John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy: Evenings at the Village Gate

To hear some critics, with their infinite reservoirs of wisdom, tell it in 1961, the inclusion of the masterful multi-instrumentalist and composer Eric Dolphy in John Coltrane's band was a blasphemy against jazz.  The Los Angeles native wrote and played in unconventional and highly distinctive ways and to those unimpressed ears, his work was harsh, noisy, dissonant and not tonal enough.  

Not unlike those who could not wrap their heads (ears) around other great innovators of the era, whether it was Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor or others, these critics were also generally unhappy with Coltrane's move into more experimental territory after he left Atlantic Records to join the upstart Impulse! label, where among his first recordings were the amazing performances from November 1961 at the Village Vanguard in New York City.

The album released early in 1962 with three tracks "Spiritual," "Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise," and the astounding "Chasin' the Trane" were divisive among many so-called experts, who decried the leader's explorations into the varieties of sound generated by his soprano and tenor saxophone playing.  Dolphy played bass clarinet on "Spiritual" and did so on "India" when that tune and "Impressions" appeared on the 1963 release titled after the latter.  In 1997, however, a 4-disc set of the complete Village Vanguard recordings provided devotees with an aural feast with Dolphy and Trane joined by pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassists Reggie Workman (the sole survivor of these recordings and now 86 years old) and Jimmy Garrison.

A fascinating complement to these recordings is Evenings at the Village Gate, released last year after the tapes, recorded by engineer Rich Alderson with the venue's new sound system, were discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts by an archivist working on Bob Dylan recordings, as the folk artist was recorded at the Village Gate that year, as well.  These tapes were from August 1961, but with the same sextet format and with Art Davis as the other bassist.

Coltrane and Dolphy famously issued a published answer to the naysayers in Down Beat magazine, but this album and the Vanguard tracks should suffice in hindsight because Trane's observation that Dolphy broadened the band's sound as well as freed its musicians to take the music in new directions is on the mark.  All that critical angst is a reminder that innovators have to be allowed to pursue their passion for finding new ways to express themselves and those wedded to "tradition" shouldn't stand in the way or criticize honest and authentic artistic endeavor.

These pieces range from 10 to 22 minutes allowing the band to explore at a comfortable and organic pace and for soloists to take their showcases wherever they need to go.  The hit "My Favorite Things," which would be reprocessed into much freer territory in subsequent years, "Impressions," and, especially, "Africa," long a favorite of this listener, are especially impressive, while "Greensleeves," part of Trane's repertoire at the time is also taken to new levels of expression.  The surprise here, perhaps, is "When Lights Are Low," in which the 1930s chestnut sounds somewhat out of place on one hand, but, on the other, shows what innovators can do to both respect and expand upon tradition.

Sadly, Dolphy died in 1964 at age 36 after falling into a diabetic coma and a 9-disc box set of his complete Prestige recordings is a phenomenal document of his underappreciated career.  Coltrane went on to greater success, peaking with the transformative A Love Supreme, but was soon stricken with liver cancer from which he died at age 40 in 1967.  These two giants, criticized as they were in 1961, left behind some of the greatest music ever produced and this is a great document to show that.