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Stereojack

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Posts posted by Stereojack

  12. Who here saw Coltrane perfom live?

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    In the fall of 1965, Coltrane was booked into the Jazz Workshop in Boston. I and three of my college friends (two jazz fan buddies and a girl I was dating who was primarily into classical music) decided to go on Saturday night. Normally we would go hear live jazz on the Sunday matinee, which was a good deal for poor college students like us, and the crowds were usually pretty hip. For some reason, we decided to make it a bigger deal by going on Saturday night, although I can't remember why. We were young (underage) jazz enthusiasts, but none of us had ever seen Trane in person, although we had heard some of his recordings with Miles and several of the Atlantic and Impulse albums. The most recent recording we had heard was "A Love Supreme", which had been out for about a year, and we expected to see the quartet with which Trane had been working for about four years. I don't believe that "Ascension" had been released yet.

    When we got to the entrance, the band was billed as the John Coltrane Sextet. When we entered the club, we saw that there were two sets of drums on the bandstand. We were seated, eagerly anticipating the evening. Eventually the musicians arrived, and a drummer who we did not recognize sat down at one of the drum sets. A second saxophonist was also present, as well as McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Garrison. I don't know if we knew the identities of the two new musicians that night (Pharoah Sanders & Rashied Ali). There were no announcements, although it's possible that their names were posted at the entrance. Our eyes followed Trane as he went to the bar and got a drink, and then proceeded to the stand, walking right past our aisle table.

    The music became intense very quickly, and we were all puzzled, completely unprepared for the full blown sonic assault that was taking place on the bandstand. Our first reaction was negative, and my date looked at me as if to say "get me out of here". We persevered, however, and eventually, near the end of the first set, Elvin Jones did arrive and joined the proceedings on stage. I recall that at one point Jimmy Garrison remained on stage alone, and his bass solo was almost completely drowned out by the chatter of people talking.

    The following spring, the album "Meditations" was released. I bought it, and realized that it had been recorded one week before we saw the band. I don't believe Trane ever returned to Boston. As much as Coltrane is revered today, the music he offered us in his final days was met with hostility and indifference by many at the time.

  18. Dakota Staton R.I.P.

    in Artists

    Posted

    So, who is the piano player here? This gatefold is missing quite a bit of info. Need to dig out 'The Late Late Show' next.

    Inexplicably, the original LP names all of the brass & reed players, but fails to identify the rhythm section!

    I agree, this is album is a bitch! :D

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