Various Artists – Spiritual Jazz 19 – West Coast USA Part 2: 70s & 80s (2LP)

The West Coast of the USA has long been associated with the ‘cool jazz’ popular explosion of the 1950s, though wherever jazz was played, modal, Afro-centric and spiritualised streams flowed and flourished toothe West Coast was no exception.

In the post-war years, Los Angeles’ Central Avenue was second only to Manhattan as America’s greatest jazz district. Yet while Manhattan might have been the de facto centre of the jazz universe during these years, it was California that came to exert the greater pull on culture at large, drawing people from across America toward its burgeoning 1960s counter-culture.

Here we explore the effects of that counter-culture on jazz. We examine the influence of the most significant force in post-civil rights Black politics – the Black Panthers, and we delve into the novel spiritual practices and religions of the coming ‘New Age’.

Tracklist
01: Living SpacePharoah Sanders
02: Spanish TaleInfinite Sound
03: Safari WestBuddy Collette
04: John ColtraneBilly Higgins
05: Sad SundayPE Hewitt
06: Weird SistersJazz Symphonics
07: Danakil WarriorRickey Kelly
08: Ring Shout BalletEd Kelly Ensemble
09: Nisaba In The GrassLuna
10: 10/10 (October 10th)Ambiance