Everlasting

A loving tribute to John Coltrane co-led by percussionist guru Bob Moses and out guitarist Tisziji Muñoz, Love Everlasting creates a magnificent wall of sound in the spirit of Coltrane's A Love Supreme. Far more than a tribute, the music on the disc — which features a surprisingly restrained double-quartet lineup plus guitar — brims with joy, frequently reaching into chaos, but never becoming violent or unlistenable. Each set of musicians — saxophonists George Garzone and Jerry Bergonzi, keyboardists Brad Hatfield and John Medeski (who would go on to co-found Medeski, Martin & Wood), bassists John Lockwood and Wesley Wirth, and drummers Moses and Ben Wittman — works like a platonic unit, each musician completing his partner's thoughts. Bergonzi and Garzone work particularly well together, citing passages from Coltrane's own "Acknowledgment" (the first cut off A Love Supreme). Unfortunately, until his own "Earth Changes," Muñoz is all but buried in the mix. The disc closes with an elegant version of Coltrane's "Naima," unfortunately dated by the hideous bed of synthesizers on which the melody rests.