Album Notes

Rashied Ali (1 July 1935-12 August 2009) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life. Ali moved to New York in 1963 and worked in groups with Bill Dixon and Paul Bley. He has also recorded or performed with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Arthur Rhames, James Blood Ulmer and many others. In addition, Ali was scheduled to be the second drummer, alongside Elvin Jones, on John Coltrane's landmark free jazz album Ascension, but he dropped out just before the recording was to take place. Coltrane did not replace him, and settled for one drummer. Ali began to record with Coltrane from Meditations in November 1965 onwards. Among his credits are the last recorded work of John Coltrane's life (The Olatunji Concert) and Interstellar Space, an album of duets with Coltrane recorded earlier in 1967. Ali "became important in stimulating the most avant-garde kinds of jazz activities". During the early 1970s, he ran an influential loft club in New York, called Ali's Alley. Ali has lead groups featuring several generations of young musicians.