Coltrane At The Half Note

[ghost of miles]

Great thread, though the idea that his hard bop era is divorced from his post 1965 era is heel digging. Check out Porter's book on Trane for specific examples of how "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" recording relates to some of the late material (I believe the example he uses is "Venus" though I'm not able to open the book right now). The gestures may be more general, even vague, but are rooted in his artistic development, his whole development.

Technically speaking, I think you're absolutely correct. I think a lot depends on how people listen--or for what reasons they listen. I have a friend with great taste in music, and last week he told me that he all but ran screaming back to the store with ASCENSION. "I hated it," he said. "I got nothing from it, and I felt as if I were waiting for it to end...and I was so relieved when it did." He said that he immediately put on BALLADS and felt much better. Thing is, he's listened to late-Trane before. He loves JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET PLAYS, which certainly shows Trane beginning to venture beyond the last accessible frontiers of ALS (not that he didn't "return" on a number of occasions in the 1965-67 era). He's also a big fan of FIRST MEDITATIONS (but hates MEDITATIONS itself). I think he's in the majority when it comes to Coltrane fans. He's anything but an unsophisticated listener, but I think you have to be a musician, or someone deeply interested in how musicians think & develop their music, to have a love of late Trane. Or else be some kid who simply enjoys getting his mind blown.

[Nate Dorward]

David--the blips are on the master tape, it's not just your CD. Impulse could have been a little more honest & acknowledged the dropouts in the liners. -- They're fortunately not irritating enough to detract from the music itself.

I doubt anyone likes Ascension at first listen. You have to live with it a while.

[JSngry]

I loved Ascension at first listen! But then again, it was 1974 & I was only 18, so what did I know?

[Chuck Nessa]

I loved Ascension at first listen! But then again, it was 1974 & I was only 18, so what did I know?

I was confused. I was even more confused when I played another copy of the record and discovered the "other version".

Edited February 3, 2006 by Chuck Nessa

[JSngry]

I think you have to be a musician, or someone deeply interested in how musicians think & develop their music, to have a love of late Trane. Or else be some kid who simply enjoys getting his mind blown.

People who don't like getting their "mind blown" in some form or fashion (and I mean that metaphorically - JUST SAY KNOW) are the enablers of What's Wrong With The World Today! I think it's high time we stop enabling them by cutting them so much slack!

A question never confronted is knowledge never gained.

[Chuck Nessa]

A question never confronted is knowledge never gained.

Just weight and burns.

[Matthew]

I'm really late to this party but Down One, Up One is just great playing by a master. Interesting comments regarding time, rythmn, and all kinds of stuff in this thread. I want to thank everyone for making this one of the most interesting and annoying threads in the history of Organissimo. Going have to listen, experience and think over the music here for a long time.

[B. Clugston]

"One Up, One Down," "One Up and One Down" and now "Down One, Up One." "One Down, One Up" may well be the most mistitled song in jazz.

[Matthew]

One of my projects today has been to compare One Down, One Up & Chasin' the Trane (Thursday, November 2, 1961 VV) and it's been very interesting listen. Intense music, to say the least.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Matthew

[Late]

Almost 15 years later, and still good reading in this thread.

I really, really wish the complete Half Note sessions could have been released. Or, at the very least, add "Creation" to the 2-disc set we have. For me, that's Coltrane's finest solo (of those I've heard).

Edited April 30, 2021 by Late
time-space continuum