As a few of you already know, I’ve been having a somewhat crummy week.  On the bright side, I’m still able to enjoy the work of drummer extraordinarie Rashied Ali, who passed away yesterday in New York City.  Ali’s otherwordly recordings with John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, James Blood Ulmer and Henry Grimes (amongst others) oughta be staples of any decent record library — the guy was an absolute monster player who brought a dazzyling array of skills and sense of invention to a myriad of settings. He’ll be sorely missed and our thoughts go out to his friends, associates and family.