Recently, I wrote an article about one of the best jazz albums ever, “Journey in Satchidananda” by Alice Coltrane. Although it is a remarkable piece of music, with legendary musicians participating, it kind of got obscure during the decades, because of its devotional, Indian-flavoured orientation. For those who have listened to the record at least once, this music will forever remain dear and blissful. Among them is Paul Weller, whose biographer Paolo Hewitt recalls how Weller was so taken with the title track that he unwittingly put it on three different mixtapes he compiled for him. However, there are some jazz musicians who covered the title song, most of them in recent times, but there is a rendition of the song by Earthling Society that stretches out of the jazz genre. It stretches so far out that it isn’t jazz at all. But it captures the trance-like feeling of the song, concentrated around the catchy and hypnotizing bassline from the original tune. Earthling Society is a space/psychedelic rock band formed in Fleetwood, England in January 2004 and thus their cover is in that style, with heavily distorted guitars and electric instrumentation all over the place. The version is from their 2014 album “England Have My Bones,” and it was recorded live prior to the release of the record.
The original track is from the eponymous album from 171. Two jazz renditions of the tune were released in recent times. The first by the Nat Birchall Quintet, recorded live in Larissa , Greece in 2014, a version which doesn’t differ from the original too much. The second one worth mentioning is the version by Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra, which was released as a single with “BLue Nile,” another Alice Coltrane song, as the B-side. The collaborative project was set up as a ground for the trumpeter to explore the music of Alice Coltrane. The songs were originally recorded for BBC Radio at the legendary Maida Vale Studios and broadcast on Jamie Cullum's show.
