The reason I like John Coltrane’s Concert in Japan best out of all my Coltrane albums is that it includes one of my all-time favorite tracks: “Peace on Earth”. And as good as “Meditation/Leo (Part One),” “Leo (Part Two),” and “Part Three” are - “Peace on Earth” outshines them all.
When John Coltrane arrived in Japan in 1966, he was welcomed like a king. He arrived at Haneda Airport on July 8, 1966, along with his wife Alice, Pharoah Sanders, Jimmy Garrison, and Rashied Ali. Ali, who later recalled the trip, said they were greeted by thousands of Japanese fans. At the airport, there were huge, life-size cardboard cutouts of the musicians, a red carpet leading from the plane to the terminal, and bouquets of flowers.
And Coltrane had a message, it was no coincidence that he wanted to perform in Japan. He insisted on traveling to Nagasaki to visit the Peace Memorial at the site of the atomic bombing. He laid down a wreath and prayed for a long time. The place had a profound emotional and spiritual impact on him. On the evening of his concert in Nagasaki, he played “Peace on Earth” - at that time a new piece and a kind of musical prayer for peace. At a press conference during the tour, when asked about the Vietnam War, he said: “I dislike war, period. It should stop, and any other war.”
On Concert in Japan - and on “Peace on Earth” in particular - one can see how Coltrane’s thirst for new sounds is inextricably linked to his desire to view the universe from a spiritual perspective; his music radiates a cosmic aura. The piece begins with an incredibly beautiful melody that floats above Alice’s arpeggios, Garrison’s bass sprinklings, and Ali’s sparse drumming. It seems like the musical embodiment of the Garden of Eden. Nearly six minutes of pure harmony - but then deliberate atonality creeps in, paradise is threatened, only heavenly saxophone lines save it for the time being. Then, however, a dissonant storm is conjured up, shaking this world to its very foundations. The piece is thrown into utter disarray; block chords replace the arpeggios, and the bass and drums throw the meter overboard. At the very end, however, harmony returns, and the melodies resurface, albeit different from how they began.
In July 1966, John Coltrane was just one year away from his untimely death, yet his zest for life was greater than ever. His musical explorations were more adventurous than before, and “Peace on Earth” brilliantly captures the essence of what his music is all about. Or, as my friend Thomas Weber puts it: “On the one hand, it’s utter extravagance and exhaustion, on the other, it’s the dissolution of boundaries. Free jazz with melodies.”
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