Facing East: The Music of John Coltrane by José James feat. Jef Neve

José James (vocals, loop station, bells), Jef Neve (piano), Michael Campagna  (tenor and  soprano sax, flute), Neville Malcolm (bass), Richard Spaven (drums)

In Facing East, pianist Jef Neve and the American singer, José James, mould the music of John Coltrane into new shapes. James wrote lyrics to well-known Coltrane songs and together they bring the huge work of Coltrane back to life in a contemporary musical language. While they pay homage to Coltrane’s spirituality, they also do likewise to the way in which he brought the world into his music.

Singer José James (Brooklyn, US), debuted two years ago with ‘The Dreamer’, a modern-day mix of jazz, blues and soul. He was just thirty and was already being hailed as one of the greatest talents in jazz. He cites Billie Holiday and John Coltrane as his biggest influences. However, his voice reminds one of that of Gil Scott-Heron or Terry Callier. He wants to make jazz for the hip-hop generation. The album ‘Black Magic’ was released in February this year. On it, James digs deeper into the black jazz of the sixties and seventies and pays tribute to great soul artists like Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Sam Cooke. However, you’ll also hear sounds from contemporary soul and dubstep.

In the last decade, pianist Jef Neve and his trio first conquered Belgium. His first trio album, Blue Saga (2003), soon became a bestseller. The second album, It’s Gone (2004), received good reviews. The trio, with bassist Piet Verbist and drummer Teun Verbruggen, really jelled together and played for seven years. Today there’s a new bassist: Ruben Samama. In 2006 he recorded the album ‘Nobody is illegal’ for Universal Music Belgium that was subsequently released in 20 countries. The trio played the major festivals in Europe and America. Neve has written soundtracks for films, such as ‘Dagen zonder lief’ and director Felix Van Groeningen’s ‘De Helaasheid der dingen’. He also played the Goldberg Variations from J.S. Bach and wrote his first piano concerto. Since the beginning of 2008, Jef has had a weekly radio programme on Klara, ‘Neve’, that is set to run until the end of June this year. In 2008, his recorded his second album for Universal, ‘Soul In a Picture’, which was further released in 24 countries. This album was similarly enthusiastically received. This year saw the release of Neve’s duo album, ‘Face to Face’, with Pascal Schumacher along with a recording with Groove Thing. ‘For all we know’ with José James will be released on the illustrious Impulse! label on 11 May. An album with his trio is set to follow in the autumn. A CD will also be released of his work with the trio with Gabriel Rios and Kobe Proesmans.

Jef Neve and José James got to know each other through Neve’s radio programme on Klara. They played together in the AB theatre and became soul mates. Jef Neve fell under the spell of the voice and spontaneity of José James. James was overwhelmed by the incredible technique of Jef Neve who is also classically trained. José James had already written words to a well-known Coltrane track, Equinox (from the album ‘Coltrane’s Sound’).  However, he was unable to get the permission from the Coltrane heirs to release the track. It can be heard on Myspace. In the text, José James basically recounts the story of his life.

They were somewhat uneasy when they started the project. How do you go about it without coming up with a copy? They also principally wanted to put something of themselves into it while still respecting the material in its originality. They wanted to bring John Coltrane into the present-day… well, they have, and with success.