A Saxless Ode to John Coltrane

Bassist Tony Overwater and the Japanese pianist Atzko Kohashi, who lives in the Netherlands, joined forces in February last year for an as daring as successful project. In the Beaufort House in Austerlitz, the duo paid tribute to John Coltrane’s album crescent (1964). Its melodically beautiful title piece, drenched in blues, had brought comfort to the duo in the midst of the pandemic and so the idea was born to dive a little deeper into Coltrane’s music.

Quite daring to perform Coltrane’s music as a duo without sax, but it works. Not only are three pieces of crescent played with flexibility and empathy, there is also room for your own piece and the well-fitting, moodily played standard What’s New. Very beautiful is Overwater’s interpretation of Jimmy Garrison’s bass solo in Lonnie’s Lament where Kohashi applauds him with her smoothly curly piano playing. Sure, Coltrane is central, but in a sense this album is also an ode to bassist Charlie Haden. Are nightfall comes after the title piece and it seems as if it is intended that way, it fits so beautifully.