Monday, May 11, 2015

John Coltrane Quartet - "Impressions" - France, 1966

For jazz lovers, and pure musicians, this is the stuff you need to check out.  John Coltrane Quartet, in France, circa 1966.  Saxophonist Dave Liebman, put a description on his Facebook fan page.  Here is that description.

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Incredibly there is still some Coltrane that even I have not seen, like this amazingly, most intense version that I know of the group playing "Impressions" from Antibes, France, July 1965. We already are familiar with the few minutes of filmed "Love Supreme" the group performed there and of course the full performance on CD, but this clip is from the night before. A few things for musicians to note: This is the beginning of the last stage of Trane's evolution which will a few months later result in a change of personnel and repertoire. But for now the Classic Quartet is alive and well playing at an even more intense level than previously. Note first of all in Jimmy Garrison's long intro solo around 9 minutes when he starts to play a walking bass line, the way he accents and emphasizes the beat…how swinging even just that standing alone is!! Also both McCoy and especially Trane towards the end of his solo play quite a bit of what I term "over the time" meaning that the rhythmic content is "seemingly" unrelated to the ongoing and basically stationary pulse played by the group. This is a short form of what at times I saw live in New York could be over an hour in length, but it has everything…..McCoy "strolling"….Trane and Elvin going head to head, etc.

But most of all FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES JAZZ, this is the SHIT!!--This is why I and surely others went into this music. The commitment, the non-show biz atmosphere, the honesty, intensity and sophisticated musical ideas are top of the line. It doesn't get better!

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I agree with Liebman.  This is epic!  Dig it!

1 comment:

  1. The video for John Coltrane's Paris concert circa 1966, has been removed.

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