Alan Skidmore Quartet
Naima + Live in Berlin
(jazzwerkstatt)

AT THE age of 19, saxophonist Alan Skidmore heard John Coltrane play and his music was never the same.

His outstanding achievement as a British jazz musician over the ensuing years has been constantly inspired by the great saxophonist. That's evidenced by early albums like Once Upon a Time, his participation in saxophone trio SOS, later albums like Tribute to Trane and After the Rain, his formation of the South Africa-inspired Ubizo with the Amampondo ensemble and his trio SOH.

In 2011, he recorded Naima live as part of a powerful British quartet playing Coltrane tunes with pianist Steve Melling, bassist Geoff Gascoyne and drummer Tony Levin and, from the opener Giant Steps, all four play with a passionate freedom and empathy.

Levin's drums boom and crackle, Melling swings as he invents, Gascoyne lays down an irrepressible pulse and Skidmore's horn radiates a profound excitation and love. On Naima, the exquisite melodism of  Trane's universal message shines through.

Some Other Blues is Skidmore's throatful of surging sound with some romping Melling choruses and Levin's rampaging drums urging them on, while the balladic serenity of After the Rain is Skidmore's heartfelt tribute to Coltrane's genius.

Transition, from the eponymous album of 1965, is played with a subliminal verve with Gascoyne's resonating strings and Skidmore's concluding crescendo notes. Ascension is all rampant swing, with Melling's piano jumping, Skidmore at the tip of his register, Gascoyne's bass pumping and Levin all over his drums.

The second of this double album is another live performance in Berlin in 2007, with Skidmore in full pelt with pianist Mike Gorman, bassist Aidan O'Donnell and Ian Palmer on drums. The quartet mix Coltrane with American songbook themes, beginning with Gershwin's But Not for Me, played as a stomping, joyous anthem and Jimmy McHugh's ballad Say It, introduced by Gorman's reflective solo piano before Skidmore's horn touches the heart.

Then it is all Coltrane. Resolution from 1964's A Love Supreme — one of Trane's truly classic themes — rocks from Philadelphia to Berlin via London with a super-animated Gorman and a soulful Skidmore roaring and soaring.

On Impressions, from the 1966 Live at the Village Vanguard album, O'Donnell's bass opens the performance with plunging eloquence, with Skidmore's airing of the familiar theme and Gorman's racing notes leading the tune to new lands, fresh ideas and a reaffirmation of unity.

This compelling double album ends with Ellington's Take the Coltrane, one master's tribute to another. If you get the chance, go and hear the outstanding Skidmore live — he's  still vibrant and full in sound and spirit.