Artist Lounge: John Coltrane
Moggers' favorites by John Coltrane
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Predictably enough, following the two previous posts, it's time for some John Coltrane; as Big Youth sang (apparently nicking the line from The Last Poets) "John Coltrane died in vain of a Love Supreme". This is, however, not from "A Love Supreme" but is a later piece, which I hope you like.
"Blue Waltz" is a performance by John Coltrane's Quartet of the main theme of John Coltrane's "Ascension", a much larger work recorded six weeks before this concert. This is extremely intense music. Even so, the "Ascension" performance which I'm pointing to on Rhapsody dwarfs this. Some who heard Ascension said it was one of the most powerful sounds ever recorded by humans. I had to listen to "Ascension" in small measured doses turned way down before I acclimated enoug... MORE
If per chance you were to meet a stranger on a moonless night would you think much of his telling you: The moon does not shine, it merely reflects? Now picture yourself reading the following review by the same stranger: "Foals’ sonics dominate the senses. But they alone don’t make an open-and-shut case for Antidotes." While you would have looked askance at the former, you are most likely to want to ponder on the short sentences of the latter... MORE
John Coltrane found the melody for "Spiritual" in a collection of black spirituals that he was studying. There's a well-known spiritual "No One Knows The Trouble I've Seen". This different melody from his collection shared that title. He orchestrated it for his band before their time at the Vanguard. They recorded it three times during their stay. This "C" take went on the original "Live At the Vanguard" album. This is one of the few pieces of music I know where I can ... MORE
One of the few video captures of the John Coltrane Quartet in live performance. They are playing outside in August, but it was chilly night. Drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison have been putting so much energy into their performance that clouds of water vapor are billowing above their heads. Very energetic and emotional playing. They start the tune with a loose, floating tempo while Trane plays the melody. The instant Trane stops and McCoy Tyner starts to s... MORE
Just finished all my examinations yesterday. As soon as I walked out of that room I was overcome by the incredible need to listen to Coltrane. I rode my cycle home intent on having a freak out kinetic dance party. (A two year old girl does not know that you are not supposed to dance to John Coltrane.) So I came home and little one is laying in my wife's lap with 103 fever. Not what I had envisioned for the moment of ecstasy that we as a family made it though the first se... MORE
so it's time to dust down John Coltrane's "Blue Train" (all ten minutes of it). Relax and enjoy it.
By the way today is Robbie Coltrane's birthday (although he was in fact born McMillan)
Today's cover song of the day holds a near and dear spot in my heart It was the song that Bill Graham used at the end of all the concerts he produced, as the lights went up and the crowds exited. Greensleeves is a traditional English folk song and tune. A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in 1584 as "A New Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Green Sleeve... MORE
_"I've always felt that even though a man was not a Christian, he still has to know the truth some way or another. Or if he was a Christian, he could know the truth." he said. "The truth itself doesn't have any name on it to me. And each man has to find this for himself, I think."_
Well, the Giants have finally gotten revenge for the 1961 and 1962 NFL championships. In their honor, I thought I'd offer a little John Coltrane.
The video features animated musical notation of Coltrane's solo, which gives a sense of what it would be like to try to sight-read the piece. No wonder people get lost trying to play this.
Recorded just before recording compositions such as "Om" and "Kulu Se Mama", and the Live in Seattle date, this tune is phenomenal. Trane pushes this to tune to the the limit (twice). His first solo was dope enough, but then he comes back for a second solo after McCoy and rips it all to shreds!
While writing another post about someone else's turning point, I was reminded of my own. I grew up in a house that had a lot of music, and I have loved music since birth (at least that's what my father tells me). I'd heard a lot of jazz during my early childhood, but I couldn't say that I was a jazz fan. Recollections of Trane's My Favorite Things recorded live with Roy Haynes on drums (originally released on the posthumus Selflessness LP), Pharoah Sanders' "The Creato... MORE
Hail, hail, the gang's all here! Trane, Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones in a pretty smoking set that has seen all manner of release over the years: bootlegs, various packagings and set lists across multiple labels, etc.
I like this version for the track I am including below...which throughout the 70s stayed in Elvin's set lists as well. So blistering...
Enjoy.
John Coltrane - Chim Chim Cheree from At The Half Note








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