Ptah the El Daoud
Recorded in 1970 with a superb quintet, Alice Coltrane'sPtah, the El Daoudis one of the overlooked gems of this period. Coltrane andPharoah Sanderspick up the open, communal, and dignified questing ofJohn Coltrane's later work, with sensitive contributions byJoe Henderson, Ron Carter, and Ben Riley. The music here is enchanting; it swings with precision and ease and draws the listener into its orbit with an uncommon grace. Alice Coltrane's compositions give the soloists ample material to explore and demonstrate her discerning compositional gifts. Along with some of Sanders's recordings from the same period, this is a rewarding, still not fully explored direction in jazz.--Michael Monhart