Blending Times

Blending Times is Ravi Coltrane's fifth album as a band leader, and second for Savoy Records.

Five of the tracks on this album are group improvisations "conceived and directed by Ravi Coltrane^[2]" that don't follow a standard time signature or preset measures lengths, reminiscent of free jazz popularized by Ornette Coleman.^[3]

The album's final track, "For Turiya," is a eulogy for Alice Coltrane, Ravi's mother, the wife of John Coltrane and a musician in her own right, who died during the album's recording.^[4]

Blending Times reached 36 on Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart,^[5] his second time making the chart.

Track listing

All compositions by Ravi Coltrane, except where noted

1. "Shine" (Luis Perdomo) – 5:49
2. "First Circuit" – 3:45
3. "A Still Life" – 6:17
4. "Epistrophy" (Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk) – 7:48
5. "Amalgams" – 4:18
6. "Narcined" – 4:49
7. "One Wheeler Will" (Ralph Alessi) – 7:31
8. "The Last Circuit" – 4:18
9. "Before With After" – 2:49
10. "For Turiya" (Charlie Haden) – 9:03

Personnel

Musicians

• Ravi Coltrane – Direction, Production, Tenor Saxophone
• Drew Gress – Double bass
• Charile Haden – Double Bass, Guest Artist
• Luis Perdomo – Piano
• Brandee Younger - Harp, Guest Artist

Technicians, Producing, & Others

• Brian Dozoretz - Engineer
• Steve Genewick – Mixing
• Jimmy Katz - Photography
• Joe Marciano – Engineer
• Anna M. Sala - Associate Producer
• Joshua Sherman - Executive Producer
• Allan Tucker – Mastering

Recording notes

• Tracks 2,4,5,8: recorded at Bennett's Studio, Engelwood, NJ, August 14 & 15, 2006
• Track 3: recorded at Systems II, Brooklyn, NY, February 27, 2007
• Tracks 1,6,7,9: recorded at Bennett's Studio, Engelwood, NJ, August 20–22, 2007
• Track 10: recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, CA, September 17, 2007
• Mixed at Capitol Studios, May, 2008
• Mastered at TuckerSound, NYC, September, 2008

References