2.

Alice Coltrane – A Monastic Trio

It’s a good one, isn’t it? [laughs] Some records mean something to you just because of the first time you listen to it being really nice. It’s so mundane – we lay in bed, drunk wine, smoked weed and listened to this, one summer afternoon. It was just perfect. And that’s it; I’ve been in love with Alice, and this, ever since. It’s almost all I’ve got to say about it.

It connects to a lot of the other music I like, and the whole spiritual jazz world has really influenced what I think live music is. But the Alice Coltrane record I just enjoy. It’s not a work record. It’s not something that I’m poring over the structure of – it’s effortless, or unburdened, like Debussy. It’s not Ornette Coleman or something, it’s not trying to have a fight with you [laughs]. It’s just pleasant. That might be the most ‘Ah, that is just a pleasant record’ in the whole list.

I don’t know what it is about Alice Coltrane’s music… I don’t think it’s something I could do, perhaps: it’s a level of playing that I’ll never be able to touch, on instruments that I can half-play – the piano, I mean. I guess that’s a part of it. And just her manner, and the way it’s presented, and particularly that record, it’s so complete and whole.