''Divine Radiance'' is an album by guitarist

Tisziji Muñoz Tisziji Muñoz (born July 15, 1946) is an American jazz guitarist. He served as drummer in the 440th U.S. Army band. He left the US Army in 1969. In the 1970s, he lived in Canada and New York City. He played in Pharoah Sanders' band. In 1978, h ...

. It was recorded on October 30, 2001, at

Right Track Recording Sound on Sound Studios, formerly known as MSR Studios (Manhattan Sound Recordings) is a photography and movie producing company recording facility in Montclair, New Jersey. Its forebear, MSR Studios, was located in Manhattan, just outside Times Squ ...

in New York City, and was released in 2003 by Anami Music. On the album, Muñoz is joined by saxophonists

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

and

Ravi Coltrane Ravi Coltrane (born August 6, 1965) is an American jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Biography Ravi Coltrane is the son of sa ...

, keyboardist

Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both '' Late ...

, bassists

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in Tu ...

and Don Pate, and drummer

Rashied Ali Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life. Biography Early life Patterson was born and ...

. The recording is a response to the events of

9-11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

. In 2003, the band recorded ''Divine Radiance Live!'', released by Anami in 2013.

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, arwulf arwulf wrote: "Muñoz alternately soothes and riles in the grand tradition of ruminative and ecstatically charged free jazz. The title track and 'Initiation by Fire' are particularly tempestuous examples of joyously improvised volcanism." Writing for ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

'', Brian Gilmore called Muñoz's playing "superb," and stated: "Unlike many guitarists today, Munoz's journey and reach is beyond the music of the Americas or the world. Munoz is exploring the universe and the human spirit." Hank Shteamer of ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' described the album as "an extremely well-played... example of post-Coltrane free jazz that fans of this style will certainly enjoy." ''Paris Transatlantics Nate Dorward commented: "any disc uniting Sanders, McBee and Ali has plenty going for it, and the all-out fury of the 24-minute title-track is worth a taste if you're a fan of so-called 'ecstatic jazz'."

Track listing

# "Moment of Truth" – 1:10 # "Visiting This Planet - Leaving This Planet" – 16:14 # "Initiation by Fire" – 16:16 # "Fatherhood" – 4:25 # "Divine Radiance" – 24:11

Personnel

– guitar, synthesizer *

– saxophone *

– piano, organ, synthesizer *

– bass * Don Pate – bass *

– drums

References

{{Reflist 2003 albums Free jazz albums Jazz albums by American artists