Interstellar Space - The Compositions

The Compositions

Interstellar Space consists of an extended duet suite in four parts with the drummer Rashied Ali, and was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio on February 22, 1967, the week after the session that produced Stellar Regions. As a result, the melodies often overlap; "Venus" has the same melody as the title track of the previous LP, "Mars" quotes the melody of what became known as "Iris", and many note choices and runs are similar.

The structure of each track is fairly uniform: Coltrane plays some largely ceremonial wind-chime like bells, while Ali sets a shifting pattern on the drums; then the theme is stated by Coltrane on tenor saxophone. The album is an important example of highly improvised free jazz, which was Coltrane's principal interest in the latter part of his career. Coltrane's improvisations are thus extremely free here, stating tacit modes and harmonies briefly and modulating constantly, fitting extremely dense, twisting expressions into breath-length phrases. The folkish "Venus" is probably the most accessible number; "Saturn", the longest piece, does feature hints of swing by song's end. Its melody is rather similar to the canonical, almost cantor-like quality of the material on Stellar Regions.

The 2000 bonus track "Leo", also listed as such on Coltrane's Live in Japan box set, is presumably a variation on "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost" from the 1965 album Meditations (the theme for "Leo" was frequently played in conjunction with the two-tenor opening for "The Father, the Son and Holy Ghost" in concert, though it is always called "Leo" on Impulse! sessions). It is distinct, in title and structure, from the rest of the album. Firstly, it is named for a constellation rather than a planet; furthermore, the track opens not with an introduction by Ali, but rather, by an immediate statement of the theme by Coltrane. As well, the use of bells is different, appearing intermittently, and mostly towards the end. In this sense it is similar to the track "Saturn", which contains no bells at all.