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Modern, ancient, experimental. It’s jazz«In fact I do not consider Turkey a ‘project’, but a celebration», Hamid Drake is quick to point out; unlike many tributes to jazz protagonists, in Turiya there is an involvement of a very personal nature: «a tribute is something you do and once you do it, that’s it: while instead I wish to honor Alice Coltrane as an inspiration that continues to feed my life and my music. Hamid Drake is considered one of the greatest drummers of contemporary jazz: of his career, which began in the seventies, it is enough to recall the long collaboration with Don Cherry, and the intense association with the double bass player William Parker, catalyst of the black avant-garde in New York . Presented last year in several important European festivals, starting with Paris, Turiya finally arrives in Italy on Saturday 25 March at Bergamo Jazz: on sax in Turiya will be played for the first time by Shabaka Hutchings, by now a cult figure on the British scene. Born in Detroit in ’37, Alice McLeod marries John Coltrane in ’65: she influences him in terms of spiritual research and in ’66 she replaces McCoy Tyner at the piano in her husband’s groups. After her death in ’67 by Trane, Alice begins to make her own albums, gradually developing an original musical dimension that reflects her spiritual interests. Until then she made music only as a function of the Vedantic center of which she became director.What she did with John is amazing, but she was great before she met him. She represented so many things, she became a spiritual leader
«What she and Coltrane have produced is magnificent, but her creativity – underlines Drake – went much further, and it is very important to know that this creativity was already there before: she was a great pianist, in Detroit, she toured , and participated in the recording of albums before he had met Coltrane. She represented many things: she was a great musician, an African American who became a spiritual leader – a swamini – in a tradition that came from India, she championed the female presence in music, into which she truly brought the Divine Feminine. So I try to honor Alice Coltrane on many levels.”
How did you come to his music?
It was only later that I listened to the music he made with Coltrane, first I listened to his own music, Journey in Satchidananda (released by Impulse! in ’71, ndr), and other albums, and then I went backwards. When I was very young, the song from which Journey in Satchidananda took its title had a very strong effect on me, because I was also studying Indian music, and yoga culture, in which the word satchidananda is very important, because it refers to bliss of our true nature: and I was fascinated by the idea of a composition that was entitled like this, that is, a journey inside our true nature.
You were very young even when you had the chance to meet her…
I was sixteen, he was in concert at Ravinia Park, outside of Chicago, in a trio with Charlie Haden on bass and Ben Riley on drums. After the performance I joined her and introduced myself: I hadn’t taken the name Hamid yet, I was Hank Drake. At the time, I was very involved in a spiritual movement called the Bahá’i Faith, and I gave her two books by the founder, Bahá’u’lláh. She listened to me, gave me time to talk to her, even though I was just a boy completely infatuated not only with his music but with his whole way of being, and she too gave me a book, which she autographed for me. We exchanged addresses and wrote a couple of letters. When his album came out Universal Consciousness (recorded in the spring of ’71, ed), I saw that on the cover there was a quotation from Bahá’u’lláh from one of the books I had given her.
But for you that meeting was much more than that.
It was also the very strong vibration that I felt emanating from her, and it represented a bit of an initiation into accepting myself. I felt like an infusion of spirit, like receiving a strong boost of energy that is spoken of in the yoga tradition. And the energy I received from her told me that the path of music was a good path, and to continue on that path.
How did this celebration of Alice Coltrane come about?
I’ve always had a desire to do something that honors her, and I’ve even had the opportunity to play in a couple of bands that play some of her music. I reflected on which musicians might be more suitable than her with Ludmilla Faccenda, who shares my passion for Alice Coltrane. Obviously me on drums (laughs), then Pasquale Mirra, vibraphone, Jan Bang, electronics, Jamie Saft, piano and keyboards, and Joshua Abrams, double bass and guembri; in some concerts the saxophonist was Thomas de Pourquery, but in Bergamo there will be Shabaka; and we wanted someone who brings dance, spoken word and poetry, and could represent Alice Coltrane: Ndoho Ange, dancer and performer from Guadeloupe who lives in Paris. Turiya is one of Alice Coltrane’s names, in Hindu philosophy it indicates the fourth level of consciousness.
About Alice Coltrane do you like to quote a statement by Harry Belafonte…
She once said that «artists have the potential to be the keepers of truth»: certainly Alice Coltrane represented this.
Who do you think can do it today?
For example William Parker, with the great work he does, and with his way of being and his personality.