John Coltrane: Expression

[Late]

Over the years this has become one of my favorite Coltrane records. I still haven't entirely warmed to "To Be," but the other tracks have such incredible presence. The opener "Ogunde," besides being a beautiful melody, seems like a farewell of sorts, as if Coltrane knew his time on Earth was ending. "Offering" has to be one the best tracks Coltrane ever committed to vinyl (while it technically belongs to the "Stellar Regions" session). And the title track itself? Filled with emotion.

What's your experience with this record? When did you first hear it? 

[JSngry]

First heard it ca. 1976 or so, liked it then, liked it now. Strong until the end. Not needing the flute stuff on it, but oh well.

[felser]

I first heard it some time in the 70's.  Personally have never taken to it, but it did seem to be looking for new frontiers for him to explore.

[jazzbo]

This is one I didn't get to until the 'eighties. It grows on me more and more, even the flute. 

[Teasing the Korean]

I picked it up for a buck or two during the Great Vinyl Purge of the 1990s.  I was happy that Alice was on the album, as I was trying to find a lot of her stuff.

I was acquiring a lot of Coltrane on vinyl at that time, and some of the later albums blur together for me.  I will have to revisit.  

[Guy Berger]

It’s great, but I like Interstellar Space and Stellar Regions more.  Wish we had even more recordings.

[colinmce]

One of my favorite Coltrane albums as well. What I love about the later works is that there's so much variation, no one album or recording is quite like the others. Expression is one of the more unique among them. I find it endlessly fascinating.

[Late]

49 minutes ago, colinmce said:

I find it endlessly fascinating.

 Same.

Expression was actually the third Coltrane record I ever bought. I didn't know what I was purchasing at the time, and it freaked me out. I spun it once and sold it. Four years went by, and I purchased it again. This time I knew what I was getting into.

 

14 hours ago, Guy Berger said:

Wish we had even more recordings.

Me too. In fact, I think about this way too much. 

[John L]

Expression has always had a place in my heart as something like the last word from Trane.   Some of it is quite beautiful as well.  At the time I bought it in the mid-70s, Stellar Regions, the Temple concert, and the Olatunji Concert were still far from being discovered/released.  Therefore, for a long time, along with Interstellar Space, Expression was the only real sound picture we had of Trane at the end.  It was a distinct picture too.   Stellar regions filled out that picture even more.   But the Olatunji Concert sort of shattered it, making everything a bit more confusing.    

Edited November 15, 2021 by John L

[Chuck Nessa]

I am curious about how many here actually saw/heard Coltrane in person.

I heard the "classic quartet" at the Plugged Nickel twice (multiple nights each time), the augmented quartet with Archie Shepp at the Down Beat festival and finally the group with Alice and Mr Sanders at the Nickel again.

I think personal experience colors impressions.

I would welcome recollections of any live performances.

 

[jlhoots]

30 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

I am curious about how many here actually saw/heard Coltrane in person.

I heard the "classic quartet" at the Plugged Nickel twice (multiple nights each time), the augmented quartet with Archie Shepp at the Down Beat festival and finally the group with Alice and Mr Sanders at the Nickel again.

I think personal experience colors impressions.

I would welcome recollections of any live performances.

 

I saw him in Boston with 2 drummers (Elvin & Rashied) + Carlos Ward, Pharoah Sanders - raised the roof as I recall, but it's 50+ years ago.

[Rabshakeh]

On 13/11/2021 at 2:42 AM, Guy Berger said:

It’s great, but I like Interstellar Space and Stellar Regions more.  Wish we had even more recordings.

Ditto.

[Caravan]

4 hours ago, jlhoots said:

I saw him in Boston with 2 drummers (Elvin & Rashied) + Carlos Ward, Pharoah Sanders - raised the roof as I recall, but it's 50+ years ago.

Saw the Quartet, August 1, 1965 at the Comblain-la-Tour festival in Belgium.

[medjuck]

Saw the quartet in Montreal in '64 or '65.   I was sitting on Elvin's side of the stage and I only heard Jimmy when he soloed. I was writing a jazz column for the McGill daily and might be able to find my review.  

[bertrand]

11 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Ditto.

I still don't quite understand what happened to all the other 1967 Impulse sessions. Are they presumed lost in the fire? Why was Stellar Regions not lost?

[jazzbo]

I was too young to see Coltrane live, alas. I'd heard of him, having lived in Philly from '53 to '66 though ages 2 to 11.

Bertrand, what do you feel is "missing" as far as tapes from '67?

Edited November 15, 2021 by jazzbo

[JSngry]

I got called into a spirited debate between two lab-band-clowns to give my opinion on whether or not that was Alice or McCoy on this record because "Alice couldn't possibly play like that. Trane had had enough of her incompetence and called McCoy back for this record."

Seriously.

In some circles, Alice Coltrane is the jazz-villain equivalent of Yoko Ono. You want to know what that's about, well, if you have to ask....

[colinmce]

17 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

Bertrand, what do you feel is "missing" as far as tapes from '67?

 

John Coltrane Quintet

John Coltrane, tenor sax; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums; Marion Brown, bells.

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 27, 1967

90774	E Minor	Impulse! lost
90775	Half Steps	-

John Coltrane Quartet

John Coltrane, tenor sax; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums.

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 29, 1967

90784	Number Eight	Impulse! lost
90785	Number Seven	-
90786	Number Six	-
90787	Number Five	-
90788	Number Four	-
90789	Number Two	-

John Coltrane Sextet

Pharoah Sanders, alto sax; John Coltrane, tenor sax; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums; Algie DeWitt, bata drum.

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, May 17, 1967

90790	None Other	Impulse! lost
90791	Kaleidoscope (mistitled as Collidoscope)	-

 

 

[jazzbo]

We'll live.

[JSngry]

18 hours ago, John L said:

LSome of it is quite beautiful as well.  

Yes, my very first impression of it was how pretty some of it was. I'm not sure if that bode well for the whole "what if he had lived" thing, to be honest. Maybe?

[medjuck]

6 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Yes, my very first impression of it was how pretty some of it was. I'm not sure if that bode well for the whole "what if he had lived" thing, to be honest. Maybe?

Do you think the trajectory of Archie Sheep's playing has  anything to tell us about "what if he had lived"?

[JSngry]

Nope. Not really. Shepp was making up in traditional skills that Trane had already exploded.

People were talking that strings and harp and maybe voices and a populist/spiritual bent, and seriously...I don't know that being on the other side and this side at the same time is really do-able for any meaningful public duration. 

[Rabshakeh]

11 hours ago, medjuck said:

Do you think the trajectory of Archie Sheep's playing has  anything to tell us about "what if he had lived"?

Joe Henderson's my go to comparator. Same concept though - Gradual running out of self-belief in the Concept in the mid 70s in face of dwindling critical and audience enthusiasm, then triumphant traditionalist return in the Reagan era: 'Trane plays the American Songbook, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1981)', 'Night Trane' (GRM, 1986), etc etc. Like Henderson (and Shepp, if you like his later work) they'd probably be good records, but its not an entirely appealling thought. 

However, I'm not sure it's right. Coltrane's final period deepening comes at a time when free jazz is still riding high, rather than in the face of gathering indifference and bop revival in the late 70s, as with Shepp and Henderson. So, as always, it looks like he was leading the way into something else.

[Pim]

I really love this period of Trane and would love to hear more from it. Stellar Regions is desert island material for me. 

[felser]

Pharoah Sanders might also be an interesting trajectory for conjecture.