Yesterday i got onto Twitter and asked for some assistance in trying to find the very best in “Spiritual Jazz”. For most of my life, I have been pretty ignorant about jazz in its many forms. Typically I have learned about music from working in record shops and having someone I work with or a knowledgeable customer help me out. None of the shops I worked in over the years really worked with much jazz and so i tried to learn about it myself. I really needed a guide to help me honestly. Unfortunately a lot of what I heard was obviously very good but it didn’t move me as much as I had hoped. The one exception was John Coltrane. Over the past few years I had been hearing people throw the term “Spiritual Jazz” around a lot. Didn’t think too much about what that meant or what that style of jazz might sound like. It was only after the death of Pharaoh Sanders a few months ago did I start to realize that this style of jazz might be what I was looking for. My friend Josh Moss (Modern Folk) helped underline this in some text messages as well.
I do a lot of threads about genres I like and albums that really exemplify those categories. I was glad when i asked for assistance, people came out of the woodwork to help. It took a few hours but this is the list that the helpful people of Twitter came up with. Publishing it here for everyone’s future reference. Its a mix of classic and contemporary examples. Hope this can be helpful for you as well.
Special thanks to Jen and Andrew for their assistance
Thanks also to andy Vax for this list
http://www.freeform.org/music/?s=09
____________________________________
Abdullah Ibrahim -(Dollar Brand) The Journey
Abdullah Ibrahim- Good News From Africa
Alice Coltrane - Journey In Satchidananda
Alice Coltrane - Ptah, The El Daoud.
Angel Bat Dawid - The Oracle
Archie Shepp - Yasmina, A Black Woman / Poem for Malcolm
Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul
Bennie Maupin - "The Jewel in the Lotus"
Bitter Funeral Beer Band
Black Fire Compilation (Soul Jazz)
Bobby Hutcherson Featuring Harold Land - "San Francisco"
Bobby Hutcherson - Head On.
Brandee Younger - Unrest
Brother Ah & The Sounds of Awareness-Key To Nowhere
Bubbha Thomas & The Lightmen Plus One
Buddy Terry - Awareness
Cecil McBee Sextet – Music From The Source (1978)
Clifford Jordan Quartet - Glass Bead Games.
Codona - The Codona Trilogy
Descendants Of Mike And Phoebe – A Spirit Speaks
Devadip Carlos Santana & Turiya Alice Coltrane - Illuminations
Don Cherry - Brown Rice
Don Cherry- Organic Music Society
Don Cherry’ - Hear And Now.
East New York Ensemble of Music-At The Helm
Eddie Gale - Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music
Eddie Gale - Ghetto Music
Franklin Kiermyer - Closer to the Sun
Freedom, Rhythm & Sounds Compilation (Soul Jazz)
Gary Bartz - Ive Know Rivers & Other Bodies
Grachan Moncur III - New Africa
Herbie Hancock - Mwandishi
Herbie Hancock - Crossings
Hear, O Israel - A Prayer Ceremony In Jazz
Horace Tapscott's - Live at the I.U.C.C.
Horace Tapscott & the Pan African People’s Arkestra- Live at the IUCC
I Am - Beyond
James Newton - Flute Music
Jaubi – Nafs At Peace
Joe Henderson - The Elements
Joel Ross The Parable of the Poet
Johnny Dyani- Witchdoctor’s Son
John Tchicai — Afrodisiaca
Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society - Mandatory Reality
Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto* – Love, Love
Kahil El'Zabar Quartet – A Time For Healing
Kalaparusha Maurice Mcintyre - Humility In The Light Of The Creator
Kamasi Washington - The Epic.
Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy, African Skies
Khan Jamal Creative Art Ensemble* – Drum Dance To The Motherland
Khan Jamal - Infinity
Kuumba-Toudie Heath - Kawaida
Larry Young - Lawrence of Newark
Landon Caldwell & Nick Yeck-Stauffer - Unity in Isolation
Lloyd McNeill and Marshall Hawkins - TANNER SUITE
Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes – Astral Traveling
Lonnie Liston Smith - Astral Traveling
Love Cry Want – Love Cry Want
Maisha - There Is A Place
Marcus J. Moore - Liberation Jazz and Soul
Marion Brown - Vista
Matthew Halsall - When The World Was One
McCoy Tyner - Atlantis
McCoy Tyner - Sahara
Michael White — Spirit Dance
Music of Idris Ackamoor 1971 - 2004
Nala Sinephro - Space 1.8
Nat Birchall - Akhenaten
Nat Birchall - Cosmic Language
Nate Morgan - Journey into Nigritia
P.E. Hewitt Jazz Ensemble-Winter Winds
Pharaoh Sanders’ ‘Live at the East’
Pharoah Sanders - Karma
Pharoah Sanders - Deaf Dumb & Blind
Pharoah Sanders - Thembi
Philip Cohran - On The Beach
Phil Ranelin - the Time is Now
Rahsaan Roland Kirk & The Vibration Society - Rahsaan Rahsaan
Rahsaan roland kirk - prepare thyself to deal with a miracle.
Rudolph Johnson - The Second Coming
Sarathy Korwar And Upaj Collective – My East Is Your West
Shabaka and the Ancestors: - We Were Sent Here By History
Shabaka and the Ancestors - Wisdom of the Elders
Shamek Farrah – First Impressions
Sounds of Liberation -s/t
Sounds of Liberation-s/t
Sun Ra' - Sleeping Beauty.
The Ensemble Al-Salaam
The Next - Open
The Piano Choir – Handscapes
Tumi Mogorosi: Group Theory: Black Music
Universal Liberation Orchestra - Communion
World's Experience Orchestra-The Beginning of a New Birth
Awesome stuff, PJ!