The idea of jazz as an explicit vehicle of spiritual transformation goes back at least as John Coltrane and was carried on his by wife, Alice, and other acolytes. Saxophonist and composer Dan Blake has taken a similar path, musically as well as conceptually. Da Fé is Spanish for “faith” and the album’s message is that faith is in a future beyond climate catastrophe and its ramifications. Rhythmically complex yet calming in its chord progressions, Blake’s music synthesizes a variety of post-Coltrane inspirations into a sonically pleasing whole.
