Rashied Ali Quintet - First Time Out: Live at Slugs 1967 2xLP

The musical legacy of Rashied Ali receives a powerful rejuvenation with the publication of a previously unissued set by Ali's group, recorded live at Slugs in 1967. This obscure appearance may have been only the second time that Ali had led a band in public. Band membership is stellar and unprecedented, and the tunes they play predate all known segments of Rashied's career as a composer or bandleader. Drummer Rashied Ali (1933–2009) was still officially on the job as John Coltrane's drummer when he assembled this band for perhaps as little as two sets of music in the Spring of 1967. It’s about the first documentable activity for the late tenor saxophonist Ramon Morris, who had thoroughly absorbed the lessons of John Coltrane, post 1961. Trumpeter Dewey Johnson (who, like Morris, died months before this release) had his peak moment of fame two years prior, appearing with Coltrane on the orchestral Free Jazz masterpiece Ascension. Pianist Stanley Cowell was just emerging as a distinctiv