''Mad 6'' is an album by the American musician

Ravi Coltrane Ravi Coltrane (born August 6, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced music for pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Biography Ravi Coltrane is t ...

, released in 2002. Coltrane supported the album by playing the 2003

Satchmo SummerFest Satchmo SummerFest (also known as Satchmofest) is an annual music festival held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in celebration of the jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. It is held in early August in order to coincide with August 4, Armstrong's birthday. ...

Production

Produced by Yasohachi Itoh, the album was recorded over two days in May 2002 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Coltrane wrote four of the album's tracks. He split the album between two sets of musicians. The drummer

Steve Hass Steve Hass (born May 11, 1975) is an American drummer based in Los Angeles. While he is most identifiable with his work involving multiple Grammy winners The Manhattan Transfer, Patti Austin, Cher, John Scofield, Christian McBride as well as Rav ...

is the only quartet member who played on every ''Mad 6'' track; Darryl Hall played bass and

George Colligan George Colligan (born December 29, 1969) is an American jazz pianist, organist, drummer, trumpeter, educator, composer, and bandleader. Early life and education Colligan was born in New Jersey and raised in Columbia, Maryland. He attended the P ...

played piano on some tracks. " 26-2" and "Fifth House" are covers of songs by Coltrane's father. "

Ask Me Now This is a list of compositions by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. 0-9 52nd Street Theme A contrafact based loosely on rhythm changes in C, and was copyrighted by Monk under the title "Nameless" in April 1944. The tune was also called "Bip Bop" b ...

" is a cover of the

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

song. Other songs are by

Jimmy Heath James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath. Biography Heath w ...

and

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

Critical reception

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade ...

'' called the album "a taut and satisfying outing in the progressive-mainstream vein ... Coltrane's ensemble delivers one forward-thrusting performance after another." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' deemed Coltrane "polished, sophisticated, and ever so slightly bland." ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' labeled Coltrane's saxophone solos "smart and stylish at every turn"; the paper later listed ''Mad 6'' among the best albums of 2003. The ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...

'' considered Coltrane "a solid, expressive player, whether he's digging into original compositions or building on harmonic structures." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' stated that Hass added "a post-techno intensity to every beat."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote that "the tense, brisk arrangement of 'Round Midnight' suggests the hustle and bustle of Manhattan nightlife at that hour, with a tense rhythm behind his furious soprano sax."

Track listing

References

{{authority control Ravi Coltrane albums 2002 albums Columbia Records albums