Vinyl Vault — Gary Bartz, “Another Earth”

“Another Earth” will be the Vinyl Vault feature on Tuesday, April 2. It’s a 1969 Milestone release by alto saxman Gary Bartz inspired in equal parts by John Coltrane and outer space. In the early 1960s, Bartz became interested in astronomy and purchased a telescope. Not long afterward, while gazing at the stars through it, he spotted a UFO or unidentified aerial phenomenon in modern parlance.

That UFO sighting and his interest in space in general helped inspire “Another Earth.” The title track encompasses all of side one and clocks in at over 23 minutes. Shorter songs populate side two with names inspired by the heavens like “Dark Nebula,” “U.F.O.” and “Perihelion and Aphelion.”

Bartz assembled a band sympathetic to his cosmic yearnings and included Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Freddy Waits on drums. Together, they helped infuse a sense of spirituality and astro wonderment with hard bop and a little avant-garde exploration.

On the album cover, Bartz dedicated the music to “life, whenever, wherever, and however it might occur.”

Check out Gary Bartz’s ode to outer space and life beyond Earth on the Vinyl Vault with Geoff Anderson, on Tuesday, April 2 at 8:30 p.m. on KUVO JAZZ.

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