Joris Teepe: In the Spirit of Rashied Ali (Jazztribes)

A new Dutch label, Jazztribes, has hit with a splash. Its inaugural release is no ordinary tribute album; the CD comes inside a beautiful 66-page hardcover book.

In 2000, bassist Joris Teepe, originally of the Netherlands, now of New York, began an association with Rashied Ali, best known as John Coltrane’s last drummer and a seminal figure in liberating the jazz rhythm section from timekeeping responsibilities—you can hear him on the 1967 duo album with Coltrane, Interstellar Space, a foundational text of avant-garde jazz. Ali died at 76 in 2009. In the book, Teepe says he didn’t want to lead an Ali legacy band, but rather (in keeping with this project’s title) to create a work in Ali’s spirit.