The Infinite by nat birchall

https://natbirchallmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-infinite

Genre: Spiritual Jazz

Rating: 🎷 🎷 🎷 🎷 🎷 5/5 stars ✨

Released on Jan 27 2023

Nat Birchall wears his Coltrane on his sleeve and to mix the metaphor he carries the torch with grace and eloquence. The Infinite is the fourth record of his where he ensures the immaculate quality of every sound by playing every instrument himself. I respect him as one of the great living jazz musicians and I wonder why he’s not more acclaimed. I can’t afford to go anyway but he would be an excellent addition to the Big Ears festival. There’s several paths to greatness and not all of them involve surrendering the past, especially when it comes to Coltrane. Coltrane represents the highest peak and there’s no shame in standing on that peak. You can hang glide off, find another mountain to climb (Perhaps, one of these mountains is that of free jazz saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre to whom he pays homage to on the track Kalaparusha Arha Difda, – which he was also known as and probably should be referred to as out of respect – Kalaparush Ahrah Difda played on Roscoe Mitchell’s solo debut Sound and as a band leader he might be closer to the school of Sun Ra than Coltrane) , or meditate on the premises. We need artists to do all these things. Birchall is one of, if not the best at the latter. That is what this album is about. And you have to understand Coltrane to understand why it’s not the same as imitation. Coltrane’s music is an entire genre. Even just his modal period is an entire genre. This must be differentiated from being part of a genre. He’s so huge that even one song can be as vast as a generation of other musicians. This is why what Birchall is doing here his so crucial. It’s a DUTY to exist in that sphere. I feel like I’m coming across as an apologist and if I am it’s because of my failings as a writer. This is soulful, meditative, spiritual, and crucially important music. This is how it sounds at the mountaintop. This is the best view of the jazz sonic landscape available. Dig it!