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Home , Blue Moods, Elvin Jones, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Garrison, Johnny Hartman, Rudy Van Gelder

The Quartet at the Studio

Coltrane still pushing the envelope! by Hawk Johnson for NYB This week saw the end of the two-week McCoy Tyner, and Elvin that the still not 30 years old Wayne residency of John Coltrane (37) and his Jones a made live rdio broadcast from Shorter is destined for great things in the quartet at Birdland, 1678 Broadway at Birdland. The shows were broadcast im- future. 52. Street. At the end of the residency mediately after midnight the same night, It seems obvious that this young musi- Mr. Coltrane took time for a studio ses- as part of the Symphony Sid Show at the cal director of Mr. Blakey’s Messen- sion at the van Gelder Studios with the AM station of WADO (1280 kHz), with the gers will not be part of the so-called Bla- quartet. The session was for the record popular radio host ‘Symphony’ Sid Torin key Academy of for much lable Impulse!, that Mr. Coltrane has as MC. longer. One of the big names in modern been associated with for the last two Last Friday, the trumpeter jazz will probably pick him up very soon. years. was in the audience – possibly to listen Maybe that was the real reason for Miles to his former collaborator. Those present Davis’ presence Friday night? that night, and those who heard the On the other hand, maybe Mr. Shorter broadcast, heard Mr. Sid Torin’s an- will strike out on his own? It is less than nouncement. The announcement, follow- a year since he released his third solo al- ing the quartet’s performance of Col- bum on the Vee-Jay lable, «Wayning Mo- trane’s tribute to his former collaborator, ments». With him was fellow alumnis of the bassist , «Mr. PC», Mr. Blakey’s college, on was; trumpet, and Jymie Merritt on bass. This «...Say welcome to a very good friend of recording was one of the last things Mr. ours - Trane’s ex-boss - Miles Davis, la- Merritt did, before he retired due to ill- dies and gentlemen! There’s Miles—Miles, ness at the end of last year. standing at the bar. Miles Davis!» Two days ago, the pianist in Mr. Col- and John Coltrane Following this, we heard John Coltrane trane’s band, McCoy Tyner, was in the I had the pleasure of being invited by and Elvin Jones play the first few bars of studio of Rudy van Gelder in Englewood Mr. Coltrane to join on the trip to Eng- «Bye, Bye Blackbird» as a greeting to Mr. Cliffs, NJ, with his own trio. The session lewood Cliffs, NJ, and watch the proceed- Davis. of Monday, March 4 will, according to ings of the session. This is my report. Tonight, the Quartet will finalize their Mr. Tyner, result in a record that will be During the two weeks prior to Wednes- residency at Birdland, again playing op- released on Impulse! later this year. day, March 6, the John Coltrane Quartet posite and the Jazz Messen- McCoy Tyner suggested a preliminary ti- has played every day, sans Mondays, at gers. In Mr. Blakey’s band, we have had tle for the record – «Days of Blues and Birdland to a decent crowd every night. the pleasure this week of hearing the Ballads» for his third album on the Im- The last week they played opposite Art tenor saxophonist that everyone has pulse! lable. Blakey. Last Friday, March 1, ‘Trane’, as talked about over the last two years. Today, Mr. Tyner is back in the same he is affectionately called among friends Having listened to the tenor player over beautiful studio as part of the John Col- and followers, and his fellow musicians, several nights, we can confidently say trane Quartet. The Impulse! producer

