Drummer Rashied Ali Reconfigures Music by John Coltrane

This historically important album is the last recording by jazz icon John Coltrane's sideman. Drummer Rashied Ali felt the need to re-record the songs which introduced him to free jazz. "It's not that I didn't like what I did with Trane - that started this whole direction - but I believe I can't do it better than I did now. Now I feel in peace with this music," Ali said in August 2009, one week before he passed away. Configurations, The Music of John Coltrane (Blue Music Group, 2009) is Ali's remake version of "Stellar Regions", one of Coltrane's last recordings from 1967, and discovered by his wife, Alice Coltrane, for a 1994 release on the Impulse! (Universal) label. "Configurations" captures the original Coltrane spirit with an aesthetic for a continued improvised path. One composition, "Leo", not recorded on Stellar Regions, was added to the program. Ali can be heard in top form and this is the last document of his artistry. Essential and Highly Recommended.