Rashied Ali
The Stone
Mega Tip! Purple Trap, the powerful trio of Keiji Haino (voice, guitar), Bill Laswell on bass, and Rashied Ali (drums), recorded live on stage at The Stone. Recorded in December 2005, this furious live album by what can easily be called a super group remained unreleased till in 2023 Bill Laswell made it accessible in a rough-mixed digital version for his bandcamp subscribers program exclusively. For this vinyl version, the music has been newly mixed by Dirk Dresselhaus (SchneiderTM) and mastered…
Swift Are The Winds Of Life
Part of Rashied Ali’s artistic strength involved turning improbable sound combinations into unchallenged masterpieces. After the pattern established by John Coltrane’s Interstellar Space, and Duo Exchange with Frank Lowe, the drummer stepped into a rather unlikely duet with violinist Leroy Jenkins for Swift are the Winds of Life. Five years with the Revolutionary Ensemble had established Jenkins as a composer; he designed all the pieces played on these 1975 duets with Ali. That record is issued …
Sidewalks in Motion
Rashied Ali stood as a magnetic force for the musical environment around him. In his last decades he sponsored rehearsal opportunities for young musicians, tightened up neighborhood street-corner drum circles he happened to pass, and for years would pull promising young talents into his orbit. One unique group that Ali led at the 2002 Vision Festival in NYC, along with with Frank Lowe, he also took into the studio—and the moment you hear on Sidewalks in Motion features Ali and Lowe along with yo…
Meditations
2023 small repress. The year 1965 was a turning point in the life of John Coltrane. It was at this point that he crossed the line into the free jazz arena that he had been approaching since the early '60s. Besides his landmark Ascension, no album better illustrates this than the awe-inspiring Meditations. Coltrane's regular quartet -- McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums) -- is expanded here with second drummer Rashied Ali (who assumed Jones' spot after this album) …