Bob Thiele has prepared everything for the musical scene. This time it was «The key of D on a piano and steps up, playing yet another studio session with the John Vilja Song» from Franz Lehár’s operetta all the white keys until you reach the D Coltrane Quartet today, and engineer «The Merry Widow». Is this going to be an octave over the first one. The B parts and studio owner Rudy van Gelder is in the new «My Favorite Things», the new of both tunes are over a scale a half-step the booth. vehicle for propelling Mr. Coltrane’s im- up, an E♭ Dorian scale. It is not clear what Mr. Coltrane wants provisations and music into the future? Does that necessarily imply they are to achieve this afternoon, and it is far Mr. Coltrane was evidently in an exper- the same? Melodically the themes of «So from evident that this will generate a new imental mood this afternoon. He rec- What» and Mr. Coltrane’s tune are very record. orded a version –with instructions for Mr. different. Demanding equality would sug- Last time the John Coltrane Quartet Tyner to lay out completely – of Eden gest that every other contrafact of «I Got visited the church-like studio of Mr. van Ahbez’ «», the song that Nat Rhythm» is nothing but just another vari- Gelder was November 13 last year. That King Cole made into a huge commercial ant interpretation of the original. date produced the album «Ballads», re- hit fifteen years ago. However, as Mr. Coltrane is rumoured leased to great ovations in January this to have presented the tune himself as «So year. The record « and What», perhaps we may have to accept John Coltrane», recorded at the same this name? place a couple of months earlier, saw re- This is, I believe, the first time the tune lease simultaneously. was recorded in studio, even though Mr. Coltrane and his quartet has played it several times during concerts. Perhaps most memorable of these were the many versions we heard of it, during Mr. Coltrane’s now legendary residency at Village Vanguard in November 1961, a year and a half ago.

Elvin Jones The song is not unknown in the reper- toire of modern jazz. Trumpeter Miles Davis recorded it with bassist on the album «» already in 1955. John Coltrane It was according to this observer’s view tells us that no plans have an exciting, but somewhat unfulfilled been made concerning the content of to- version we heard in the studio. The tune day’s session. But he goes on to tell us showed, however, the power that lies in enthusiastically that another studio ses- the relation between the drums of Elvin sion with the John Coltrane Quartet has Jones and Mr. Coltrane’s been scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, playing. March 7. It was interesting to hear that this Tomorrow’s session was scheduled a commercial hit that has been recorded in long time ago. The session will be with so many sweet, sugar-laden versions, is the quartet, together with the baritone able to carry a modern avant-garde ap- vocalist . Mr. Thiele ex- John Coltrane proach to improvisation. We do not ex- plains that there are definite plans for an In addition, we heard completely clude the possibility that this may, in the album from this session. According to new compositions by Coltrane. Among future, be a mainstay in the repertoire of Mr. Thiele that album will be released these were two blues compositions. On the John Coltrane Quartet. this summer. two of the four originals Mr. Coltrane The band made four takes of a tune we This will be the first time John Col- played the soprano saxophone to great have heard the John Coltrane Quartet trane makes a record with a vocalist, at effect. If this material ever is released, and Quintet (with ) play sev- least since he came to national promi- the listeners to and fans of Mr. Coltrane’s eral times during the last years. nence in New York almost eight years music have something to look forward to. As far as I know, this tune has not ago. Those that, following the release of been given any name yet, even though We have over the last couple of years «Ballads» and «Duke Ellington & John many today designates it as «So What» -- heard how Mr. Coltrane turned one of Coltrane», feared that Mr. Coltrane now referring to the famous Miles Davis clas- the popular tunes from the 1959 Broad- was shying away from avant-garde jazz sic from the 1959 album «». way success «Sound of Music» – «My Fa- and turning towards a more mainstream Indeed, Mr. Coltrane’s tune has some vorite Things» – upside down and inside pop-based repertoire, may safely relax. obvious structural similarities to Mr. Da- out. «My Favorite Things» has been a ma- Go to a concert with the John Coltrane vis’ 1959 tune. They are both scale-based jor vehicle for the development of Mr. Quartet, hear Mr. Coltrane in other con- modal pieces with four sections in the Coltranes music over these last few stellations, listen to this record when it’s form of AABA, each part being eight bars. years. out, and relax and enjoy: The A-parts are over a D Dorian scale. In the studio today, we heard Mr. Col- Coltrane is still pushing the envelope! This is a scale that starts on the white trane try out another popular tune from