Magma Présente Offering: Parts III-IV (1990)
~Part III~
The next entry in the Offering series consists of a single 44min long song entitled ‘Another Day’. It’s even more loudly announced that this is a Coltrane tribute this time around, with the group singing ‘A Love Supreme’ right at the start of the piece — and the Love Supreme motive becomes a major part of the middle of the song, as well. That aside, the two parts of the ‘head’ here are great — awesome chord changes and a catchy melody, with the second section feeling celebratory in a way that avoids cheese and incorporates the Love Supreme ideas in a less obvious way.
Vander didn’t overdub himself as much this time, and instead assembled a proper band, which makes this a much more convincing Coltrane tribute than anything on offer in the first 2 parts. This was the introduction of pianist Emmanuel Borghi, who actually does a convincing McCoy Tyner tribute instead of Vander sticking to a two-chord figure for the full duration of tracks. Borghi’s playing already makes this a whole lot more interesting to listen to in my book, and feel more like Coltrane and less like Magma, especially through the protracted vocal solo section.
The other major change is that Vander doesn’t handle most of the drums, which instead are covered by Jean Claude Buire. Unfortunately, his Elvin Jones impersonation is a bit less convincing than Borghi’s Tyner impersonation, and I feel like Vander probably would’ve done a better job. The drum performance isn’t bad, but it feels a bit sluggish and clunky at times, which is the opposite of the touch a piece like this requires — but it does allow Vander to focus on doing the best vocal imitation of a saxophone he can muster.
This piece pays tribute to multiple eras of Coltrane, managing to keep itself interesting across its full 44min duration. It is structured roughly like one of Coltrane’s live jams, with a head and a very long period of improvisation where solos are traded between the vocals, piano, drums, and Vander overdubbing some flute. About halfway in, this transitions into jamming over the Love Supreme motive, as previously mentioned, transitioning from the free jazz tribute to modal jazz tribute. This section is far less interesting than the former section to my ears, but it works to keep things fresh. Another head leads into an even more free section, then a more ambient section.
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Vander’s scatting gets more committed and preposterous as the piece goes on. It’s a little awkward to hear Vander sing ‘Freedom, freedom, freedom — got the love, got the freedom, got the groove’, but this whole affair is a little awkward. Nonetheless, I find this track to be quite enjoyable, and a big improvement over the first two parts. It manages to keep Vander’s signature sounds while delving into the Coltrane tribute in a deeper, more focused way, without the strange detours that appeared in the first two parts.
~Part IV~
The main event in part 4 is a 32.5min version of ‘Out of this World’, the Harold Arlen / Johnny Mercer piece Coltrane performed on his 1962 self-titled album. This is a slower rendition with a somewhat different groove which is only loosely related to Coltrane’s version — perhaps why the composition is credited to Coltrane here. Good luck picking out any of Arlen’s melody here, but the underlying chord structure is quite similar.
Vander plays drums on this one (thankfully — his feel is much better) and leaves the vocals to Stella (aside from Keith Jarrett-esque mumbling in the background), but this piece is far less vocally-driven than its predecessors. It opens with some unison vocal/flute lines (flute by Guy Khalifa), but the vocals quickly disappear. René Garber enters the mix with an honest to god sax solo (actual horn solos? INCONCEIVABLE!), and the vocals and flute disappear. This truly feels like Coltrane.
About 6min into the piece, pianist Simon Goubert (returning from their debut) takes over for a protracted Tyneresque piano solo. The sax eventually joins back in for an intense climax where both solo, then everyone gradually settles down and drops out for a VERY protracted drum solo. The piano and upright bass return for the ending, which then goes straight into Offering (Part 2), which is basically a 2min Stella Vander vocal showcase which acts as a coda — only the band disappears, and Christian overdubs all of the instruments. I guess these pieces were edited together to be continuous later.
While ‘Out of This World’ is a cool piece, it mostly feels like a full blown Coltrane imitation at this point — there’s not really anything about it which feels distinctively Magma or Vander. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s actually pretty well done — it’s impressive how well they manage to nail the 60s Coltrane sound. Nonetheless, it’s still knockoff Coltrane from a rock group, which makes me wonder why I’m not just listening to Coltrane. The record ends with a much more characteristic Vander piece — ‘Ehn Deiss’, a mostly piano & vocal group piece which winds things down on a solemn note.
It doesn’t help that the production isn’t all that great on Parts III & IV — it resists all 80s and 90s production trends and has a live band feel, but isn’t very well recorded. The piano often clips and distorts, which gives it a certain intensity — perhaps it was intentionally supposed to sound like a venue live recording. It isn’t much of a problem, as everything is clear enough — it just isn’t always the most pleasant.
or me, personally, ‘Another Day’ is Offering’s peak. It hits just the right balance between Vander’s sound and Coltrane’s sound, while still having plenty of the preposterous vocal solos. Parts I and II don’t quite nail the Coltrane tribute part of it, while Part IV nails it a little too well. III is the sweet spot, and the one I would recommend for those who want to see what Offering is all about.
