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Title: Coltrane's most important work
Review: Meditations is Coltrane's most powerful, carefully crafted, and important piece of music. Like all monumental pieces of art, it requires a great deal of dedication and effort from the listener. In this way, it is not unlike Joyce's writing from Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Once the listener is prepared to give such attention, the rewards of Meditations outweigh virtually all jazz records before or since. This record has the beautiful lyricality of Coltrane's earlier recordings and the complexity and emotional intensity of his post-1965 work. Furthermore, each performer is playing at the peak of his ability, unlike some of Coltrane's less successful later pieces. There is plenty that is accessible here for those less acquainted with Coltrane's later works. Meditations, along with Live in Japan, is the best representation of later Coltrane, and in my opinion, one of the most beautiful pieces of music in our century.
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