltrane original conceived for them, whilst creating a new set of narratives at the same time. There is a sense of joy, and love, which is imbued in the album. This is a love of the artist, the source material but, and I think this is the most important, a love of playing with other who push you to not only sound great but to be better. If you are looking for a nice jazz album to play, then ‘ANANTA: Spirit of Coltrane’ is that album. You can put it on and get on with your life (working, cooking, commuting, etc), but if you put in that extra effort, you can lose yourself, and get lost, in eight glorious songs that will take you out of your humdrum and transport you too somewhere else. Somewhere where the spirit of Coltrane will never die. 

7/10